Raise your hand if you ever thought you’d see Tiger Woods shank a pitch shot when it mattered?
Again, raise your hand if you thought Tiger Woods would ever be capable of shanking a routine pitch shot, then follow it immediately with an 22-handicapper-like chunk of a green-side chip?
Surely that isn’t what we saw at the 11th hole at Greensboro Sunday afternoon when Woods was still in the thick of it at the Wyndham Championship.
Surely, with the record crowds screaming in approval on every shot, surely Woods would complete his comeback, make a string of birdies on the back nine and beat all the guys that he should be beating, you know, the Scott Browns, Jonax Blixts and Jason Gores of the world. Woods has won 79 times steamrolling that sort of competition, steamrolling the other top 10 guys in the world. He was a machine.
There was no trace of that on the 11th hole. A poor approach that he pulled left him with plenty of green to salvage par. Then the sort of meltdown we never thought we’d see from Woods materialized.
Five shots later he walked off the green with a triple-bogey seven and it was all but over for him. He immediately bogeyed the 12th to punctuate the disaster.
The pressure was off.
Only then did Woods roll off three birdies in a row, then add another at the 18th to shoot 70 and tie for 10th.
The question of the day: Did Tiger Woods choke at 11? Did the pressure get to him? That will remain up for discussion until his next appearance in the fall at the Frys.com. He may chose to play in Europe, he still gets those enormous appearance fees over there.
Woods was asked afterward if his back was hurt. His response: “only my hip.” He should have said: “only my pride.”
Ian Baker Finch was a huge Woods apologist, adding this gem to the broadcast: “Tiger keeps adding layer after layer to his confidence?”
IBF, you cannot be serious, as John McEnroe used to scream.
Adding to his confidence?
Tiger Woods just finished playing an easy golf course, one that rarely required him to hit driver, the club that bites him in the neck like a poisonous snake.
He could iron it around and hit a bunch of short irons into most of the holes.
In the end, he was beaten, they all were beaten by a 51-year-old guy who has had two major surgeries of his own.
Davis Love now has 21 wins on the PGA Tour. About a quarter of the 79 Woods owns.
But Love knew how to shoot a low number when it counted.
Woods did not.
So did Tiger Woods choke? Apologists will say no, haters will say it was a choke of the worst kind.
Whatever it was, it was so very evident that this Tiger Woods simply is not ready for prime time.
2 Comments
Victor Cruse
Here you go again, it doesn’t matter of Mr. Woods ever hits another shot man, the crowd and gold world was enthralled by his mere appearance! Only a weak sister disappointed with there own state of affairs or worst want to be pro golfer would take shots at the Tiger!!!!! Rory, Jordan, Jason and Ricky should be your positive concentration otherwise you leave me to wonder???? Are you one of those self proclaimed judgemental people whose never had any one opportunity to be in the competitive cauldron of sports! Damn man its sad you have no perspective! Choke, not a word for analyst and sportswriters who time is spent pounding on keys knowing nothing about the ” Field”!!!!!!!!
Lance Simon
Seriously? This is news? A golfer having a blow up hole, followed by a bogey and this makes it newsworthy? Heck, I’d be a scratch golfer if I could get rid of that stupid blow up hole that I tend to get every round. We (us regular folks) all tend to get that occasionally, or even often.
Of course, we aren’t talking about a “golfer”, we’re talking about Tiger Woods. Maybe it’s time to figure out that Tiger doesn’t play like he used to. Maybe it’s also time to take notice that he played much better at the Wyndham than he has been playing lately. Maybe that should be the news; his game is getting better.
Regarding “…it was so very evident that this Tiger Woods simply is not ready for prime time.” Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? Does this hold true for Martin Kaymer, Justin Leonard, Luke Donald, Vijay Singh, Brandt Snedeker, Jason Dufner, Adam Scott, Ernie Els, and Billy Horschel, too? Tiger beat all of them, even with the 4 strokes lost on eleven and twelve. Of course it doesn’t mean that they aren’t ready for prime time. Nor is it evident for Tiger, either. How about letting Tiger Woods just be another golfer; one who will miss cuts and finish outside of the top ten more often than he finishes in the top ten. Instead, you’re looking for Tiger Woods the golf God. He isn’t that player now, and may never be. That being said, the game is still better when he’s around. He’s a Hall of Famer, possibly the best who’s ever played the game (certainly amongst the top 5), but that’s not where his game is at the moment.
It’s easy for folks like you to demand so much more out of him, because that’s what he has demanded out of himself. He is know longer demanding that of himself. This is evident from his demeanor and the way he talks during his press conferences.
I hope that Tiger will be able to regain some of dominance that he once had; it’s better for the game when he’s playing well. In the meantime; how about letting the guy work on his game on his own terms, not yours.