3:45 pm I just got a heads-up on a Must Read article by Shane Ryan (author of the recently-published Slaying the Tiger) at Golf Digest’s website. What’s the topic? Well, check out the title: “Tiger Woods is totally, completely, unequivocally, and utterly done.”
I personally think Woods is not quite done, but he is done in the sense of being even remotely what the media claims he still is. My thinking: Give him another year, and if his back heals completely, he could be a factor in some tournaments. But Shane’s less wishy-washy take makes for far better reading, and he produced an article that builds with each paragraph. Here are my two favorite bits, but there are many to chose from:
If Tiger Woods finishes 30th at a future event, and leads the field in some esoteric category, it will not mean he’s back. If he tells us that some minute swing adjustment has him on the verge of greatness, it will not mean he’s back. If he’s about to play on some course where he’s won before, against players with less experience, it does not mean he’s going to win.
Shane really nailed it with that. He debunked the golf media’s playbook, point by point.
I would like to point out that there are many golfers who are not done. Jordan Spieth, age 21 and winner of back-to-back majors, is not done. Rickie Fowler is not done. Rory McIlroy is injured, but almost certainly not done. I just watched Hideki Matsuyama make seven birdies in ten holes. Based on that evidence, I’m ready to state that he, too, is not done.
I laughed out loud at that one. Excellent timing, phrasing. Anyway, you might find other parts funnier, more biting. It’s good stuff through and through, and it’s nice to see someone finally pushing the mainstream golf media to accept reality.
Now, I’m going to go read the comments. This should be fun…
2:30 pm Okay, Tirico, tell me one of those shots Woods hit that “we’d never seen before.” Just one will suffice.
Judy made a stinging remark, I think. She said, after someone said Woods was running on empty, or somesuch, “Yes, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with saying that.” Made me wonder if they tell them in production meetings, “Whatever you do, pretend Tiger is still a good, relevant player.” Was Dottie rebelling?
1:40 pm The phones are ringing off the hooks in the Lanny H Golf Control Center. Our ears are burning with rumor reports from St. Andrews. Trusted insiders tell us Tiger Woods is going to do an impromptu farewell ceremony on the Swilcan Bridge! Grab your handkerchief!
11:45 am A substory when play resumes: Will David Duval make the cut while Tiger Woods misses it? Duval was in one of the groups that log-jammed at the No. 11 tee box, so didn’t lose any strokes during this morning’s short-lived resumption. He needs to make it home in par, as things stand now.
Shackelford had a link to this ESPN story about Phil Mickelson, which is pretty darn good. The idea of the invisible line seemed accurate and a good way to describe an aging golfer.
10:30 am Jordan Not Happy (from the Telegraph)
10:20 am Cancel This Sham of a Tourney; Tom Watson and the Bridge
I’m sorry. I cannot recognize this sham of a tournament as a major. I nominate the best tournament of the Florida swing as a replacement: the Valspar.
The stands are packed with people who have nothing to entertain them. Tom Watson could have done his bridge walk today. In fact, he could have filmed a four-hour epic movie about it. Bridge Over River Swilcan, maybe. A Burn Runs Through It?
Tirico Tidbit: Did you hear the stat from Tirico about Jordan Spieth and three-putts? He had 15 three-putts in over 1000 holes played, prior to this week. He’s already had four at St. Andrews (and that might have just been during round two). What a sham.
8:30 am TAKE ST. ANDREWS OUT OF THE ROTA — NOW!!!
I’m sick of all the “tradition.” The only tradition in golf is the tradition of the equipment manufacturers calling the shots in order to make a buck. Today’s balls and clubs. and the player-specific tweaking for launch angle and spin, have made courses too short and easy, causing the greens to be made too fast, placing too much of a premium on putting, and, oh, by the way, resulting in balls moving on the green during high winds during a freaking major.
This is the second wind delay in two British Opens at St. Andrews. This is not an anomaly; this is St. Andrews with greens mowed too short for the weather. Since we all know the R&A and USGA will not rein in the equipment manufacturers — padding their pockets being the only objective of all involved — the British Open must be moved from St. Andrews, and, perhaps, out of Scotland entirely. There are some fantastic sites in continental Europe, and I would absolutely love to see a British Open in Dubai. The Dubai Desert Classic has a history of stable weather and great champions.
