Woods wins Masters

MARK WHICKER (KRT)

Tiger Woods has not reversed global warming or replaced the forests or gotten us all to join hands and sing, “We Are The World.”

Woods hasn’t even triggered a wave of good young minority golfers. Or young male golfers, period. The hottest incubation pod is Great Britain, where the kids certainly knew of Woods but actually grew up worshipping Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo. Industry-wide, golf participation by the common man has flattened out, and golfing brands come and go.

But when it comes to the continuing saga of tournament golf, Tiger Woods is the planet and everyone else is a moon. Again, Tiger makes it matter.

All other golfers are measured against his shadow, even when that shadow coughs and hacks and spits out a four-stroke lead, as Woods did during the magnificent coda of an annoyingly demanding Masters Tournament.

When was the last time Tiger choked? Woods’tee shot at 17 _ on the heels of his epochal chip shot on 16 that gave him the twoshot lead _ was right out of the Greg Norman gag book, and so was his pushy second shot on 18. Overall, Woods hit seven of 14 fairways during the fourth round.

Chris DiMarco refused to hold the door for Woods even though he had blown his own four-shot lead in the morning resumption of Round 3.

Makes you wonder about the `97 Masters and the `00 U.S. and British Opens, all blowouts by Woods, when everyone else was paralyzed by his new dimension. The pros are better now. Woods is responsible for that.

It also helps that Woods is working on a bigger project here. Everything he does, or doesn’t do, is framed by the growth chart on his bedroom wall as a kid. Everything is measured in JNTJack Nicklaus Time.

Woods’victory here kept him ahead of the clock. He won his fourth Masters at 29. Nicklaus won his at 32. Woods won his ninth major title at 29. Nicklaus won his at 31 (the PGA).

When Fred Couples wins the Masters, it’s a nice, popular story but it lacks a historical context. Same thing when Mark Brooks wins the PGA. That major, in 1996, was the last one decided without Tiger _ he turned pro the next month. Ever ything since then has been char ted like a moon shot in the 60s. Woods makes it all more important.

This was the first major victory for Woods since the 2002 U.S. Open. But he was never close to a legitimate slump. During this, uh, lull, Woods stretched his incredible made-cut streak to a current 141. In 2003 he won five events, including two World Golf Championship events, and in 2004 he won the WGC-World Match Play for the second consecutive year. He was second and fourth on the money list and had 26 top 10 finishes in 37 tournaments.

Woods was recovering from a bad knee during part of that. He also was moving away from Butch Harmon _ a process that began at the `02 PGA, when he birdied the final four holes and finished second to Rich Beem _ and toward a self-help regimen. He began to listen to Hank Haney. Such a shift in instruction wouldn’t have even made the papers in Nicklaus’prime, but golfers are in a fishbowl now (again, thanks to Tiger) and the Woods-Haney tandem has been second-guessed.

“Hank and I have put some serious hours into this,” Woods said, “and I read the articles where he gets ripped, I get ripped for the changes I’m making, and to play as beautifully as I did is pretty cool.”

Two things:

(1) If Tiger wants to find out what “getting ripped” is, he should become a member of the Phillies’ or Red Sox’s bullpen.

Most royal families don’t get the deferential coverage Tiger has received since he was 12 years old.

(2) Haney might want to disassociate himself from the “beautiful” shots that wound up throwing Tiger into the playoff.

“He kept saying he was close,” Haney said. “I kept saying it. A lot of people reacted to that and didn’t believe it. But I knew he was never that far off. And he weathered the storm.

“Sure, some people ripped me. A lot did. But that’s part of the ter ritory. I’m just a small part of his support system, but until you get involved in it, you don’t know the enormity of Tiger Woods.”

One suspects Woods doesn’t fully buy the theory that Harmon and Haney are molding him into whatever he is. This is his second swing change. Both happened after Woods broke the 72-hole Masters record in 1997.

“I won six majors with the other swing, and a different one the first time around,” Woods said pointedly. “So it did all right.”

No doubt Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh - the Wee Three? - will weigh in several more times this year. But Els is 35, Mickelson turns 35 in June, and Singh is 42. All of them can still win, thanks to a conditioning emphasis that also is credited to Woods. But they should hurry.

A golfer’s target years are generally his early to mid 30s. What sort of template is Woods trying to fill? Well, Nicklaus won two majors when he was 32 and was beginning to embark on a torrid 15-major streak. In fourteen of those tournaments he finished in the Top 6.

“I guess I’m halfway but there’s a long way to go,” Tiger said.

This is not the pursuit of .400, or 2,500 rushing yards. This is your life, Tiger Woods, a life that, by the serendipitous rub of the green, happens to run parallel to

After 48 years, the Cabrini College campus has been transformed physically, academically, and athletically. The sports program is rapidly expanding more and more every year. The most recent addition to the athletic community is the men’s baseball club.

The program was started with initiative of two freshman students, Adam Poresky, a psychology major, and Kevin DellaRosa, an English major Both men were athletes in high school; Poresky ran track and DellaRosa played baseball. These two athletes realized that they needed something to keep them occupied throughout the spring season so they decided to get in touch with Orlin Jespersen, the director of intramural sports.

“He has been such a big help,” Poresky said. “He is such a good guy, he really was interested and really helped us a lot,” DellaRosa added.

The two freshman contacted Jespersen early on with their interest in mind and he supported them full-fledge. All they needed was interest and support.

For over a month straight, early in the first semester, DellaRosa and Poresky worked hard at posting flyers all over campus, they sent out e-mails and placed flyers in mailboxes. They made sure to get the word out about the possibility of the very first baseball at Cabrini College.

After they got the wheel turning, practices and workout sessions began taking place, thanks to the dedication of approximately 18 young men, including senior finance major, Will Harmon.

“Will has really tried to do everything he can to help us out,” Poresky said. “He has been trying to start a team here for as long as he has been here so he was more than willing to lend his help.”

It is true, Cabrini students have always shown interest in starting a team but there has never been enough of a following until now, especially with the help of so many. This year’s freshman class has a large group of young men who are baseball fans and are willing to put the time and energy into committing to the development of a team.

“We aren’t officially a club, but we are definitely getting there,” DellaRosa said. “We have 18 really committed guys who come to all the practices.”

“We’ve had practices at Cowan Park and Radnor High School and we practiced up on the softball f ield, too,” Poresky said.

As far as how much will happen this year with scheduling and game-playing, it is hard to say. The team hopes to play their f irst game this season but it is all up in the air. The two founders would like to see the first game take place before the end of the school year but it is unlikely.

“We still have not seen any money as far as funding goes and we haven’t even met with President Iadorola,” Poresky said. “We did order t-shirts and hats though, hopefully to sell like the softball team does, to get some kind of profit to go towards uniforms or equipment.”

With the help of the new coach, Brett Illig, a for mer major-leaguer, played professional baseball for eight years and has lended his expertise to the Cavs. Illig attended his f irst practice on Monday night and is helping to get te team in tip-top condition.