Friday, March 30, 2007

Commentary: Woods needs to broaden schedule

Is it too late to change our mind on the question of whether or not Tiger Woods is cherry picking his way into history?

A third straight victory at Doral Resort and Spa's Blue Course Sunday in the WGC-CA Championship suggests that Woods, smart man that he is, might be building a resume largely filled with tournaments he knows he can win.

Why is this bad? Well, we're not saying it is.

Doesn't he have a right, as an independent contractor, to set his schedule as he sees fit? Oh, yeah, he does.

Aren't there always horses for courses? Yep, and Woods is a thoroughbred on several of them, including that little old invitational next week in Augusta, Ga., where he has won four times already.

So why bring this up at all? Call it a gut feeling, akin to watching a waterfall. You know all about the path of least resistance. Water goes where it won't be impeded. Woods seems to be doing the same -- not that he is avoiding good competition on the way to winning 12 majors and 57 PGA Tour titles. In fact, he usually only competes in the tournaments with the best quality fields.

It's just that his schedule is static and his story line -- truly phenomenal and inspiring - could use maybe a few more tributaries. We're starting to feel like the more Buick Invitationals he piles up, the less meaningful the exercise becomes.

OK, so Jack Nicklaus won 10 of his 18 majors on three courses -- Augusta National Golf Club, Baltusrol and St. Andrews. Two more he won at Firestone Country Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links, where he'd had prior success. But even as he competed on a limited basis, the Golden Bear did tend to branch out from time to time, getting to the Sony Open in Hawaii or Kemper Open or St. Jude Classic or even the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee -- the event where Woods began his pro career in 1996 but hasn't returned to since.

Woods hasn't done much tinkering with his schedule, and, granted, when you're chasing history, why mess with a system that works? But -- and this gets to the issue of the haves and have-nots on the PGA Tour that became so prevalent when The International went away -- couldn't there be just a bit more of him sprinkled throughout the calendar? How good would the tour look if its marquee man, its superstar, added one more tournament a year? Better still that his extra week of tournament play came at a different venue every season.

But we digress. At present, Woods has successfully defended a title 18 times. Of his 12 majors, eight have come on three layouts -- Augusta, Medinah Country Club's No. 3 course, and St. Andrews. Like Nicklaus, Woods also has a U.S. Open victory at Pebble Beach, where he'd won previously.

(It's truly eerie how Woods and Nicklaus intersect so often, no?)

Then there are his three wins at Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament, four at Bay Hill, five at Pebble Beach and five at the Buick Invitational. This man is really good, but on courses he favors, he's virtually unstoppable.

All the more reason to branch out. Let's broaden horizons.

Is this criticism of the lad? No way.

In fact, his latest victory has elements we should applaud. It better reflects his stunning skill level, unmatched in this era. The most amazing aspect of Woods' latest triumph at Doral's Blue Monster is not that he won his third straight there or his sixth CA Championship, but that he has won that particular tournament on six different layouts, believed to be a first in Tour history. This one event is where Woods is proving his real genius.

Going forward, we'd just like to see that a little more often. Everyone probably would. It would be good for golf, the tour and -- amazing as it is already -- his own legacy.