One yip just a blip for Woods

It's unlikely Tiger Woods will be hanging his head on golf courses much in the future.

[claw71]

Tiger is just 33 and he'll have an entire healthy off-season to get into form for next year. I wouldn't be surpirsed to see him win all four majors next year. That's a tall order but you'll find few who would bet much against that happening. Even if he doesn't pull off the season slam, I figure he'll have 20 major championships and 100 tour victories in the bag by the time he's 40.

If he chooses to continue playing competively beyond that I believe he could be a serious contender into his early 50s.

[Jon Do]

Truthfully, I was getting bored with spectator golf before this. I didn't even bother to watch Saturday or Sunday because there was no realistic expectation of drama (especially after Bridgestone). So it was a welcome surprise that someone did this. The problem looking forward is that no one is regularly challenging Woods (Harrington, the 'latest best' prospect, managed to crumble on back-to-back weekends). I think that the only way golf becomes interesting again is if Woods falls back into the field, because I'm not seeing anyone who is mentally tough enough to play in a field with Tiger on the weekend. And that's a shame.

[Neil Pye]

Quite honestly (and ironically) what happened on Sunday makes Tiger's career record in majors even that much more impresssive.

It is incredibly difficult to win a major, whether your name is Tiger Woods or Y.E. Yang. On any given Sunday, someone can come up with the round of his life and walk away with a championship. Remember Tiger has been locked in duels with lesser players like Bob May and Rocco Mediate in previous majors. The fact that, up until Sunday, he was able to fend them off each and every time, is nothing short of amazing.

[Luck]

I have played golf a little over 80% of my life, long enough to know that no matter how good you(or fellow competitors) are there is a good amount of luck when it comes to the game of golf. One second could be the difference of the wind blowing as you believe it will or not, tee shot Tiger hit on 17 ring a bell? One millimeter could be the difference between a putt going in the hole (Tiger missed no less than 4 putts by this margin) and lipping out. One inch could mean the difference between clearing a hazard or going in.

Granted typically luck tends to follow the better players (Tiger) because they play the percentages better than anyone. There are hundreds of thousands of players who hit the ball good enough to play on the PGA Tour, difference is they don't have the mental game. So many marvel about how Tiger hits the ball but to me where he sets himself apart is his course management and his focus.

Nothing frustrates me more than when commentators make these guys out to be perfect and rarely do they mention "luck" Sometimes a good shot is hit but it gets a bad bounce (Sunday this was the theme with Tiger) and sometimes a bad shot is hit and it gets a good bounce.

I agree that Tiger not winning was very good for the game of golf, hopefully it helps the non-player understand just how remarkable Tiger is.

In my opinion Tiger will someday go down in history as one of the greats in ALL of sports, not just golf much like Michael Jordan.

[Get Real]

Luck wrote:

I have played golf a little over 80% of my life, long enough to know that no matter how good you(or fellow competitors) are there is a good amount of luck when it comes to the game of golf. One second could be the difference of the wind blowing as you believe it will or not, tee shot Tiger hit on 17 ring a bell? One millimeter could be the difference between a putt going in the hole (Tiger missed no less than 4 putts by this margin) and lipping out. One inch could mean the difference between clearing a hazard or going in.
Granted typically luck tends to follow the better players (Tiger) because they play the percentages better than anyone. There are hundreds of thousands of players who hit the ball good enough to play on the PGA Tour, difference is they don't have the mental game. So many marvel about how Tiger hits the ball but to me where he sets himself apart is his course management and his focus.
Nothing frustrates me more than when commentators make these guys out to be perfect and rarely do they mention "luck" Sometimes a good shot is hit but it gets a bad bounce (Sunday this was the theme with Tiger) and sometimes a bad shot is hit and it gets a good bounce.
I agree that Tiger not winning was very good for the game of golf, hopefully it helps the non-player understand just how remarkable Tiger is.
In my opinion Tiger will someday go down in history as one of the greats in ALL of sports, not just golf much like Michael Jordan.

Guys like Tiger make their own luck. Do you think it's an accident he's dropped so many chips in the bottom of the cup? Do you think luck is what helps him turn errant tee shots into birdies? The guy is a golfing machine who runs and hits the weights with the tenacity of an NFL cornerback. Yang had a great day and perhaps he'll have more but that won't stop Tiger. As hard as it is to believe, Tiger might push himself even more if somebody emerges as a rival.

