Win or Lose at PGA, Woods Considers '09 'a Great Year'

CHASKA, Minn., Aug. 11 -- Tiger Woods has not won a major championship this year, with but one shot remaining -- the PGA Championship, which begins here Thursday at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Only three times in his legendary pro career has Woods finished a calendar year without capturing one of the four major titles.

Still, his assessment of 2009: "It's been a great year either way," he said Tuesday.

Since he began changing the way golfers and golf fans think about what can be accomplished in their sport -- bursting onto the scene by winning the 1997 Masters at age 21 -- Woods has defined success by how many majors he wins. His pursuit of Jack Nicklaus's record 18 major titles has been an open one, and he has reveled in it, trailing by only four at age 33.

But Woods's view of his 2009 is colored by two developments -- his surgery in June 2008 to reconstruct his left knee, which kept him out of both the 2008 British Open and PGA Championship; and the fact that he has won five PGA Tour events this year, including the past two. That's three more titles than any other player on tour.

"For me to come back and play, and play as well as I've done and actually win golf events, to say at the very beginning of the year, when I was feeling the way I was," Woods said, "to be honest with you, I don't' think any of us would have thought I could have won this many events this year."

Woods's latest win came Sunday in Akron, Ohio, when he beat Padraig Harrington, the defending PGA champion, in a stirring duel over the back nine. That victory was decided on the 16th hole, when a tour official told Woods and Harrington they were "on the clock" and being watched for slow play. Harrington, by his own admission, "reacted poorly to the situation," and he made a triple bogey on the 16th, hitting one chip into the water. Woods birdied the same hole, and the tournament was all but over.

Afterward, Woods criticized tour officials for putting the pair on the clock, particularly because he felt like they weren't that far behind the group ahead of them, and because they were the two players who would decide the winner. Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that the PGA Tour would fine Woods for those comments. Woods said that's not the case.

"I heard from the tour," he said. "There's no fine. That was an erroneous report."

Woods, though, didn't back down from his stance that the decision to place the group on the clock was poor judgment.

"The way I understood it, we were the only two in contention to win the event," Woods said. "We had separated ourselves. The winner was not going to come from the groups ahead. . . . If Paddy does not hit the ball in the water, we play up, we are right behind the group in front of us. That's why I said what I said, because that certainly affected how Paddy played the hole, and the outcome of the tournament. He was in control of the event. He was one up with three holes to go, and he had a par 5. And you know, when we were put on the clock, it certainly changed everything."

Harrington said he did not read or hear Woods's comments afterward, but he continued to place the blame on himself for how he handled the situation, rather than discussing the merits of the ruling.

"Having won the tournament, he can take the moral high round and say what he wants," Harrington said of Woods. "Having lost the tournament, I'm going to sit back and just . . . take it on the chin and say it was my mistake."

That circumstance, though, will be well in the past when Woods and Harrington -- who have combined to win the last three PGAs -- tee off together Thursday morning from the back nine of Hazeltine's monstrous 7,674-yard layout. They will be joined by Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA at Hazeltine, when it was more than 300 yards shorter.

Since turning pro at the end of 1996, Woods has never played two consecutive weeks prior to a major. With that in mind, Woods -- who played full practice rounds Monday and Tuesday here -- said he would rest Wednesday, hitting balls on the range. He also said he set up his schedule to prepare for this stretch.

"It's also one of the reasons why I train as hard as I do, so I'll be able to play at a high level," Woods said. "That's one of the reasons why I didn't play that much earlier in the year so that I could actually have my leg intact to play this stretch, play this much golf. There's a reason behind all of that, and most people weren't quite looking at it that way."

By the end of the week, Woods will have determined how people will look at his 2009 season. Either he will have his 15th major title, or he will be winless in the majors for the first year since 2004. Either way, he will tweak his normal criteria for a good year, because this season, he said, it doesn't revolve completely around the majors.

"I've said that in the past," he said, "but I didn't have ACL reconstruction, either. It usually takes a while for an athlete to come back, and most guys -- or some of the guys who have had it in our sport -- have not gone on to have the years I've had this year. I'm very proud not only winning the golf tournaments, but how consistent I've played."