Tiger Woods without World Golf Championship Wins would still be Tiger Woods

I remember Helen Ross when she wrote for the Winston-Salem Journal or the Greensboro hokey-pokey, or whichever newspaper I read in the pre-internet days in North Carolina. She was a terrific writer and did not surprise anyone with her eventual move to PGATour.Com. Today, however, she tries to put one over on us with a premise that bears examination: If the WGC events did not exist, where would Tiger stand?

On the surface, it seems like a solid question. He would stand 15 victories behind where he is now, excepting that he might have entered other tournaments with greater frequency…and won those, too.

It would be a ridiculous assumption to presume a plot by the Ponte Vedra Posse to stage these events on courses friendly to Woods…talk about collusion. Makes a steroid scare seem simple. Woods has judged these events to be more important than regular tour event and makes space in his schedule for them. If they did not exist, he would play other events.

Some wags might suggest that Stripes would fare better or worse against a full-field event. True, there would be more competitors at hand, but would they be of the same calibre? The WGC events purportedly bring together the finest players on the globe. Limited field, yes, but what a field!

Like many fans of the sport, I’d like to see the events moved around a bit. If you’re going to have a Presidents’ Cup in South Africa or Australia, schedule a WGC event for the following week. British Open time? Schedule a WGC within the same fortnight. A WGC event is not a major, but would benefit from having the field in close proximity. The trip around the world for spoiled and/or ignorant American professionals is not so unpalatable when there’s another reason to head that way.

Anyhow, the point of this blog was to discuss Tiger’s win column without WGC events. My thinking is, he’d be right where he is. Nice try, Helen, but we’re on to you.