Tiger Talks Grand Slam -- And Why Not?

The birdie putt was said to be 15 feet. In truth, the ball exploded from the 72nd green at Bay Hill and shot through the consciousness of every golfer not named Tiger Woods, torturing the collective psyche of the so-called competition. If there were any doubts that Woods would be less than his indomitable self after knee surgery, his final-hole victory in the Florida darkness zapped the uncertainty like radiation treatment, leaving rivals with a familiar tsunami of dread.

Which might explain why Woods, healthier and happier than at any point in his epic career, dared to venture Tuesday into the same rare territory he did a year ago. He was asked again, in the interview room at Augusta National, if he could win the Grand Slam this year. Without hesitation, he said yes.

"Well, I know I can do it. I've done it. It's hard for me to sit here and tell you it can't be done, because I've done it before," he said, referring to the period when he owned all four major championships simultaneously, though not in a same-year sequence. "It's just a matter of winning the right four at the right time. So hopefully, it will start this week for me."

Should you ever wonder about the global fascination with Tiger, consider this a delicious example. Why ask "Why?" about the Slam when he can ask "Why not?" As he attacks Jack Nicklaus' career record of 18 major championships, standing at 14 as the Masters begins, he'd rather accentuate the big-picture chase with one of the few challenges he hasn't met. His rationale isn't hard to figure out. For years, he won majors on a bum knee that ached and restricted the mechanics of certain shots. So wouldn't the rebuilt Tiger be as good as new -- and better than ever -- when his swing coach, Hank Haney, asks him to plot a more complete strategy at a major? "It's nice to be able to finally get to do the things Hank was trying to get me to do," Woods said. "I wasn't able to do that for a number of years, because I didn't have a leg to do that on. It's finally nice to hit the shots we were trying to hit. I can hit them now.

"Bay Hill was great, to feel that and just see how my body would react again. It's been a while, with a lot of uncertainty during the months upon months of rehab, and it felt great to hit shots. Like the shot I hit on 18, it felt great to be able to take something off that little 7-iron and be able to control the flight like that. That's something that I've been missing."

We would be clinically insane, of course, to say he won't win the Masters, the Slam or anything else he attempts in golf. Winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational provided Woods with his rocket fuel, the confidence that his knee problems are behind him. He admits now that he had doubts, before his late February return at the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, about whether he'd return to his current performance level. "If you asked me prior to the Match Play, a lot of it was uncertain. I didn't know how I was going to respond," he said. "I didn't know how I was going to recover from day to day. I felt that the Match Play was a big turning point for me physically, but my game started coming around (two weeks later) at Doral. I started hitting the ball better and better each day and got my feel for the game each day."

So he arrives at Augusta as the favorite to win his fifth green jacket, despite having won only once -- a drought by his standards -- in his last six Masters. I speak for the masses in saying the most desirable drama would involve Woods and Phil Mickelson, who has won twice this year and looks primed to make one final charge in a career in which he has been Wile E. Coyote and Tiger has been the Road Runner. Last time Woods had a serious setback -- his father's death in 2006 --Mickelson was positioned to become the sport's alpha dog when he led the U.S. Open on the 72nd tee at Winged Foot. One tragicomic adventure later, he was unfulPhilled again, and he hasn't been the same until his recent rally. Going on 39, Mickelson doesn't have much time to one-up the greatest golfer ever.

The tension between the two is well-established. It escalated when Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, fired a salvo at Mickelson in December, saying, "I wouldn't call Mickelson a great player, 'cause I hate the (expletive)." He also told a story about Mickelson supposedly being heckled at last June's U.S. Open while playing a round with Woods. Seems a fan kept yelling "Phil!" in hopes of gaining Mickelson's attention on the 17th hole. Not until the fan changed his plea to "Mr. Mickelson" did he finally turn and wave. Whereupon the fan yelled, "Nice tits." According to Williams, Mickelson became unglued and put up poor scores after the episode. But in a statement, Mickelson denied the incident ever happened, calling it "an absolute fabrication" and describing Williams' comments as "grossly inaccurate and irresponsible." Indeed, Mickelson's performance on the 17th and 18th holes both days involved no scoring struggles. "After seeing Steve Williams' comments, all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like Bones on my bag and representing me," Mickelson said in a statement, referring to his caddie, Jim (Bones) MacKay. Williams never apologized to Mickelson, but did say he regretted saying it and that "no harm was meant" in the spirit of fun. Sure.

Knowing what was coming Tuesday, Mickelson tried his best to downplay any rivalry between he and Woods. Asked if the public "craves" feuds, he turned the tables onto the media. "I haven't found that to be the case," he said. "I'm a big San Diego Charger fan, and I don't care who they're playing -- whether it's the Raiders, who are historically their rival, or the Broncos, or Giants or Jets; I am pulling for San Diego to win one game as much as another. When I watch a tennis match, I don't care if Federer is playing Nadal. I like watching their skills and seeing what they can do against any competition. I just appreciate their excellence, if you will. It doesn't make a big of a difference to me, but that doesn't mean it makes a lot to you."