[Attitude]

Get Real wrote:

<quoted text>
Guys like Tiger make their own luck. Do you think it's an accident he's dropped so many chips in the bottom of the cup? Do you think luck is what helps him turn errant tee shots into birdies? The guy is a golfing machine who runs and hits the weights with the tenacity of an NFL cornerback. Yang had a great day and perhaps he'll have more but that won't stop Tiger. As hard as it is to believe, Tiger might push himself even more if somebody emerges as a rival.

Tiger won't win when it counts until he addresses his attitude. Tiger is great and all that I agree, but when he has won lately it has been in large part due to the lack of someone stepping up to challenge him... When he does get challenged he gets so pissed when he doesn’t hit the perfect shot that it affects his next couple of shots. If you look back to his early career he never used to get upset, throwing clubs, cursing at him, etc. How many times did you see Jack slam his club into the ground, curse when he hit a bad shot or got a bad break, etc? NEVER! Let me say it again for you, NEVER!!! What’s worse is that all the youth just taking up the game has him as a role model which by and large makes it OK...

[TMD]

Attitude wrote:

<quoted text>
Tiger won't win when it counts until he addresses his attitude. Tiger is great and all that I agree, but when he has won lately it has been in large part due to the lack of someone stepping up to challenge him... When he does get challenged he gets so pissed when he doesn’t hit the perfect shot that it affects his next couple of shots. If you look back to his early career he never used to get upset, throwing clubs, cursing at him, etc. How many times did you see Jack slam his club into the ground, curse when he hit a bad shot or got a bad break, etc? NEVER! Let me say it again for you, NEVER!!! What’s worse is that all the youth just taking up the game has him as a role model which by and large makes it OK...

Are you calling what happened at the PGA championship a challenge?

Yang won with an 8 under par. Tiger had that going INTO the last round. Had he made his normal putts he would have won going away, and Yang's -8 wouldn't have even been close. Tiger's attitude had nothing to do with misreading the greens and letting the championship slip away.

Instead of ranting about Tiger'[s demeanor, maybe you should be castigating all those other 100+ golfers who finished behind Tiger. Why didn't any of THEM win the tournament? They weren't even close. Did their attitude prevent them from winning, or even challeging for the lead?

One last thing. Tiger is MORE calm now than he was earlier in his career. He used to be MUCH more vocal and critical of himself. He has said he is working on getting this part of his game play under control, but it's a work-in-progress.

BTW, Tiger is not the only player that gets upset and says or does things contrary to the norms of the '50s. Ever watched Sergio Garcia, or Daly have a bad round?

[claw71]

Attitude wrote:

<quoted text>
Tiger won't win when it counts until he addresses his attitude. Tiger is great and all that I agree, but when he has won lately it has been in large part due to the lack of someone stepping up to challenge him... When he does get challenged he gets so **** when he doesn’t hit the perfect shot that it affects his next couple of shots. If you look back to his early career he never used to get upset, throwing clubs, cursing at him, etc. How many times did you see Jack slam his club into the ground, curse when he hit a bad shot or got a bad break, etc? NEVER! Let me say it again for you, NEVER!!! What’s worse is that all the youth just taking up the game has him as a role model which by and large makes it OK...

You didn't see Jack do that because nobody was watching. All eyes are on Tiger, all the time. Most of the time Tiger curses under his breath or rolls his eyes. At least he doesn't blame the golf gourse for his failures ala Phil Mickelson at the Memorial.

With 14 Majors under his belt, 70 career wins and another year on the tour while he got his game back into shape, Tiger's proven that he can win when it counts. He's the best by a long shot. The reason he doesn't have a rival is because he has destroyed the field and changed the way everybody approaches golf.

Golf is a sport where unathletic people could be very successful. Tiger has raised the bar and before he's done he'll have more than 100 tour victories, 20 majors and close to a several hundred million in career earnings.

[Big Al]

I totally agree with Attitude and I could not say it any better myself. I especially agree about all of the youth out there watching his every move.

[claw71]

Big Al wrote:

I totally agree with Attitude and I could not say it any better myself. I especially agree about all of the youth out there watching his every move.

The youth watching his every move are much more likely to be influenced by their parents, older siblings and other cultural figures.

I think we overestimate just how many kids are actually watching golf.