But when Tiger plays, Thursday and Friday feel more like Sunday. Gogel and plenty of other worthy candidates will get in line to try to knock Woods off his perch. CBS-TV analyst Ken Venturi thinks Mickelson has as good a chance as anybody to be the top challenger for Woods in 2001. I think Phil's got it in his gut right now. Nicklaus thinks Woods needs a rival.
Tiger has the pressure to carry the tour.
That took the pressure off of any one of us to have to carry the tour. The way Tiger is playing, he is going to make guys have to compete. One of those is Hal Sutton, who emerged as a contender in 2000 and showed no fear of Woods or anybody else. Sutton won twice and finished fourth on the money list behind Woods, Mickelson and Ernie Els. At age 42, you'd think Sutton had seen it all.