Woods practicing hard to face Bethpage Black

If Tiger Woods were to win the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, he would accomplish something that even Jack Nicklaus couldn't -- a successful title defense at the national championship. But there's a reason why it's so hard to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles.

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Tiger Woods has done just about everything imaginable in golf. Shy of reaching Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 majors, that is, and even the legend thinks that’s only a matter of time.

One thing the game’s No. 1 player hasn't accomplished, though, is a successful title defense at the U.S. Open as he has done at the other three major championships.

Woods gets a third chance this week on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park. He’s actually the double-defender – having won the last time the U.S. Open was played on the Black in 2002, as well as in that riveting display of will and wiles at Torrey Pines last year.

Should he win on Sunday, Woods would become the first player since Curtis Strange to win consecutive U.S. Opens and only the seventh one in history. Even the Golden Bear, who set the standards for Woods, fell short of accomplishing that feat.

So what makes it such a challenge? Aside from the fact that Woods called Bethpage “the most difficult course we’ve faced tee to green” and the impending rain that is making its 7,426 yards so daunting that Woods is “wearing out” his long irons in practice.

“One, you have to have every facet of your game going,” Woods said. “You have to drive the ball well.  You have to hit your irons well, and at most Opens, you know speed on the greens is usually an issue.  Not this year, obviously, it being so wet and soft.
   
“But generally this is the hardest major we face year in, year out.  Narrowest fairways, highest rough.”

And then there’s the caliber of the competition.

“The TOUR is so deep now,” Woods said. “…  If you look at the cuts, when you have top 70 and ties week in, week out, a lot of times it's eight or nine shots that separate the guy from leading from the guy just making the cut. 

“The margin is so much smaller now than it used to be.”

Of course, the separation between Woods and his closest challengers seems as big as ever. He returned from that eight-month layoff after reconstructive surgery on his left knee to win in his third start, then added another at the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago.

Woods hit all 14 fairways on Sunday at Muirfield Village and missed just seven for the week. His release has been altered over the years, so Woods changed the loft in his driver to 10.5 degrees – which is a far cry from the 6.5 he used when he turned pro in 1996.

“I hate to see when I get to 40, how that's going to be, have to get a 46 inch driver and 15 degree lofted driver,” the 33-year-old Woods said with a smile. “But it is what it is.  Technology has changed, the ball doesn't spin as much as it used to.  You have to have more loft than you used to play.”

Another thing that’s changed, Woods acknowledged, is the prototypical U.S. Open champion. In the days of Strange and Scott Simpson, the winner was usually an accurate driver, not necessarily the biggest hitter, and someone who hit a lot of greens.

“There's different ways of playing (now),” Woods said. “You can do what Angel did, hit driver every hill at Oakmont.  If it works out, it works out, which it did.  Or you can play a shorter, more conservative game.
   
“The whole idea of a U.S. Open is obviously to grind it out and make pars.  How you do that, it's up to you.  You just can't afford to make too many bogeys or doubles because you can't make birdies.  So however you feel you can make a bunch of pars, I think that's what you're looking for.”

And make no mistake about it, Woods likes courses like Bethpage Black and other USGA venues where par is rewarded and birdies are “really rewarded.”

He’s only missed one cut in 14 U.S. Open appearances, and that was in his first start after his father died. Since turning pro, Woods hasn’t finished lower than 20th and he has two runner-up finishes and one third to go with his three titles.

Small wonder, then, he’s confident as he goes for two in a row.

“I like my chances in any major,” Woods said. “I just enjoy having to think your way around a golf course.  … That to me, it's how the game of golf should be played.”