Woods well on way to fulfilling wild prediction

By Doug Ferguson ~ The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He has the flair and charisma of Arnold Palmer, the power and intimidation of Jack Nicklaus. Perhaps it won't be long before Tiger Woods has as many green jackets as both of them combined.

That's what Nicklaus predicted when he and Palmer played a practice round on the eve of the 1996 Masters with Woods, who at the time was a sophomore at Stanford.

Ten green jackets? Everyone scoffed.

No one is laughing any more, least of all the guys trying to stop him.

"Something is going on with him that's not going on with us," Davis Love III said.

Now, there's no telling what the future holds for a 26-year-old who collected his seventh major championship in only his 21st attempt as a pro, who has slipped on that Masters green jacket so often that Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson joked Woods might wear it out by the time his career is over.

"Give him a couple more years, and I think Tiger will be even greater than Jack Nicklaus. It's just a matter of time," Retief Goosen said.

Woods beat Goosen by three strokes to win his third Masters on Sunday, and became only the third player to repeat as champion.

The question at the beginning of the week was who would help Woods put on the green jacket if he won, a chore that usually falls to the defending champion.

Johnson did the honors, but he had some help.

Goosen, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh all had a chance to make a move. Once Woods established himself at the top, they all got out of the way.

"I guess the way he plays just gets to you," Els said.

Perhaps that's why Els changed his plans when he stepped on the par-5 13th, three strokes out of the lead. He told himself to keep his drive to the right, then got greedy and tried to take off as much of the dogleg as he could.

He went into the trees, into the creek, into a tributary of the creek and made 8.

Perhaps that's why Mickelson went after every flag, costing him back-to-back bogeys right after opening with consecutive birdies.

"When other guys are up there, you know that if you can just stay around, there's a good chance they might come back two or three shots," Mickelson said. "But Tiger doesn't ever seem to do that. You know you have to make birdies to catch him, which is why I think we saw guys taking aggressive plays and making bogeys."

Woods is now 23-2 when he goes into the final round with at least a share of the lead. In majors, he's even better, a perfect 7-0.

"I've done it before," he said. "You know what it takes to win here. I know how to handle my emotions. I was able to outlast the other guys."

If there was a turning point for Woods, it came on the par-3 sixth hole when he hit 7-iron over the back of the green. With only about 20 feet between him and the hole, he chipped in for a birdie to restore his lead to three strokes.

"From there on, no one really was putting any pressure on him," Goosen said. "I think he was just cruising. He wasn't taking any chances out there."

Woods took a lesson from another former Masters champion -- Ben Hogan.

Hogan was once asked why he didn't go for the green in two on the par-5 13th, which he easily could have done.

"I didn't need a 3," Hogan replied.

Woods didn't need to take the kind of chances that doomed everyone else. With a three-shot lead, he had 200 yards to clear the creek on No. 13, nothing more than a 5-iron.

Instead, he laid up and settled for a two-putt par.

"Not trying to do anything heroic," he said. "I still had to continue plugging along, because if I was able to do that, it would make it very difficult for the guys to make a run."

Woods is making it difficult for everyone at the Masters, no matter what they do to venerable Augusta National.

When Woods won his first Masters in 1997 at age 21, a 12-stroke victory with a record score of 270, there was talk about "Tiger-proofing" the golf course.

The only solution might be to send Woods a letter like they did to the older champions, asking them not to compete.

"I haven't got a letter yet," Woods joked. "If I don't get a letter, I'm coming back."

He will try next year to become the first player to win the Masters three times in a row. Nick Faldo tied for 12th, five strokes behind, when he tried in 1991. Nicklaus missed the cut in 1967 after winning the previous two years.

For now, Woods can set his sights on the only record that matters to him, the 18 professional majors won by Nicklaus that stands as golf's benchmark for greatness.

"It would be nice to win as many majors as Jack did," he said. "The thing I keep saying to myself is that I want to become a better player at the end of the year. And if I can keep doing that year after year for the rest of my career, I'll have a pretty good career."

He just might end up with those 10 green jackets.

Maybe more.