Tunnel Vision. That was the headline of a 2000 Sports Illustrated feature story on Tiger Woods by S.L. Price. In a photo accompanying the story, Woods illustrates with his hands cupped around his eyes the great focus that would lead him that year to nine wins, including three of the four major championships. Since turning pro in 1996, he had laid everything aside that was nonessential to dominate professional golf. He was on a mission to set a new standard of greatness that not even past greats like Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus could match. It was all prophesied by his father, Earl Woods.
During the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, I thought about the 15-time major champion’s intense focus as I watched Scottie Scheffler slowly and methodically take his first Claret Jug with a four-shot win over Harris English. Earlier in the week, Scheffler, who has been No. 1 in the world for 147 consecutive weeks, had caused a minor scandal in the golf world when he dared to suggest that winning golf tournaments wasn’t the biggest and most important thing in his life.
