The basketball star recognises the signs of a star performer

The basketball star recognises the signs of a star performer. “He creates negative thoughts in his opponents’ minds,” Jordan said “Intimidation can be so successful. Tiger has it.”But Jordan, who thrived in a team game rather than an individual sport, also appreciates that Woods has had to put up with much that he did not, for example being a figurehead for minorities in a sport considered a white bastion “I never had to deal with that,” Jordan said. “Tiger has also got involved in the business aspect of sport way before I did. I just played the games and never thought about what impact I might have.”At first, it was not something Woods wanted to contemplate either.

Towards the end of 1998, when Woods was grumbling about life in a goldfish bowl, Harmon told him to either “retire and count your money or deal with your life and have fun. Now he is comfortable being Tiger Woods.” Said Earl Woods: “He is more at peace because he has accepted his role as a superstar. What I really like is that he really thinks and acts globally He is not just a person in the United States. He is a person of the world.”"I like where my life is right now,” Tiger said.

He started dating his girlfriend, Joanna Jagoda, in 1998 and guards her privacy jealously. Later that year he got rid of his brash agent, Hughes Norton, and replaced him with Steinberg, a younger and more laid-back character They worked on his image. “It seemed that Tiger wasn’t very accessible,” said Steinberg “He was an island. I wanted people to get to know him as a person as well as a superhuman golfer.”Among the television ads that followed, Tiger was shown bouncing a ball on the face of a sand wedge His record, according to Golf Digest, is 1,000 repetitions. The magazine also reported Woods as holing 200 consecutive six-foot putts, hitting a nine-iron 240 yards (downhill, downwind from a flying lie), bench pressing more than one and a half times his body weight, experiencing zero gravity in an F16 Thunderbird and that he makes his bed every morning, even when he is staying in a hotel.On course, Woods can still be seen tossing the odd club, but it tends to be on an early hole on Thursday rather than down the stretch on Sunday Smiling, though, is not a regular occurrence “Some lady asked me why and I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m nervous. I don’t know if you can smile when you are nervous but I don’t have that skill’.”The mythical notion that Woods can win the grand slam is intriguing because all this year’s venues are set up nicely for him. The US Open is at Pebble Beach, where he won in February, the Open is at St Andrews, a long-hitters’ dream, while the US PGA is at Valhalla.

Woods will not admit it is not possible, but don’t bet against him.What Woods will say is this: “I know what I want to accomplish and I know how to get there The ultimate goal is to be the best Whether that’s the best ever, who knows? I hope so.”. A year ago Jose Maria Olazabal arrived at Augusta with little confidence having missed the cut at the BellSouth Classic He left with his second green jacket. After making the cut at the TPC of Sugarloaf this week, the Spaniard is, however, even less optimistic about the Masters. A year ago Jose Maria Olazabal arrived at Augusta with little confidence having missed the cut at the BellSouth Classic He left with his second green jacket. After making the cut at the TPC of Sugarloaf this week, the Spaniard is, however, even less optimistic about the Masters.
By his own admission, his driving, always suspect, is worse than ever, while his putting, a vital factor at Augusta, is not up to its usually high standard.