The Chase for Eighteen is back on

Let me paint you a picture of me as a twelve year old boy living in southern Arizona in the year 2000. Each morning I would wake up bright and early for swim team practice. I loved to swim and was actually a naturally swimmer. But just because I was good at it did not mean that my dream to be an olympic swimmer. I dreamed about being some sort of athlete for my entire life. During football season I wanted to be a football player, a wide receiver. During basketball season, I dreamed of playing point guard. I would invision myself playing for my favorite team and winning championship after championship. But in the summer of 2000, when even if I wasn't swimming, I was soaked in water, mostly sweat, from the 110 degree Arizona sun, I spent my days at the golf course dreaming about winning the Masters or the US Open. Basically, I was dreaming about being just like Tiger Woods. But of course, that dream did not carry me to a professional career. I made my High School golf team, but as you already know, I am not a member of the PGA Tour. I spent most of my afternoons that summer and many of the subsequent ones on the golf course. But that summer something special happened. Something that may not ever be duplicated. On June 18, 2000 Tiger Woods won the United States open by a margin of 15 strokes. Tiger finished at -12 while second place Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez finished at +3. An absolute domination, so much so that before the final round, Erine Els said "Before we went out, I knew I had no chance". And we forget, that this was only Tiger's third major championship. I remember watching the TV during the four days of that tournament thinking and knowing that I was watching something special play out. I was too young to understand the historical significance of what Tiger was accomplishing, but I do remember thinking "Wow, this is AWESOME!"

The next day, Monday June 19th, the Lakers defeated Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers to win the NBA Championship. The first title for Kobe and Shaq. Two major sports events in two days.

Each Thursday the weekly edition of Sports Illustrated would arrive in the mail and when I would get home from school my mom would always make me guess who was on the cover of it before she would let me read the magazine. So obviously my first guess was Kobe or Shaq or someone

from the Lakers. But I was wrong, it was Tiger Woods. And up in the corner next to Tiger's head was a mention of the Lakers championship.

Tiger Woods would go on to win the next 3 majors, completing what is now known as the "Tiger Slam", holding all four Major trophies at the same time. He would follow up the Tiger Slam by winning the 2002 Masters and the 2002 US Open. But I think we ofter forget that it took Tiger a long time to win another major. He finally got back on the bus winning the 2005 Masters. Nearly three years after his previous major victory. To date, Tiger has won a total of 14 major championships and is only 4 behind the all time leader Jack Nicklaus.

Jack won his 14th major title in 1975 when he defeated Bruce Crampton to win the PGA Championship. When Nicklaus won his 14th major, he was 35 years old. Tiger was 32, and is currently only 34, still younger than Jack. After Nicklaus won that tournament, it took him nearly 3 years to win his 15th major. He finally did so in the 1978 British Open. He then won two majors in 1980 and did not win his 18th and final major until the 1986 Masters at the age of 46.

I mention all of this because as we all know very well, this has been a tough past year for Tiger Woods. The media and myself included have all wondered at times if he is over and done with. Did Tiger Woods hit is prime back in 2000 as a 24 year old kid?

Today Tiger Woods shot a 65, -6 at the Barclays. His best round of the year, just days after his divorce to Elin Nordengren became oficial. Tiger has gone winless in his last 8 grand slams, so we have to ask ourselves, will he catch Jack Nicklaus? After his round today,

Tiger was asked that very question. He responded, "I look at it this way, [Ben] Hogan won all nine of his [majors] at my age and older. I think for every kid out there, the goal is to get there. That is the benchmark in our sport, and that's still my goal." Tiger thinks he can do it. And well, so do I. I am ready to stop hearing about Tiger Woods personal life and only focus on his golf game. Although I do not think we will ever be fortunate enough to witness golf miracles like we did back in 2000, I believe Tiger still has some magic juices left in him. It is sad that Tiger Woods, arguably the most talented athlete on the planet, lost his head and gave up something great, a marriage and a family, for a few moments of pleasure. But lets be honest, in some form or another, in ways big or small, we too do the same as Tiger. We all make mistakes and forget who we are. But since when can we not pick ourselves back up and keep going? It is sad to me that Tiger Woods, the man who I wished I was when I was 12, is someone now who I never hope to become.But having said that, if he can make changes in his life and come back from the nightmare he has experienced this past year and pass Jack Nicklaus, winning more Majors than anyone else, well that may be just as good of a story as what he did back in 2000 at Pebble Beach in the US Open. And that will be good enough to make the cover of Sports Illustrated.