Tiger-talk, and some suggestive Bethpage Black trivia

By Rahul Banerji

“There’s no sense in going to a tournament if you don’t believe that you can win it. And that is the belief I have always had. And that is not going to change.” – Tiger Woods

As excitement builds in the run-up to the 101^st edition of the PGA Championship that is now just three
days away, this is as good a time as any to look not just ahead, but also take a peek backwards.

For one, this is the first time the PGA Championship is being held on the Black Course of the Bethpage State Park in Long Island, New York.

It is for the first time in some 70 years that the event is being held as the second of the year’s four majors, since it’s rescheduling to May instead of being the fourth, and played in August each year.

When Bethpage Black first hosted a major, it was a Tiger Woods show at the 2002 US Open. Seven years later Lucas Glover walked away the winner. But for now back to 2002.

On a roll

Tiger had already won six majors of his last 11 by the time the US Open came to Bethpage Black. History records that his winning score was a 3-under 277 and he was the only one in the field to come in under par on the 7,214-yard course, the longest in US Open history.

“This was obviously the longest one, but it’s also the narrowest U.S. Open I’ve ever played,” Woods said after his win. “The widest fairway was 28 yards. And on top of that you had three holes about 490-plus as par-4s.

“That’s not a whole lot of room to work with. And it just made for a very difficult test the entire week. You couldn’t just slap it around and play poorly and contend in this championship. You had to play well.”

It was the first time the US Open has been conducted on a public golf course. Tiger marked that one down too.

“For those of us who grew up on public courses, this is awesome to win,” he said. 

Setting a trend

Torrey Pines’ South Course and Chambers Bay were to follow as public courses that were used to host the US Open.

Last year, Tiger was second to Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship to cap a ding-dong battle on the final day. Koepka finished with a 66 and Tiger was two better on 64 on Sunday, to narrowly miss out. It was the first real sign that the Tiger was back.

Thursday will be Tiger’s first start and he will travel to Long Island as the winner of the year’s first major after the high drama of the Masters in April. There is an interesting parallel here.

According to the PGA Tour’s website, only three players in the 50 years have won the first two majors of the year. Woods did it in 2002, when the first two majors were held at Augusta National and Bethpage Black. It was the only time in his career that he won the first two majors of the year.

Repeat feat?

It sets him up for a repeat of the Augusta-Bethpage double this year. Statistically, he is already up on the field as he leads the list of strokes gained per round at Bethpage Black at +2.90, ahead of Sergio Garcia (+2.82) and Phil Mickelson (+2.48).

Another factor: Tiger has hit 75.6% of greens this season, the best on the tour. He led the field in greens hit when he won the 2002 US Open, as well, with 53 greens hit, five more than anyone else (74% to 51%). He was 11th in greens hit at the 2009 US Open with 101, the most in the two Opens at Bethpage Black.

Interestingly, the PGA Tour site notes that the winning score at Bethpage Black has never been lower than 274.

The US Opens at Bethpage Black were won with scores of 277 (Tiger) and 276 (Glover).

Part of the challenge lies in avoiding Bethpage Black’s deep greenside bunkers and at the last PGA Tour event held on the course, players got up-and-down less than half the time from the sand. The average proximity of 10 feet, one inch from the bunkers was the 10th-highest of the season. 

Chandigarh to host next Players Championship

Meanwhile, the Tata Steel Professional Golf Tour of India will stage the next Players Championship at the Chandigarh Golf Club from Tuesday. The event is the ninth of the 2019 season and carries a prize purse of Rs. 30 lakh and is the last before the mid-season break.

The tournament is set to feature some of India’s leading professionals including Rashid Khan, Chiragh Kumar and Mukesh Kumar, to name a few.

Prominent overaseas names in the field include Sri Lankans Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran along with Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, a winner on the tour this season.

The host city will be represented by a solid contingent that includes Abhijit Singh Chadha, Angad Cheema, Karandeep Kochhar, Aadil Bedi, Akshay Sharma, Harendra Gupta, Sujjan Singh, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Harmeet Kahlon, Amritinder Singh, Ranjit Singh and Gurbaaz Mann, among others.

The field comprises of 123 professionals and three amateurs. The break-up of OWGR points for this event will be as follows: Winner – 5 points, runner-up – 3 points, third place – 2 points, fourth place – 1.6 points, fifth place – 1.2 points.

Also read: 14 years on, Augusta National saw again what a Tiger he can be