By now, your NCAA tournament pool brackets are complete and, in some cases, kaput.
While the Madness of this March continues for college basketball players, their respective educational institutions and their friendly wagering fans, the PGA Tour is focused on the No. 1 seed in any region, Tiger Woods.
During the past few weeks, as North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA and Kansas staked a claim to being No. 1 on their point of the compass, Tiger can lay claim to another week as the top-ranked player in the world of professional golf.
The Striped One's over-the-top finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill showed how impressive Tiger has become. He no longer needs to bludgeon an entire field of touring professionals by six, seven or eight shots to make his point. All he has to do is hang around until, in the case of Bay Hill last week, the very end to drain his buzzer-beater, send the crowd home happy, make contemporaries shake their heads and force the talking heads to search for new ways to describe his brilliance.
Tiger's mind and clutch putting are the two things that separate him from his competitors and both were on display at Arnie's event. Everyone playing golf on a professional tour has some kind of game. There may be holes, but if you're on a tour somewhere and making money, you can play. The mental question is simple: can you allow yourself to play to the best of your abilities?
If you notice, Tiger never gives up. Others may talk about being relentless, but Tiger actually is. At Bay Hill, he was 0 for 21 on putts longer than 19 feet. Yet, when it came time to make the one putt over 19 feet that he needed, he drained it -- center of the cup, perfect speed. That wasn't an accident or a fluke. You have to be incredibly mentally strong to ignore past shortcomings and focus on the present.
It was interesting to take in all things Tiger this week. While I did hear someone say "Tiger is the greatest of all-time," that is not at all true and I'd wager that even he would say that.
One of the things you need to know about El Tigre is his level of awareness. His elephant-like memory is discussed often. If you slight Tiger, he remembers it, files it away and channels it toward on-course revenge or self-motivation. That is part of his overall awareness. He knows where he stands in the history of the game and he knows that Jack Nicklaus is ahead of him in major championships. He knows that Jack and Sam Snead, respectively, are ahead of him in career victories on the PGA Tour.
Simply stated, until he is in front of them, whether by one or 100 (and don't put it past him), for right now Tiger Woods is the greatest player of our time. We are witnessing greatness. It is Bobby Jones and the Grand Slam. It is Ben Hogan in his prime. It is Arnold Palmer and his charge. It is Jack Nicklaus and his course management. It's knowing the moment and seizing it.
Tiger Woods is both the man of the moment and old school in his appreciation for the game and ability to control the physical and mental sides. There is no doubt that one day, sooner rather than later, Tiger Woods will be the greatest of all time. For right now, with the season's first major just around the corner, let's enjoy his quest.
Sure, it's March Madness but there is an April Storm on the horizon.
