Woods … chasing Sam Snead’s record

COMING off his 74th US PGA Tour win, Tiger Woods headlines the 2012 Greenbrier Classic this week at a golf course closely identified with the man whose record he is chasing.

Sam Snead, who holds the all-time Tour winning mark of 82, was pro emeritus at The Greenbrier until he passed away in 2002, four days shy of his 90th birthday.

“Sam’s record is just absolutely phenomenal,” Woods, who first met Snead in California when he was 5 years old, said. “He didn’t exactly have easy guys to play against, Hogan and Nelson. Those guys aren’t chops.”

Snead had an amazing career with his first victory coming in 1937. He won five times that season and three decades later he got his 82nd and final official victory at the age of 52.

During that span, he won seven major championships and there were also countless other unofficial tournament wins.

“His swing is one of the classic swings that we all try and replicate,” Woods said. “We all looked at it, we all analyzed it and we all tried to do it. He was blessed just like Hogan with just amazing flexibility that a lot of guys just can’t do. He was kicking door archways in his 50s and 60s, just phenomenal.”

Also on hand will be recent US Open winner Webb Simpson along with compatriots Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk.

The Australian line-up is headed by the only Aussie winner of 2012, Marc Leishman who will be joined by Nathan Green, Mathew Goggin, Greg Chalmers and Nick O’Hern.

There’s also Stuart Appleby, the man who set the course record here at the Old White TPC course in West Virginia in 2010 when his final round 59 swept him to an unlikely victory.

The Australian will have to do something similar here to turn his season around.

2012 Greenbrier Classic Australian TV Times

The event is being telecast live in Australia on Fox Sports beginning Friday 5am to 9am.

2012 Greenbrier Classic Leaderboard