Making golf history

By the time he turns 30, Tiger Woods may have nothing left to do but retire and write his memoirs. That, at least, is the impression you could have had on Sunday evening when the 21-year- old golfer made his momentous walk onto the green at Augusta National's 18th hole to wrap up the most decisive major tournament victory anyone has scored in this century.

It would be a false impression, of course, So much has happened so fast in Tiger Woods's compressed and superheated athletic career that it is easy to forget that only on Thursday last week he was on the verge of blowing himself right out of the Masters tournament when he shot a horrendous (for him) 40 on the first nine holes of the first round. But he readjusted his game in mid-course, recorded a 30 on the back nine and never faltered again.

It would be nice, of course, if people could disregard Tiger Woods's ethnic origins, but that is not exactly an established tradition at places such as the Augusta club, which admitted its f first black members only six years ago, or in the Masters, where Lee Elder became the first African-American participant 28 years after Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers. On Sunday, anyway, it was nice enough just to see the black cops in the Tiger Woods detain walking tall with him towards the 18th green at Augusta National.

-- The Washington Post