Chapter 63

The 135th British Open

Royal Liverpool Golf Club

Hoylake, England

July 20–23, 2006

At home in Isleworth, Tiger studies every moment of his disastrous performance at Winged Foot. The painful viewing gets him in a competitive mindset, ready to defend his 2005 British Open championship. As a warm-up, he competes in the Western Open at the Cog Hill Golf and Country Club and ties for second.

Not since 1967 has the Open been played at Royal Liverpool, a links course in Hoylake, England. Tiger skips his annual Irish fishing trip with Mark O’Meara and arrives in Hoylake five days early. As he and Hank Haney walk the course, Tiger determines that dry, firm, fast conditions will allow him to play his low-lofting 2-iron over his driver.

It’s an unusual strategy for a player whose long drives prompted Augusta National to “Tiger-proof” the course, but it works in every practice round.

On Tuesday, July 18, Tiger enters the British Open press room.

“Does your mum offer technical advice?” a reporter asks. It’s a serious question.

Tiger gets a laugh when he answers, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. She usually gives words of encouragement. As you all know, she’s pretty fiery. So it’s more from that side of it than the technical side.”

Tiger’s not the only player wrestling with grief. Since the Players Championship, Darren Clarke’s wife, Heather, has entered end-stage breast cancer. “Have you seen D.C.?” Tiger asks as he leaves the press room. “I need to talk to him.” And less than three weeks ago, thirty-seven-year-old Chris DiMarco’s mother died unexpectedly of a heart attack, on July 4. DiMarco initially plans to skip the tournament but decides to make the trip with his ten-year-old son and dad instead. “I knew my mom would have wanted me to go,” DiMarco says. “And I felt my dad needed to get out of Orlando also because he was in such a bad place.”

By the end of the third round, Tiger’s in the lead—by one stroke—with Chris DiMarco, Ernie Els, and Sergio Garcia tied for second. On the back nine of Sunday’s final round, DiMarco pulls ahead of Els and Garcia, turning the final round into a duel between him and Tiger, reminiscent of the 2005 Masters playoffs, when the two went head-to-head.

Fans are determined to capture the moment. Steve Williams tries and fails to silence the electronic clicks of camera shutters.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Tiger says when a roar goes up from 14, where DiMarco holes a fifty-foot putt. That’s when Tiger summons a tactic he learned from Earl. Block it out. Block everything out.

“He’s got an uncanny ability, when somebody gets close to him, to just turn it up another level,” DiMarco says. “I made a great putt for par, which really pumped me up, and he turns around and birdies 14, 15 and 16. It’s just—it’s hard to catch him.”

By two strokes, Tiger wins back-to-back British Open championships and his eleventh major.

“When you are playing Tiger, especially when he’s at the top of his game, it’s so difficult,” DiMarco says. “I shot 16 under par in the British Open and didn’t win. That’s kind of crazy, to tell you the truth.” But he’s at peace, saying, “I know my mom would be very proud of me right now. The hardest part is that I know I’ll never see her again, but if I close my eyes, I see her.”

Tiger is overcome with his own emotion, dissolving into sobs and, for several minutes, hugging Steve Williams the way he hugged Earl after his greatest wins. When Tiger is ready to walk off the course, Williams points to the sky above the 18th green.

“After my last putt,” Tiger explains, “I realized that my dad is never going to see this again.” Instead of his typical stoicism, “it just came pouring out of me, all the things my dad meant to me, and the game of golf. I just wish he could have seen it one more time.”

“Tiger was fantastic during the [winner’s] speech. He talked about the fact that we both played with heavy hearts,” DiMarco says. “When he came off the 18th and into the tent we had a little embrace and shed a tear for my mom and his dad.”

“He would have been very proud, very proud,” Tiger says of Earl. “He was always on my case about thinking my way around the golf course and not letting emotions get the better of you, because it’s so very easy to do in this sport. Just use your mind to plot your way around the golf course, and if you had to deviate from the game plan, make sure it’s the right decision to do that.

“He was very adamant I play like that my entire career.”

The now three-time British Open champion (2000, 2005, 2006) accepts the winner’s check for $1,228,430 and retains custody of the Claret Jug. “This jug will be filled up, I’ll tell you that,” Tiger promises. “Beverage of my choice, and not just once.”

First, Tiger has a heartfelt message for Rich DiMarco, Chris DiMarco’s father. With the trophy in one hand, Tiger wraps his other arm around Rich and whispers, “I know exactly what you’re going through. My dad was my best friend. I know your wife was your best friend.”

A few hours later, Tiger celebrates on board his private jet. He fills the Claret Jug with champagne and drinks from it, then passes it to Hank Haney and his fellow passengers. Victory has never tasted sweeter.

Playing a major championship takes an emotional and physical toll.

Phil Mickelson tells Sports Illustrated that three days in bed is his typical post-majors routine.

Tiger can’t rest. In his next five starts following the British Open, he achieves consistent results: in his terms, “getting the W.”

The Buick Open.

The PGA Championship.

The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

The Deutsche Bank Championship.

The WGC-American Express Championship.

The statistics are astonishing. Six wins in a row at an average score of 18 under and a cumulative 109 under par. With the latest addition, his third PGA Championship, Tiger is now a twelve-time major winner, two-thirds of the way to matching Nicklaus’s record.

Sportswriters draw comparisons to Tiger’s record-breaking 2000 season. “If you compare the two years, I think this year would have to be better because of, obviously, things I’ve been dealing with off the golf course,” Tiger says. “In 2000, I didn’t have to deal with that. Hey, life is full of mysteries and you’ve got to deal with things as they come. Who’s to know that if Dad didn’t struggle and end up passing that I wouldn’t have played that well in the summer.”

On December 17, days before his thirty-first birthday, he notches one last 2006 win at the Target World Challenge, where two years ago Earl last came out to watch him play. He once again donates the $1.35 million in prize money to the Tiger Woods Foundation, to be divided between the learning center and the Start Something program.

Tiger has endured tragedy to soar in triumph. After hoisting the “Tiger” trophy, he says, “This has been a year of two halves really.”