Tiger Woods won the Masters, golf's battle of the titans at Augusta National Golf Club, giving him four consecutive major championships, dating back to last June at the U.S. Open.
He's the only golfer to ever hold all four titles at the same time, but he has not won them all in the same calendar year. That's where the problem of naming what he's accomplished comes in.
Winning all four in the same year has been named the Grand Slam, and the game's grand old names have fervently opposed attaching that name to the four straight wins.
In deference to them, let's call it the Tiger Slam. Why⢠Because he did it, and most likely he'll be the only player to ever do it.
'We'll let that to you guys,' Woods said at the press conference last night. 'You're the creative ones.'
In winning the $1,008,000 first prize, Woods shot a final-round 68, the same score he posted in the third round. He was two shots better than David Duval, who came in with a 67, but he missed a five- or six-footer on No. 18 that would have tied him with Woods. Duval didn't make a par until his ninth hole, but in his case that wasn't a bad thing. He made six birdies and two bogies before he made that par, catapulting him right into the middle of the fight.
Phil Mickelson, who thought this was his best chance to win his first major, bungled enough shots on the back nine to shoot a 70 and finish third at 275.
'It's very difficult to win these events, these major championships,' Duval said. 'You have to have your game right at the right time, you know, there's an art to that. Certainly, like there's an art to playing a 72-hole tournament. I don't know what you would compare it to because I'm not so sure there's something you could compare it with, certainly in modern golf.
'There's going to be a heck of a lot of stuff going on for him at Southern Hills (in Tulsa, Okla., site of the U.S. Open in June), and deservedly so. As it stands now, it's clear somebody has to play and beat him.'
Sunday afternoon at Augusta is always a time for emotions. Golf fans from across the world are excited by what might be happening on the back nine, the players' nerves are at their most raw edges, and all of that is very evident.
And when Woods made the turn at 14 under with Duval and Mickelson a shot back at 13, it was clear this was going to be something special.
Roars were heard throughout the valleys on Augusta National when birdies were made, but there were nearly as many moans and groans as missed putts and bad shots produced bogeys.
Chief among the mistake-makers was Mickelson, who bogeyed Nos. 11 and 16 to take himself out of the tournament.
'If I'm going to win with Tiger in the field, I cannot make the mistakes I have been making,' he said. 'I've got to eliminate those somehow. I don't feel as though I'm that far off. I just think that mentally, I'm not there for all 72 (holes). I feel like I'm just slacking off on two or three and just kind of letting momentum take over.'
Woods, on the other hand, knew he wasn't going to win this by 12 or 15 shots and that he'd need to work hard on every swing to outduel the other two.
'I made some big putts this week,' Woods said. 'And that might have been the difference. But when I made that last one (for birdie), it was such a weird feeling. I realized I didn't have any more shots to play. I had won the Masters. I really haven't thought that much about winning four in a row. I'm just thinking about having won the Masters, which is pretty cool.'
Cool enough to have gotten a call of congratulations from President Bush on his way to the media center, not long after emotional embraces with both his mother and father.
Cool enough that a couple of his fellow players - Mark Calcavecchia and Greensburg native Rocco Mediate - waited behind the 18th green to watch Woods finish.
'It's so impressive what he has done,' Calcavecchia said. 'Like most, I think you have to win all four in one year ... and he can still do that.'
'Standing back there watching that, I was just in awe,' Mediate said. 'Who knows what he'll do next⢠He could win all four this year. It was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen.'
Mickelson was unwilling to discuss Woods and what he accomplished. Duval, however, had nothing but praise for his friend.
'The first thing I want to say is congratulations to Tiger,' Duval said. 'He's a friend of mine and, under these circumstances, with what he was trying to accomplish, to shoot 68 and win the golf tournament in the manner he did is outstanding.'
Just think about it for a minute. Winning the four majors consecutively is the ultimate of Woods' accomplishments. But he's also won his past three starts (Bay Hill, Players Championship and Masters) and is also holding titles from the Canadian Open, the NEC World Golf Championship and the Memorial.
If it's big, Tiger Woods has won it in the past 16 months.
'The first two I won, probably couldn't have happened on two better sites (Pebble Beach and St. Andrews). And to win at Valhalla under those conditions, having to make birdie after birdie, just to hang in there was tough,' he said. 'And then to do it here, which is again one of the most historic sites in all the world, is pretty neat.'