If that alternative is unpalatable, try this one: Revoke the status of the British Open as a major. This requires no action whatsoever! Golf writers and fans simply decide to have another tournament be considered the fourth major. My vote is for Quail Hollow. There is precedence for this: The U.S. and British Amateurs are no longer considered majors.
There are only three alternatives:
- Roll back the equipment so that courses can be played as originally designed.
- Move the British Open rota to continental Europe (and Dubai and Australia).
- Replace the British Open with Quail Hollow (or Colonial, or the L.A. Open) becoming the fourth major.
7:30 am What a mess…
Lanny H Golf 
Adverse weather is fun to watch. But not when it, and not skill, may end up being responsible for the outcome.
I just heard that Louis may be able to replace his ball back to 18 inches from the hole, rather than the 8 feet away that the wind blew it.
Yeah, this might be fun for a nine-hole company scramble, but when a guy is going for the third leg of the Grand Slam, it’s a sham.
DJ must feel like the gods are just out to get him at this point.
So now it’s a WIND delay?…..Why not just have the British Open in Florida…..
I think that’s a serious idea. This course can’t handle modern equipment “advances.”
Ironic that the last two golfers who were going for THREE majors in a row, had the bad draw on the weather……
I’d be very interested in seeing some of the worst conditions that they ALLOWED play to continue in the past….I remember the 2002 Open which had a terrible weather day, but the golfers had to play….NOW it’s not allowed to affect certain golfers….
Ok, if you don’t want puddles, I get that, but now we can’t have alot of wind either….So then this course and the whole point of the British Open weather becomes nebulous….
The ball is blowing off the green. If they rolled back the equipment, they would not have to mow the greens so ridiculously short for this climate.
So finishing play on Monday….This tournament already seems like it’s been going on for a week…
They could play if they didn’t insist on such fast greens. That isn’t technology, that’s a conscious and unnecessary decision. Players would probably hate greens with 1960-style speed. But if the tradition of the old course is so damn important, why not putt it as tradition dictates?
They can’t play with balls blowing across the greens from a stop. That’s not pampering anyone, that’s just reality.
So play was suspended a half hour after it resumed? That’s almost as disastrous as the Monday finish they’ll now have. I’m out of the loop this week as I’ve only caught about 45 minutes of live golf. Crazy that they’ve had to suspend play for every bit of bad weather. They might as well be playing in the US.
I find it amusing that Scotland and Ireland are constantly being hyped as the ultimate “bucket list” golf destinations. The truth is, the weather is so consistently horrible that August/Sept. is the ONLY time you have a chance for decent golf, and even then its a gamble. I know plenty of “buddy trips” that were complete washouts because of rain, cold, sleet, winds. You spend all that money and time to get over there and end up being miserable.
You said it! Another case of overblown hype! Better to play Bethpage Black then visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art or Museum of Natural History.
I just get my neighbor to spray me with a hose, while also having another hit me with the leaf blower….I close my eyes, and I instantly feel like I’m in Britain playing golf…It’s magical….
The sound of the leaf blower is “the roar of the ocean.”
Ok ESPN isn’t showing the VERY FEW shots that were done during this morning’s round…I still haven’t seen Spieth and Johnson’s finishing shots on the par 5….I see their score, but why not just show it? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the interviews and speculation and Azinger talking about Eldrick, but why not show the FEW shots……
Lanny you saw it live? DJ was a little off the green while Spieth was just on the green….can you explain(with distances) what they did with their 3,4, and 5th shots?
Well…. actually… I didn’t exactly see it live… I couldn’t fall asleep and when I did I woke up two hours after play had resumed… Oops.
I have, however, seen a replay. Spieth and DJ were both either on, or just off the par-5 green in two. Spieth got down in three, DJ, four (after his first shot was blown off the green before he marked it).
If Matsuyama wins this tourney, his decision to putt out in the dark last night (he birdied) might be the deciding factor.
Interesting point about Matsuyama finishing….Obviously he COULD see enough to putt….You just wonder how AWARE DJ and Speith were about the potential BAD weather they were going to face the following morning….