But wouldn't he love to be in the final group with Woods on Sunday? "I would love to be in the same group as him and walk down together on Sunday, if we are in the final group. I don't want to be third off," he said to laughter. "Hopefully, we will both play well. For that to happen, we have 54 holes where we have to play great golf. I don't think that's a question for him. I think he's playing some great golf and I think he's going to be there. I think that I've been playing some of the best golf of my career, and I believe I'm going to be there, too. Hopefully, there will be some other key players like Padraig Harrington, who is going for his third major championship in a row, which is an incredible feat. Hopefully, we will have a core of top players on the leaderboard."

Come on, there's no extra incentive to beat Woods?

"I think that when I had success in a head-to-head match with Tiger at Boston a couple of years ago, it didn't matter to me the fact that we were playing together per se," Mickelson said. "I know it was made out into a huge deal, but for me to perform well, I've got to attack the golf course the way I can and not worry about what he does and not let his great shots or poor shots affect the way I play my next shot. It's not a match-play situation. It's a stroke-play event, and for me to play my best, I can't get caught up in that or nor can he."

Nothing confrontational at all? "In golf, we know that we are going to see each other very week, so the relationships are very strong and we try not to let that one week get in the way," he said.

Just when the story line seemed exhausted, someone asked if Mickelson took special satisfaction three years ago when he was fitted with his second green jacket by Woods. "I do have a picture of him sliding that jacket on me. That felt good," he admitted.

Those are rivalry words, I suppose. Not that Woods will stoke the fire. "Well, he and I have certainly competed head-to-head quite a few times, and primarily, it's been in the States," he said. "I would say the person I've gone head-to-head against most has been Ernie (Els), and that has been all over the world because he plays all over the world, and I play here and there. But Phil and I certainly have battled in majors. We have battled in PGA Tour events. We've both been successful on both sides."



Translated, Woods is above such nonsense. He only competes against himself, as we know. And if he putts and plays his short game as well as he did at Bay Hill and strikes the ball a little better, he'll win his 15th major and draw to within three of Nicklaus. He says he's surprised, at 33, to be so close to the master. "I would never have foreseen myself winning this many championships this soon," he said. "But I'm not going to say it's a bad thing, either."

Does he expect to win this week?

"Always," Woods said.

He's preaching to the choir. Asked if he would be less fearful of Mickelson or Woods, Geoff Ogilvy opened a hornet's nest Tuesday by bringing up Mickelson's choke habits. "It's not fair to Phil, but if you are fearful, you would be less fearful of Phil," Ogilvy said. "Phil can come with 72 holes of the most unbelievable golf anyone in the world can play; when he's on, he's on. He can have periods where he's unbelievable, but he can also have periods where he's completely off the map. I guess with Phil, anything can happen. With Tiger, the intimidation is you know he's going to play well. Phil is human, like most other guys on tour in that anything can happen sometimes. All of us can hit crazy shots the last few holes of a golf tournament, but Tiger doesn't do it quite as frequently."

In a roundabout way, he's saying Tiger doesn't choke.

With young players emerging such as Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas and Rory McIlroy, Woods says he's starting to feel older and a bit more vulnerable. Yep, try telling him that when he's teeing off Thursday, back in a major after a 10-month absence. "If you just look at the landscape of the (sport) in '96 when I came out here versus here in 2009, there are a lot more guys with a chance to win each and every week, and that's going to be the case as time goes on," he said. "The fields are getting deeper. The equipment, technology, guys' margins of mis-hits are not going as far off-line. The game is getting closer and closer together. It just makes it harder to win. But these close events are certainly interesting. They are a rush, there's no doubt. But I certainly prefer '97 and 2000. Those are a little easier on the system."

In 1997, he said hello to the world and goodbye to Augusta racism with a rout at the Masters. In 2000, he was dominating majors. He doesn't win with the same victory margin these days, but in his blood-red shirt, his triumphant Sundays are just as dynamic. How curious that Woods isn't half as confident about Harrington's chances of a Paddy Slam -- he has won the last two majors -- as his own Grand Slam. "Well, it's not going to be easy," he said. "It's hard to peak four straight times. There's a lot of factors that go into it: Having your game come together, playing well at the right time, and on top of that, getting the right breaks. People don't realize, just one gust of wind here or there is a shot. You don't think it could cost you the tournament on Thursday, but sometimes it does."

A 39-year-old amateur from Mississippi is making his Masters debut. His name is Steve Wilson, and he owns gas stations. Woods, a budding billionaire, was asked if he possibly can relate. "When I first played here, I was 19. He's 39. But still, it was a lifelong goal for me to play in the Masters, and I think for every kid who plays golf, you want to play here," he said.

"I just remember teeing off on the first hole. It was just the coolest thing in the world. Whether you're 19 or 39 or whatever, it doesn't matter. It's the greatest thing to experience this for the first time."

If Tiger speaks like a man who owns the place, it's because he does. He can talk about a green jacket. He can talk about a Grand Slam. He can talk about anything he so desires.

Because as he reinvents himself in his golfing midlife, we're all watching, listening and believing anything is possible.