Tiger Woods grows on and off the golf course I
?Y RON SIRAK
AfOOLF WRITER
The shadows stretched across
the Four Seasons Resort tike fin
gers on a hand reaching for the
most difficult chord on a piano. As
the sun lowered, most of the activ
J ity was in the hospitahty tents.
Only two people were on the
practice putting green on Saturday
evening at the Byron Nelson Clas
sic - Tiger Woods and Jerry Chang,
a friend from his Stanford days
who now travels frequently with
him.
Sitting silently nearby in a golf
cart, basking in a fading shaft of
sunlight, was a hulking form of a
man paying dose attention.
Woods, with his hat turned
around in the style of most any 22
year-old who should be just pick
ing up his college degree, was
doing two things: He was working
on golf; and he was having fun.
Those two things have always
gone hand in band for Woods
Clearly in the middle of a
match. Woods winced when Chang
tolled in a long putt to win a hole.
When Woods pushed a putt wide
of the cup, a voice from the golf
cart bellowed: "Follow through
with the stroke."
The advice came from Earl
Woods, who taught his son the
game even before he could walk
and now hopes to see him become
the best golfer ever.
Barely more than a year ago
that wish seemed unlikely. Not that
Tiger Woods would not become
the greatest golfer ever, but that
Earl Woods would live to see it.
The elder Woods wore shorts as
he sat in that golf cart. Visible on
both legs were scars from the oper
ation in which veins were removed
and used for the quadruple heart
bypass operation that saved his life
"Yeah," Tiger Woods said
back to his Fop. "I'm not finishing
the stroke."
Then Chang called back:
"Hey, no lessons in the middle of
the match."
Laughter all around.
This has been life for Tiger and
Fop for more than 20 years. Play
ing golf. Working on golf. Having
fun with golf.
Several things were clear at the
Byron Nelson Classic. Woods is
working on his game as hard as
ever. He is much more comfortable
with his fellow players, the fans
and the media than he was a year
ago.
And he is a better golfer.
Don't be mislead by the one
PGA Tour victory compared to
the three last year at this time He
drives the ball straighter, has better
distance control with his irons and
a somewhat more varied game
around the green. And he has
become a more consistent short
putter.
"He's going to be scary how
good he's going to get," Jim Carter
said after playing with Woods on
Saturday.
Nick Faldo says golf is not
about the quality of one's good
shots but the quality of one's bad
shots Woods' bad shots are way
better than last year; which means
he will give himself more chances
to win.
Then there is the fact that he is
a year older. His maturity shows
not only in the more controlled
way he plays but also in how he
interacts with others
True, he still gets angry after a
bad shot _ sometimes very angry.
And true, he displays annoyance at
times with a good shot that is not
great. But he smiles more,
acknowledges the crowd more
Woods also interacts much
more with his fellow pros than he
did last year. He is much less likely
now to take off 20 yards ahead of
his playing partners, walking with
his eyes fixed straight ahead. He is
much more likely to talk and laugh
with them.
Last year, for four unbelievable
days, Woods' game came com
pletely together at the Masters in a
remarkable display of his skills
That hasn't happened yet this
year, and it may not happen to the
degree that it did at Augusta very
many times in his career.
But the feeling Woods exudes
right now is that he is Hanring
around his considerable ability, cir
cling his skills and pulling them
together for another remarkable
display.
"I had it going for a while,"
Woods said after he made a brief
run at the leaders Sunday at the
Nelson.
Then he shook his head and
smiled as he thought of what could
be.
"I'm really close," he said. "I
hit the ball good in spots and
putted good in spots but couldn't
do both together."
Perhaps that will happen next
month in the U.S. Open at the
Olympic Club, a course Woods
knows well from his days at Stan
ford.
Perhaps what we have seen
from Tiger Woods this year was
merely a prelude for something
wonderful, something that once
again will leave people shaking
their heads.
tt ? m
1 1 ? ?
Tlgmr Wood* (I) and Iannis star Andre Agassi an Investor* In a
restaurant at Disney World
New York basketball legend I
'The Goat' dead at age 53 |
BY LARRY MCSHANE ?,
THE ASSOOATEP PRESS
NEW YORK - He was perhaps the greatest player
never to make the NBA, an incredible leaper who made
dunking an art form back when Michael Jordan was in
diapers and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still Lew Akin
dor.
Earl "The Goat" Manigault, the New York City
playground legend whose descent into heroin addiction
cost him a professional career, died Friday of heart fail
ure at Bellevue Hospital. Manigault, whose life was
made into a 1996 HBO movie, was 53.
The 6-foot-1-inch Manigault was "the best player
his size in the history of New York City," according to
Abdul-Jabbar, who often squared off against "The
Goat" in city parks during the 1960s.
Mamgaults domination of the
players at the 98th Street courts was
so total that it became known as
"Goat Park." And his high-flying
antics were credited with changing
the game, paving the way for Julius
Erving and Jordan.
"All this stuff you call NBA bas
ketball and 'Showtime'?" Manigault
said earlier this year. "Well, we were
the ones who brought in the noise
and brought in the funk."
But while city contemporaries
like Abdul-Jabbar and Connie
Hawkins went on to professional
careers, Manigault battled a drug
problem and twice landed behind
bars The dope sapped his abilities,
and a 1971 tryout with the ABA's
Utah Stars ended with his release.
"For every Michael Jordan," he
once said, "there's an Earl Mani
gault. We can't all make it."
Manigault's stunts were leg
endary: leaping to place a quarter on
the top of a backboard. Reverse
dunking a basketball 36 straight
times to win a $60 bet.
Author Pbte Axthelm, in his
book "The City Game," said Mani
gault would typically leave other
players slack-jawed.
"Occasionally he would drive
past a few defenders, dunk the ball
with one hand, catch it with the
other - and raise it and stuff it
through the hoop a second time
before returning to earth," Axthelm
wrote.
Manigault never made the transi
tion from the playgrounds to orga
nized ball. After starring at Harlem's
Benjamin Franklin High School, he
went to a North Carolina prep school and attracted
recruiters from college powerhouses Duke, Indiana and
North Carolina.
Manigault opted for the smaller Johnson C. Smith
University, a predominantly black school where his
grades plunged and he fought with the coach over play
ing time.
He returned to Harlem's playgrounds, where both
his legend and addiction grew. Manigault did 16
months in jail for drug possession in 1969-70, and did
another prison term from 1977-79 in a failed robbery
plot, counseling center for teens He became an unoffi
cial coach at Wadleigh High School, culminating in the
school^ city championship this year.
Manigault is survived by his wife, Yvonne, and two
sons, Darrin and Earl.
Jlppfy for
Miriam
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