Can Tiger Slam?

By MERCER BAGGS
Managing Editor, GolfChannel.com

Editor's Note: TheGolfChannel.com is counting down its top 5 stories from the world of golf in 2006 and looking ahead to the five 'Big Questions' on the PGA TOUR in 2007. This is our No. 2 question for the upcoming season.
 
Tiger Woods gets questioned in ways in which no other player does. For someone who has shown time and time again that most every move he makes is the right one for his career, we can’t help but question why he does the things he does. Or, how he does the things he does. Or, can he do things that no one has ever done.
 

A few years ago, questions were raised as to why Woods would alter his swing. It was the second time in his career that he had done such, and both times came on the heels of phenomenal success – and both times were met immediately with benign results.
 
Things managed to work out fairly well on both occasions. The first time, he went on to win eight PGA TOUR events in 1999, nine more in 2000, and five times each in 2001-03. He also managed to capture seven major titles in an 11-event span during that stretch.
 
And then he made another change, this time under the tutelage of Hank Haney. The two of them were criticized mercilessly by many as Woods won only once in 2004 and didn’t win a major in 10 starts.
 
And then, just as it had done before under Butch Harmon, everything gelled.
 
Woods won six times on TOUR in 2005, eight more in ’06. Both years he topped the money list. Both years he won two majors.
 
As Woods heads into 2007, there are still plenty of questions which we ask in relation to him. But instead of wondering why he is doing what he is doing; we must wonder if he can do things we once thought were impossible.
 
“I think ’07 is going to be scary,” said Golf Channel analyst Frank Nobilo. “As usual, we’ll expect the unexpected from Tiger. We’ll want a Grand Slam – at least two majors, nothing less. But the expectations will be so high; I don’t even think Tiger Woods will be able to obtain them.”
 
The first question we ask in regards to Tiger is: Will he match or break Byron Nelson’s record of 11 consecutive PGA TOUR victories?
 
Despite having lost a few times overseas during the “off-season,” Woods still has a six-event winning streak intact on TOUR. His first chance to add to that run, since he opted out of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, will likely be at the Buick Invitational, which he has won three times in the last four years.
 
And, judging by his history of events played, he could have a chance to tie Nelson at the Masters Tournament, which he has won four times.
 
However it works out – if it is to work out, he will most likely have to win the Nissan Open, which he has never done in his career, and win the unpredictable Match Play Championship on a new course in Arizona.
 
The next question we ask in regards to Tiger is: Will he duplicate his Tiger Slam?
 
Upon getting a firm grasp on his new swing back in 2000, Woods proceeded to win the U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship. He then won the Masters in 2001 for four-in-a-row.
 
Since it wasn’t four straight major victories in a calendar season, some didn’t view it as a true Grand Slam triumph. Rather, it was dubbed the “Tiger Slam.”