Twin towers of Golf

Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam set their eyes on creating history

This weekend will give an indication of what is in store for golf nuts this season. Two of the finest players of our times, Tiger Woods among men and Annika Sorenstam among women, go about their task of chasing more history this season, as if they have not done enough of that in their respective careers so far.

Woods, who has a nose for history and a habit of tuning himself up for the "biggies" has already won the WGC Accenture Matchplay "" a title he retained "" and has finished in top 10 in each of his four outings this year, including the tied fifth in Dubai.

This week he will be bidding for his fifth straight Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando. And if he does win that yet again, he will be in an exclusive club of one to have won the same title five times in a row.

Only three players Tom Morris Jr (British Open), Gene Sarazen (Miami Four-ball), and Walter Hagen (PGA Championship) had won an event four times in a row before Woods did that at Bay Hill.

Annika Sorenstam, who had an outstanding 2003, during which she was also inducted into the Hall of Fame, has set a new target "" a Grand Slam "" for herself. Golf writers have called that target "Sorenslam" and this week the Swedish superstar starts her season with the Safeway International, at a venue called Superstition Mountain.

There is nothing superstitious about it, and the 33-year-old Soresnstam will then attack the year's first Major, the Kraft Nabisco Championships.

Both Woods and Sorenstam have striking similarities. They are with the same management company (IMG), have the same agent (Mark Steinberg) and they both rely on extreme fitness regimens that leave others gasping and have unmatched single-mindedness when it comes to pursuing their goals. They also live not too far from each other in the Orlando area, Woods in Windermere and Sorenstam at Lake Nona.

Woods lost the Money title to Vijay Singh last season, but with five wins managed to hang on to the Player of the Year title for the fifth year in a row.

But while 2003 was a great year by any standards, Woods must surely have been disappointed for he did not win a single Major, and for him that is almost like a failure.

So much so, when everyone is discussing about the possibility of his winning Bay Hill yet again, Woods is somewhat subdued about that achievement. When asked where he would rank it (winning Bay Hill four times) he was quoted as saying, "Definitely, it's up there, but it can't rank anywhere near the Majors."

To him Majors and Majors alone constitute golf history. The rest is a matter of mere working towards that goal. Sometime back, when Greg Norman raised the issue of bringing pro golf to the Olympics, Woods while not rejecting the idea made it clear that an Olympic gold medal was way behind in his priorities, and that Majors were the main goal in his career.

In 2001, Woods won the Masters to become the first man in the modern era to win four consecutive Majors (2000 US Open, 2000 British Open, 2000 PGA), and he has eight wins overall in Majors.

No one understands Sorenstam's goal more than Woods. Not many realise how close she came to achieving a Slam in 2003, something no other woman has achieved ever.

She finished one shot behind Patricia Meunier-Lebouc in a bid to win the Kraft Nabisco for the third straight time. And then at the US Women's Open, she experienced an inexplicable swing that cost her the title.

She was tied for the lead and in the fairway at the par-5 18th hole in the final round at the US Women's Open. It looked certain that she would be on the green in two and then two-putt for a birdie.

But she hit her 7-wood shot wide right and behind a port-a-john. She ended with a bogey and did not even figure in the play-off that was eventually won by Hilary Lunke.

Sorenstam won the season's other majors "" the LPGA Championship and the Women's British Open.  Two bad swings in the whole season cost her a history-making Grand Slam.

So, to rectify that, she has reduced her schedule to concentrate on the Majors. And there will be no challenges with the men, till at least the main season is over.

Playing fewer events to stay fresh for the Majors has also been Woods' philosophy, ever since he turned pro in the latter half of 1998. In the first couple of seasons, both had success, but it never was anything as spectacular as what they have achieved since 2000.

This is only the early part of the season, and as it unfolds, so will the dreams of two of the finest golfers of our times. No, make that all times.