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CNN Live Today
Tiger Woods' Bid For Grand Slam Becomes Little More Than Footnote
Aired July 22, 2002 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The British Open fades into golf history, and Tiger Woods' bid for a grand slam becomes little more than a footnote today. South African Ernie Els overcame lofty odds and low expectations to win the tournament, his third major title of his career.
We get details now from CNN sports reporter Patrick Snell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the end, it came down to one last crucial putt. The highly charged, sudden death shoot-out with France's Thomas Levet resulted in Ernie Els' third major. But it was one achieved the hard way, after the agony of a double bogey at 16 during his final round left four players all on six under par.
ERNIE ELS, GOLFER: From the 16th green to that tee, the 17th tee, I was probably at one of the lowest points of my whole career, you know. I mean, when I went to the 17th tee, I was trying to stay calm, I was trying to stay patient, I was trying to get good things going, but it was tough to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ernie pulled out a really magnificent bunker shot. And I mean, it's better to see that, you know, somebody pull a really good shot and make par or birdie to win the tournament. Not winning with a double bogey, you know, is just like hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it came down it, it was all about getting up and down out of a bunker, and he hit a beautiful bunker shot there from a tough lie. And I couldn't be happier for the guy, I really couldn't, because he really deserves his name being on that trophy.
ELS: I was out there all the time, I couldn't afford to make a mistake. And I had to play tight golf, and that was hard to do.
SNELL: For the South African known as "The Big Easy," it's the first major in five years, adding to his U.S. Open successes in '94 and '97. It's also the realization of a dream, a title he'd been desperate to capture for so long.
ELS: I just wanted to win this tournament so badly. You know, it's hard to explain, but I gave everything, every little grain of emotion in me, I tried to win this tournament today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's played quite well in this championship before and had a chance, and it means a great deal to him, probably the most important tournament to him in the world.
ELS: Now I'm looking forward to the rest of my career again, for at least the next five years.
SNELL (on camera): At the 12th attempt, Els finally gets his hands on the famous Claret jug. Twice before, he's finished joint runner-up at the British. Now, the conqueror of Muirfield becomes the first South African to win this title since Gary Player back in 1974.
At Muirfield, Scotland, I'm Patrick Snell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: While South Africa's big easy ended up on top of the leader board, things were a lot more difficult for the other top golfers. For more on the highs and the lows at the British Open, we're joined now by "Golf" magazine's Jim Frank.
Good morning, Jim. How are you?
JIM FRANK, "GOLF MAGAZINE": Good, Leon, how about yourself.
HARRIS: Not too bad. I got to tell you, I got to watch a lot of this tournament over the weekend, and it was totally the good, the bad and the ugly, all mixed up here, but it was incredible to see how it all came down and could be so dramatic and have such an incredible finish Tiger even being a part of it.
FRANK: I wouldn't say that he wasn't a part of it. He was very much a part of it early on, and then he had one bad day, but that was the bad day every body had, terrible rain and wind. And you know what, it's a hard game out there for everybody. We all think having watched Tiger the last few years, he makes the game look so easy. So he has one bad day. You know what, it's a hard game for everybody playing it. It just sort of caught up with him the way it does everybody else, and then he had remarkable round on the last day. Comes back after shooting 81; he shoots a 65. That's pretty impressive stuff.
HARRIS: That's incredible, considering where any other person's head would be at that particular point.
Speaking of which, let me talk to you a little bit about where Ernie Els head was at. As a I understand it, he went and talked to a sports psychologist in between his last hole and the beginning of that playoff, and he said he came back out saying these would be the four most important holes of his career. What to you make of that?
FRANK: He's been use thing guy for the last few years, and he needed somebody to talk to who if not understand the pressure having actually played there, someone he's been talking too over the years, someone who knows how to keep him calm. Obviously, no knows what to say to put him in the right frame of mind, that he could go out there, having had the last couple of holes. He almost lost it on the 16th, which is a relatively easy par three. He makes a five. His head had to be -- who knows where, but it wasn't very firmly attached to shoulders at the moment. It might have been down around his feet. He needed someone to say, "Hey, guy, you're a great prayer. Keep it up. Play your game, you'll be right back in it." And sure enough, he was. He posed himself well.
HARRIS: What about the coincidence between this open and the one with John Vanderbilt, the other Frenchman that went out with a driver when he shouldn't have. The same thing with Levet yesterday.
FRANK: Exactly same thing. We were wondering in the office, is there no term in French for course management, do they not understand this? You know, you don't hit a driver off the 18th tee when you have to put in the fairway. The first time around, he puts it in the rough. The second time around, he puts it in the sand. He could have -- he should have won it. And you know what, that's exactly what we said three years ago, you know, what is about the French, you know? Put the ball in the fairway.
HARRIS: Keep the driver in the bag.
Exactly. I have to ask you this, finally, Jim, this morning. Has the USGA taken an important lesson from this tournament? This course, Muirfield, was not tricked up in any way. There was no Bethpage Black creation out there, where they made this course so ridiculously long so that only the longest hitters can actually contend out here, and we saw a leader board that had names that we'd never seen before, and still had an incredibly dramatic tournament.
FRANK: Well, yes, I guess there's a little bit of lesson for the people over here, although it's not quite the same thing. What you have over there, every tournament, you get, wind, you get rain, guaranteed, even if it's hot. They always have four days of very interesting weather. What happened at the open this year here, our open, was they got rain, which they hadn't expected. And you know what, that course, if it had been the normal kind of summer, New York feeling, wouldn't have played nearly the way it did. They needed length here. Out there they don't really have to have that kind of length, because they know they are going to get wind, they know they are going to get rain. They have long grass. They have these odd- shaped sand bunkers.
It's a different course, it's a different feeling entirely. I don't think that it's quite the same thing that you have to make every course long, short. It really all depends where they are.
HARRIS: Again, though, so much more interesting watching shot makers get out there and play as opposed to just watching guys get out with a bazooka every single time out, too.
FRANK: It was a great weekend in golf.
HARRIS: Yes, it really was. Jim Frank, thanks for coming in this morning. We appreciate it. FRANK: My pleasure.
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