Tuesday, June 17, 2008

108th United States Open

-Coast

This might have been the most exciting weekend of golf I have watched since the '99 Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods put on a show for four days that should make you grateful you are alive to watch. Starting with his 30 on the back 9 on Friday, Tiger gave us shot after shot after shot, both good and horrible, that kept everything exciting.

Tiger Woods won his 14th major yesterday since 1997. This is his 12th professional season and he has 14 majors. The most majors among active players besides Tiger woods is 3. This was Tiger's third US Open. He now has 3 US Opens, 3 British Opens, 4 Masters and 4 PGA's. He joins Jack Nicklous as the only two golfers to win the career grand slam three times. To top it all off, he played this week after having not played a competitive round of golf since the Masters two months ago. He had a bum knee and was obviously less than 100 percent. Except for the 2000 US Open and the 1997 Masters, this is his most impressive win. He won despite making 4 double bogeys, including three on the very first hole.

On Saturday, Tiger couldn't hit a driver within 30 yards of the fairway. His drives were so bad that he was far enough off the fairway that his ball was in matted down grass where the gallery had been sitting. All you Tiger haters can make the argument that he got lucky but there was no luck involved when he drained a 60 foot putt dead center for eagle or when he read the 40 footer on 18 perfectly right in the heart. Yeah, I will admit he may have caught a break on 17 with that chip falling but the fact is, he cut a 5 stroke deficit to a 1 stroke lead within an hour with 2 eagles and a birdie on the final 6 holes.

On Sunday Tiger played awful, yet kept grinding. He could have played himself right out of the tournament with a double bogey, bogey start. He hit bad shot after bad shot, missing fairways worse than me. He tried going for the green on 13 from 290 and duck hooked it in the hazard then layed up on 14, only a 267 yard hole. Tiger was choking in the final round of a major until he finally reminded everyone he is Tiger Woods. Needing a birdie to force an 18 hole playoff, Tiger missed the fairway and then hit a terrible layup into the rough. He would need to get up and down from 105 yards from US Open rough to force the playoff. Of course, he did.

Tiger won the tournament, but gaining respect from everyone was Rocco Mediate. All weekend I was saying wow this guy is a joke he is wearing a peace sign belt buckle. But, after thinking about it and watching and reading about the playoff, you can't help but respect this guy. This dude is 45 years old and hits the ball 270 yards. Yet he was able to stand up to Tiger for 18 holes if it wasn't for 2 birdies on the 18th by Woods, he would be the champ. He had Tiger on the ropes in the playoff even after being down by 3 after 10. How many people wrote him off when his deficit was 3 going into the final 8 holes which included two par 5s which Tiger destroyed this week. Yet, he came all the way back and took the lead. I am still glad that Mediate didn't win but I am impressed with his performance and take back everything I said about him over the weekend...he played out of his mind.

Finally, you got Lefty, choking as only Lefty can. How do you post a 9 on the par 5 13th. After leaving the ball short once wouldn't you learn and realize you need to land it in the middle and spin it back? You can't land it on the front of the green, it will come right back to your feet-yet he did it twice more until finally getting his 6th to land on the green. After a three putt, the quadruple bogey took him completely out of it, even with his 68 on Sunday. Mickelson is in his prime and was playing on his home course and still folded. I am beginning to think he never will have what it takes to win this tournament.

The next major is at Birkdale in about a month. Tiger said he may not play as he is going to shut down his knee for a while. But, we all know he will. He won't play until then and still will probably win.

5 comments:

  1. That is pure speculation. The argument can be made that Tiger is just that good. No one has been able to compete with him. Yeah, I agree that Tiger doesn't have an Arnold Palmer to contend with like Jack did but every single one of the 100 or so best players in the world can win on any given week. Those dudes are that good. Look at Rocco, he was like 198th or something. Steve you don't know anything about golf anyways...that would be like me commenting on who the best NL prospects are...know your roll.

    -Coast

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  2. Get a clue Janis, you know nothing about golf, you hate golf, you cannot make the argument there aren't as many good players now. That is pure speculation.

    -Coast

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  3. Goosen was in the field at Torrey Pines, finishing in a tie for fourteenth, but when asked whether he believed that Woods was faking the extent of his pain, he said:

    “I think so. It just seemed that when he hit a bad shot his knee was in pain and on his good shots he wasn’t in pain. You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and was shouting, ‘Yeah’, his knee wasn’t sore.

    “Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played.”

    Later on Goosen responded again, Goosen said: “I was being light-hearted. No one but Tiger himself knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn, wouldn’t he?”


    My thoughts exactly. He looked like Kobe Bryant out there ... when things go bad Kobe always seems to get hurt, but when things are good he is in the prime of his life.

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  4. i know how to watch a sport and see the number of players that have won multiple majors this century and that # of golfers is 2.. the top is bare with talent the middle is fat with mediocrity
    -steve

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  5. Obviously you didn't watch the tournament. On the back nine on Saturday, Tiger grimaced in pain after he ripped a driver down the left side of the fairway, a good shot. Even more so, on 18, Tiger ripped a 5 wood from the fairway, hit a perfect shot to 30 feet. So the point that he only showed pain when he hit a bad shot is false. Goosen is lost and just jeolous that he left whatever game he has at Congressional. Tiger has a torn ACL. I am assuming that a torn ACL hurts. And as for the celebrations? I think that the adrenaline that was pumping through his body when the 60 footer dropped for eagle or when the 12 footer to force a playoff fell outweighed any pain that he was feeling at the time. And as for withdrawing? You don't withdraw from a major when you are in contention unless you have an injury that prevents you from being able to swing. Tiger knew he could win even by spraying the ball all over. If he was healthy, he would have won by 10.

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