Tiger Woods wins number 13

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 08/15/2007

   The remarkable Tiger Woods continues to hog up the record book of golf and refuses to allow those among us in the press to measure his greatness unfairly. Woods continues to go where only Jack Nicklaus has gone before him.

 Last week, Barry Bonds passed the great Henry Aaron with career homerun number 756 to become the greatest homerun hitter in Major League Baseball history. Nicklaus is number one in golf history with 18 professional Major championship wins. Woods closed that gap by one on Sunday, winning the final Major of 2007 and repeating as PGA Champion for the second year in a row.

 Woods not only beat the strongest field in golf; he also beat the heat in record 101-degree temperatures for four days in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Southern Hills Country Club. It was the hottest Major championship in history.

 “I never expected to have 13 Majors at age 31,” Woods said. “I have exceeded my own expectations.” Indeed.

 Woods captured his second win in as many weeks and his fifth victory of the year. Last week he won the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio by eight shots.

 This time it was not a runaway victory. Woods won the 89th PGA Championship by two shots over veteran Woody Austin and three shots over Ernie Els. Woods fired a Major championship record-tying 63 on Friday to grab the lead, and you know what he does when he gets the lead — he finishes the deal.

 Tiger is now 13-0 when he leads a Major championship after 54 holes, and he is 40-3 on the PGA Tour during his career in all tournaments. Woods has won 59 times on the PGA Tour during his brilliant 12-year career.

This was the 44th Major championship of his career; Tiger has won 13 of them. That’s 29.7 percent, nearly a third. Nicklaus won 11 of his first 44 professional Major tournaments by comparison.

 Woods is 31 years old and now a father. His wife Ellin and infant daughter Sam Alexis, dressed in red, were waiting in the scoring tent to congratulate him.

 With 13 Majors at age 31, Woods is well ahead of the pace set by Nicklaus with 18 Majors. Nicklaus was 35 years old when he won his 13th Major championship.

 It was also the second time that Woods has won a Major championship on a par-70 course, shooting 71-63-69-69, a -8 for a 272 score. It’s the fourth time that Woods has won the PGA Championship; the record is five, held by Nicklaus and Walter Hagen.

 Tiger has now done what Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Ben Hogan could not do — win a Major championship at Southern Hills. How dominant is Tiger?

 He has won three of the last six Major championships, and he finished second in two of the other six. He has now won at least five PGA Tournaments eight times in this, his 12th year on tour. He also leads the PGA and World Money list with $7,824,000 so far this year.

 Fitz Notes & Quotes

 Longtime Vikings security guard Frank Foster was found dead last week in a motor home in Mankato, Minnesota. Foster was 66.

 He was a really good man. While covering the Vikings all these years, he was always helpful, always professional, yet personable doing his job. He had worked for the Vikings for 14 years since retiring as a St. Paul police officer.

 When my sons Larry Jr. and Marcus were ball boys with the Vikings, Foster always let me know if they stepped out of line. He was hired by Dennis Green and former Vikings Security Director Steve Rollins. He will be missed.

 The Vikings lost their first preseason game last Friday 13-10 to the St. Louis Rams. Tavaris Jackson, the Vikings starting quarterback, played well. He completed eight of 11 passes for 83 yards, ran twice for 25 yards, and had a QB rating of 94.1

The Vikings break training camp in Mankato on Thursday, Aug 16.