America's top-ranked golfer turns 45 on Thursday. His hair is vanishing, his neck has been killing him for months, and yet he won the year's first tournament, put $1.1 million in the bank and took a five-week vacation.
I do not hear anyone describe Steve Stricker as "an old 45." No one writes that he's got "high mileage" or that his odometer is about to freeze.
Stricker has made old young. He is No. 5 in the world. He is the only PGA Tour player with multiple victories the last three seasons, and even though no one paid much attention, he has established a DiMaggio-esque streak of 42 consecutive cuts made.
I tell you this because I just put down the bible of my Friday afternoon mail delivery, Sports Illustrated, in which Tiger Woods is described in all the terms that Stricker is not, including "an old 36."
Keep in mind that at 36, Steve Stricker finished 188th on the PGA Tour money list and that he was a year away from flunking Qualifying School and losing his playing privileges. Keep in mind that Stricker didn't break through and finish in the Top 10 money standings two years in succession until 2009-2010. He was old enough to be a grandpa.
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And now, according to the numbers, America's best golfer is a guy who spends the winters in Wisconsin, indoors, unable to practice with any real effectiveness.
Stricker is the best argument yet that Tiger Woods will be No. 1 again.
A few minutes before noon Tuesday, Woods walked to the practice range at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, looking like a model for Gentleman's Quarterly. Whatever a guy with washboard abs looks like, Tiger looks better.
And he's washed up? Nuts.
There is no book on "An Old 36" in sports and no logical way to track Woods' health, mental or physical, and come to the conclusion that his odometer is running out of digits.
At 36, bloated and undisciplined, Babe Ruth hit .373, smacked 46 homers and drove in 163 runs. He never lifted a weight that didn't come in a 12-ounce can.
At 36, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 43 minutes per game and led the NBA in shooting percentage (.727) and rebounds (18.6). He later revealed that he rarely got any, ahem, sleep.
Things have changed in the my-body-is-a-temple world of contemporary pro sports. On Tuesday, the world's No. 2 golfer, Lee Westwood, who is 38 and has never won a major, admitted he has stopped drinking in an attempt to stay fit. He spoke about weight-lifting and exercising.
It's peer pressure as much as anything else; Woods sets the pace in both of those departments. The day Woods' waist size bulges - what is he, a 32? - you'll have your he's-getting-old story.
I'll tell you what An Old 36 looks like on the PGA Tour: It was John Daly, who, in 2002, finished 112th on the money list. Slip-sliding away. Daly was 36 going on 56.
An Old 36 was Craig Stadler, the Walrus, who in 1989 dropped to 25th on the money list. Before that, from 1981 to 1985, Stadler finished, in order, eighth, first, 17th, eighth and 11th on the money list.
But even Stadler, who always seemed to battle weight and injury issues, wasn't through at 36. Two years later, in 1991, Stadler finished No. 2 on the money list and won the Tour championship.
So to those who would drive to Dove Mountain expecting to see the shrunken head of a once-great golfer, I would say this: Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus all won at least 14 tournaments after turning 36.
Woods didn't bite when asked about today's opponent, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano. A day earlier, GFC dared to say that Woods was "beatable" and that he looked forward to playing him.
"As I've matured I've gone beyond that," Woods said. "It's just an opinion. What matters is how I go out and play and how I'm progressing in my game. At the end of the day when I'm retired, I think I will have mastered a pretty good record."
When Hank Aaron was 34, his production slipped mightily. He hit just .287 with a mere 29 homers and 86 RBIs. In baseball terms of the 1970s, Aaron was described as An Old 34.
But two years later, at 36, Aaron hit 36 homers and drove in 118 runs. A year after that, he hit 47 homers.
At 36, Tiger Woods is at the plate again, swinging for the fences. If I'm the manager, I'm playing the outfield deep to all fields.
MATCH OF THE DAY
No. 1 Luke Donald vs. No. 16 Ernie Els, 12:05 p.m.
The world's No. 1 player gets a crack at Els, the two-time U.S. Open champ, in what Golf Channel has chosen as its feature match. Television coverage begins today at 10 a.m.
Contact Greg Hansen at 573-4362 or ghansen@azstarnet.com
