Two birthdays on December 30th I can think of. One is my late grandma Myrle and the other is Tiger Woods.
Today Tiger turns 36, what should be the exact middle of the prime of his golf career. Now that he turned 36, golf magazines and media scribes are once again nauseatingly asking the same repetitive question over and over, “can Tiger beat Jack’s record?”
Nobody really has the answer, but it makes for good water cooler discussion. Time will tell.
Staring contest between Zach Johnson and Tiger Woods on the 18th Sunday
I suppose I have to post a Tiger Woods related post today since he won the Chevron and the media and golf broadcasters are going nuts. Not that I don’t want to, I just don’t want it to be the same as a billion other scribes, bloggers, sports reporters etc.
I watched almost all of the broadcast of the Chevron World Challenge this weekend. I wasn’t super impressed with the golf of most of the 18 players. Collectively the field was -3. Perhaps the fast greens and high wind took their toll. Yes, this was a field of only 18 players. Take that for what it is worth. Not a full field. Not a PGA Tour event either. BUT, despite being a small field there were some fantastic golfers in it, including many top 10 players, the FedEx Cup champ for 2011 etc.
After the hot start Thursday I’d hoped that K.J. Choi could keep the train rolling. He’s one of my favorite players. But he lost it a bit. The 15th hole seemed to have his number, as Choi carded a quadruple and a triple on that par-3.
Tiger’s game was good enough to win this week obviously, but whether or not he is “back” is unknown in my opinion. I still see some wild swings, but then again he has always had wild swings. The dip in his swing is pretty pronounced and when that gets out of control, he hits bad shots, like the few fat 3-woods he hit.
Still I think the biggest make or break part of TW’s game right now is his putting. He didn’t make much of anything yesterday. I could see his blade opening in his stroke on some misses. Then suddenly something clicked around the 16th hole. He started to release the putter better, without leaving the face open. Then the putts started dropping.
So is Tiger “Back?”
Many think so. Most golf TV broadcasters, networks and scribes want him back because their ratings are so vastly better when Tiger is playing well and in contention.
Speaking of the broadcasters, the Tiger doting was really over the top this weekend, especially Sunday. It is hard to swallow sometimes–when they go on and on about Tiger, and seem to forget the rest of the field. They’re in a tough position though. I get it. It is hard not to dote over possibly the best golfer ever. Tiger is arguably the 2nd best golfer. Can’t call him the best unless he beats Jack’s record.
When asked if he was back, Tiger said (paraphrasing) he’d never left.
For fun, lets take a look at some headlines:
Finally, a win for Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods Wins First Tournament Since Scandal
Woods puts demon in the hole
Woods ends 2-year victory drought
Hello Again, World
Did Tiger get his groove back?
Does Tiger’s win at the Chevron mean he’s all the way back?
The days of doubting Tiger Woods are over (finally) – complete quote
Tiger Woods starts winning again
Tiger is back to his best
Great story — but is he really back?
Golf doesn’t need Tiger anymore
Tiger Woods Wins! Fan Yells “Mashed Potatoes!”
Angel Tiger or Devil Tiger, either way, I’m glad he’s back!
That’s More Like It
What did Tiger himself have to say about his win? Here’s his latest tweet:
Birdie birdie feels pretty damn good. Fans made it feel better than great.
What’s gear was in Tiger Woods’s golf bag at the Chevron?
Driver: Nike VR Tour 8.5-degree (Graphite Design DI 6X)
Fairway Woods: Nike VR Pro Limited Edition 3-wood/15-degree and 5-wood/19-degree
Irons: Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW)
Wedges: Nike VR Pro 56-degree and Nike VR Pro 60-degree
Putter: Nike Method 001
Ball: Nike ONE Tour D
Apparel: Nike Golf’s Tiger Woods Collection
Footwear: Nike TW Free-Inspired Prototype Shoe
Tiger Woods answered a bunch of fan questions on video following his press conference at the Chevron World Challenge yesterday. Everything from swing tips to belly putters to classes he liked at Stanford.
Watch the last 2-3 seconds closely and tell me what your take is.
Set your DVR. Tiger Woods is in action the next four days and supposedly is ready for some kind of breakthrough in his game. At least that’s what all the scribes are scribing. We’ll see. His chances are pretty good, considering there are only 18 players in the field. One of my fav’s is in the field: K.J. Choi.
Chevron World Challenge Field
Sherwood CC – Thousand Oaks, California
Bradley, Keegan
Haas, Bill
Stricker, Steve
Casey, Paul
Johnson, Zach
Van Pelt, Bo
Choi, K.J.
Kuchar, Matt
Watney, Nick
Day, Jason
Laird, Martin
Watson, Bubba
Fowler, Rickie
Mahan, Hunter
Woodland, Gary
Furyk, Jim
Simpson, Webb
Woods, Tiger
Chevron World Challenge TV Schedule
THU: 3PM-6PM ET Golf Channel
FRI: 3PM-6PM ET Golf Channel
SAT: 1PM-3PM ET Golf Channel
SAT: 3PM-6PM ET NBC
SUN: 1PM-3PM ET Golf Channel
SUN: 3PM-6PM ET NBC
This Presidents Cup was enjoyable to watch. The USA won the Cup, 19-15. Not surprising. They simply had more firepower than the International team.
The star of the week wasn’t Jim Furyk, who went 5-0. It wasn’t Tiger Woods either, who seemed to find it the last two days after going 0-3 the first two days. The star was the course. I’ve got Royal Melbourne on my golf bucket list now. I would love to putt those greens and try hitting shots out of those bunkers.
Sunday Matches
USA WINS CUP 19-15
Sunday Singles Matches
USA
Result
International
Webb Simpson
LOSE 1 DOWN
K.T. Kim
Dustin Johnson
LOSE 2 & 1
Charl Schwartzel
Bubba Watson
LOSE 3 & 2
Ryo Ishikawa
Bill Haas
LOSE 2 DOWN
Geoff Ogilvy
Hunter Mahan
WIN 5 & 3
Jason Day
Nick Watney
WIN 3 & 2
K.J. Choi
Phil Mickelson
LOSE 2 & 1
Adam Scott
Matt Kuchar
LOSE 1 DOWN
Retief Goosen
Jim Furyk
WIN 4 & 3
Ernie Els
David Toms
WIN 7 & 5
Robert Allenby
Tiger Woods
WIN 4 & 3
Aaron Baddeley
Steve Stricker
WIN 2 & 1
Y.E. Yang
SINGLES: USA 6 – INTERNATIONAL 6
Quotes of the week
There were a couple of quotes which really made me laugh, probably because my mind is in the gutter. Greg Norman asks wives and girlfriends of the players to help them relax by “taking care of them.” Ahem.
Tiger was talking about a two foot putt which surprisingly wasn’t given to his partner Steve Stricker:
“I don’t think he’s missed one of those since coming out of the womb.”
During the NBC broadcast, Johnny Miller might have used a better choice of words when describing Tiger:
“Tiger’s been known to make his partners gag a little bit.”
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
