ESPN.com - Golf Online - US Open Men 2000 - Woods has mind to win Open

By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
Thursday, June 15

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- It might seem hard to believe now, but there was a time when Pebble Beach struck fear into the heart of Tiger Woods.

He was 13.


	Tiger Woods has just one top-10 finish in five previous U.S. Open appearances.

"When I first played on it ... I just remember coming out here and finding the golf course so long," Woods said Tuesday. "I came back later and played the state amateur when I was 17 or 18, and I thought how short the course had gotten."

Real or imagined, Pebble Beach is not the same golf course for any of the 156 players when the U.S. Open comes to town.

Neither is Woods.

He has demonstrated his wide range of shots over the past year, during which he has won 11 out of his last 20 PGA Tour events and has been in contention every Sunday except for one tournament over the past 13 months.

But for all the talent he possesses, what has separated Woods from the rest of the pack is his mind. That's what makes him the favorite this week in a U.S. Open that tests mental toughness as much as any of the 14 clubs in the bag.

"I've always been pretty tough mentally," Woods said. "I've always felt that I've had a mental edge over a lot of my opponents. My mind won me a lot of tournaments, but physically, I always felt I wasn't as good as I could be. And that's what I've been working on."

He has arrived as the most dominant player in golf since Jack Nicklaus, whose records Woods will continue to chase on a course that has produced so many great champions -- Nicklaus in '72, Tom Watson in '82, Tom Kite in '92.

Woods kept a list of Nicklaus' accomplishments tacked to his bedroom wall as a kid. One feat he probably left out was that Nicklaus is the only player to have won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in the same year.

Guess who won here in February?

In a final round that built up his own legend and the mystique of the course, Woods made up seven strokes over his final seven holes in a style symbolic of the energy he has brought to golf.

He holed a wedge for eagle on No. 15, and nearly holed another one on the 16th. He finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for his 8-under 64 and a two-stroke victory.

"He has the talent right now to dominate the game for a long time," Watson said. "Even though we have a lot of great players out there, he's the standard. He's the person on the leaderboard that everyone looks for. He's the man."

Watson gets no arguments from David Duval.

Duval was No. 1 in the World Rankings at this time a year ago, when a Woods-Duval rivalry was being built along the lines of Nicklaus-Watson. Duval arrived at Pebble Beach in good spirits, having lost in a playoff in the Buick Classic, even though he hasn't won in more than a year.

"You're doing a disservice by comparing him to me," Duval said. "Any time Tiger plays a tournament, you've got to look to him as a favorite."

And who would be a favorite this week?

"Whoever is on top of their game, and on top of their wits and nerves and their attitude," Duval said. "That's the guy you need to look to as the favorite."

Right now, that best describes Woods. And he is only getting better.

He has found control off the tee, precision with his length, imagination around the green and a putting stroke that always keeps him in the game.

The result? Woods has finished out of the top 10 in just two of his past 25 tournaments around the world.

And for those who wondered whether his game would ever suit a U.S. Open, consider last year. Woods finished two strokes behind the late Payne Stewart, missing two short par putts on the back nine.

"You have to stay committed to each and every shot, stay in the ball game," Woods said. "You can't afford to let your intensity down one bit, just because of the fact that it can cost you a couple of strokes here and there, and that can be the end of the tournament."

The burden of being the favorite every time he tees it up has not been a burden because Woods has grown accustomed to it.

And while even a challenger like Duval tabbed Woods as the player to watch, he also pointed out that a U.S. Open rarely plays favorites.

"When you enter a U.S. Open, it's a great equalizer," Duval said. "It becomes a real patience contest."

One look around Pebble Beach makes that clear.

Wind has always been the greatest defense at Pebble, which sits along the rugged California coastline. And with rough that is 4½ inches high, lush and nasty, greens that Watson said are already as small as dinner plates become more like saucers.

"The harder the conditions, the more it favors the person who's playing well," Woods said. "I think the U.S. Open historically has always been very difficult."