Page B2
August 23, 2000
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Metro/Sports
Great finish, season for Woods
Ben H ogan so thoroughly dom inated
professional g o lf in 1953 that when
he returned hom e from the British
O pen after w inning his third m ajor
cham pionship, he was treated to a
ticker-tape parade.
F or T iger W oods, they m ight as well
save the confetti.
H e not only m atched H ogan’s feat o f
three m ajors in one season, he set a
new benchm ark o f dom ination by
w inning his fourth out o f the last five,
w inning the P G A Cham pionship on
S unday in a thrill-a-m inute playoff
o v er B ob M ay.
Is it the g reatest season ever in golf?
“T hree m ajor cham pionships and the
season is not over for T iger,” Tom
W atson said. “ It w ould rank right up
w ith the b est.”
B obby Jones w on the G rand Slam in
1930, b ut that w as at a tim e in w hich
the “m ajors” w ere defined as the U.S.
O pen and A m ateur and the British
O p en and A m ateur. Jones never
turned professional.
H ogan turned in w'hat is generally
re g a rd e d as th e g re a te st sin g le
season feat in g o lf in 1953.H ew as41,
his legs still w eak from a car accident
four years earlier that nearly killed
him , w hen he w on five o f the six
tournam ents he played.
H e w on the M asters, U.S. O pen and
British O pen, the only m ajors he
entered. H ogan couldn’t play the
P G A C h a m p io n s h ip th a t y e a r
J e ffe rs o n ’s ‘o th e r ’
guard now ‘the’ guard
UCLA, Kansas, Arizona and Duke.
Sounds like a heck o f a Final Four,
doesn’t it?
For Jefferson High School point
guard A aron Miles, the schools
are his final fo u r— his options, as
he decides w here he will continue
his basketball career a year from
now.
Miles, who was a starting guard for
the D em ocrats as a ju n io r last
season w hen they w on the Class
4 A basketball title, has become one
o f the hottest prospects in the
nation. The 6-foot Miles is rated
No. 4 in the nation am ong point
guards by FoxSports.com, and after
a sum m er o f im pressive show ings
at national camps and tournaments,
h e h as h is c h o ic e o f th e
aforem entioned schools.
“It’s kind o fa surprise,” Miles said.
“ Starting this summ er, I was a little
Jow in the rankings, so 1 knew I had
aside,” said
Troy Berry, the I incohi High School
coach who coached M iles on the
P o rtla n d
E lite
B a s k e tb a ll
O rganization’s I egends team the
last two sum m ers. “ But he is the
best player in the nation at point
guard. H ecan score w hen he wants,
but he gets everyone involved with
h is p a s s in g . W h e n y o u ca n
dom inate a gam e w ith the pass the
w ay Aaron does, it really says a lot
about a p lay er’s basketball IQ”
Miles toured the nation this sum m er
playing for the Legends team — a
group o f the top high school players
in O regon
and m ore colleges
started show ing interest in him.
Kansas coachRoy W illiams, UCLA
coach Steve Lavin and A rizona
c o a c h L u te O ls o n all m a d e
appearances at the team ’s games.
K en tu c k y an d N o rth C a ro lin a
jum ped on the bandw agon later in
the sum m er, but by then. M iles had
narrow ed his choices.
to play hard to m ove up.”
A nd he did. Earlier this sum m er
M iles was invited to the N ational
B asketball Players A ssociation
cam p in W ashington. The cam p
features the top 80 high school
players in the nation, and Miles
won the most valuable playera ward
at the cam p, joining past w inners
such as Kobe Bryant and Allen
Iverson. “ I’ve tried to put all biases
"E veryw here I w ent, people were
w atching m e,” Miles said.
M iles, who has a 3.5 grade-point
average and scored 1,020 on the
S A T, said he plans to sign a letter o f
intent w ith Kansas, UCLA, Arizona
or Duke in November, after he makes
visits to two or three schools in
O ctober. Duke recently signed a
point guard, so one o f the other
schools could have the edge.
A ssociated P ress
Tiger Woods points to his ball as it drops fo r birdie on the first hole o f a three-hole playoff against Bob May at
the PGA Championship on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2000 at the Valhalla G olf Club in Louisville, Ky. May made par on
the hole.
because it w as held the sam e w eek as
British O pen quali lying, and Hogan ’ s
legs could not have carried him for
over 200 holes o f the m atch-play
format. “ Ben H ogan . .. he has won so
m any to u rn am en ts i t ’s scary —
especially after the car accident, to
come back and play as wel 1 as he did,”
W oods said. “H e w as incredible. He
played at a level that not too m any
players could ever attain.” History
will determ ine that, because W oods
isjustgettingw arm edup. “ I remember
H ogan in his heyday,” said Peter
Thom son, a five-tim e British Open
champion. “He was equally awesome,
very nearly unbeatable. The two
com pare favorably.”
Vida Blue makes rare visit to Portland
■■■■
Big enough to help»
Vida Blue made a
rare visit to
Portland's new PGE
Park Sunday August
13 to play host to a
world class baseball
clinic fo r Portland
youth o f all ages.
Kyle Kuch left, and
Michael Harper Jr.
right, pay close
attention to the
details provided by
Vida's watchful eye.
smalt enough to cate.
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