Sure the darkness does affect your hand-eye coordination, but in retrospect, the weather was not doing anything……Potentially Spieth -6 and Johnson -11 if they finished yesterday, but instead today ended up -5 and -9 after the 14th……….
DJ hit a poor chip. It did stop, but then got blown back. He could and should have quickly marked it. Putting would have been a better choice IMO, first shot on a cold morning and all.
Jordan left his first putt about 6, 7 feet short and then missed that for birdie. His 4th 3-putt of the round. He was unhappy with himself for that one, not the wind.
good info Ken…thanks..
Golf lies to itself every day. Golf loves to wallow in history, tradition, integrity. Then it trots out adjustable drivers, New Age putters, juiced up golf balls. The hypocrisy in today’s game is unbearable.
That’s a very interesting way of looking at it….I’m sure MOST golf historians DONT like to connect those dots…..
Remember that myth a few years ago, that TODAYS athletes are so much better, stronger, bla, bla, bla…..Well, we now know steroids and equipment was most of that….
As we discussed yesterday, St Andrews is obsolete, yet they are willing to make MINOR changes, without making it a viable Major golf course…..
Hire Lanny and I to update St Andrews, and we will have laser beams and wind machines out there to make it a legitimate 21st century golf course….
I don’t like when some cling to tradition obsessively. Think Bob Costas, who still can’t come to grips with baseball being played under lights (1935). He’s the type that insists on calling old ballparks “cathedrals” and probably worships places like St. Andrews. Everything changes with the times.
However, that change must be managed. Golf allowed the equipment makers to run amok. They showed a graphic that said Daly’s driving distance, which led the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews, was 295 yards. We all think of him as “Long John” hitting these mammoth drives, and at that time they were. But they weren’t so far that they made courses obsolete. In reality, that was as far as the ball should have been allowed to travel. The current average driving distance of all players is 289 yards. In 1995, Daly led the tour at 289 yards. Davis Love was second at 285 yards and there were only five players who averaged 280 yards or more. Els and Norman, two guys thought of as great drivers, averaged 274 yards; Zach Johnson does that now.
You can’t add that much yardage without changing the essential character of the game. It needs to be dialed back. Let the equipment makers howl. Perhaps it’s all just the golf balls and it can be managed with that, which should be fairly painless to the manufacturers.
My gosh! In twenty years, the average drive is in the ball park of Long John Daly? I guess TaylorMade and Nike and Titleist and Adams would tell us it’s the “new athletes” who “spend time in the gym.”
I hit it farther than I did when I was in my 20s. I assure you, there’s no gym involved.
If they move the British Open off the British Isles, I’ll drop my insistence on calling it “The British Open” and will agree to say “the Open Championship.”
However, I’ll never cave to the arrogant, pretentious “Champion Golfer of the Year” tripe.
Brendan Todd wasn’t too happy. He had to play three holes to finish round 2 today. Three-putted two of them. He finished and then they called play. Not fair at all.
Todd is at even. Makes the cut but it hurt him badly.
Yeah, while the guys in the par-3 No. 11 tee box never even had to hit (due to problems and rulings on the green ahead of them).
This guy on now is saying, “The No. 11 green was where the problem was.” I bet DJ would beg to differ.
The greens are 9.5/10 which by tour standards is ridiculously slow. Most tour events have greens rolling 12+. Did you not see multiple golfers leave putts short? Forget which player it was but I saw a guy leave a 5 footer about a foot short. That ain’t fast.
Like it or not Scotland is the home of golf so to move The Open, especially to a place like Duabai, would be criminal. I’d be for going to 3 majors before I’d vote for that.
For 99.9% of golfers, the equipment is just fine. If you want to role back anything, role it back for tour players. No reason the tour players can’t have their own standards for equipment.
Move it to Dubai until they roll the equipment back. 9.5 is slow “by Tour standards” only because Tour standards are silly due to equipment making the courses too easy.
We hear about tradition, but now we learn the sand blows out of the bunkers. WTH? They artificially dump sand in the bunkers at this “classic” course? Why not add an island green?
It has nothing to do with courses being to easy and everything to do with expectations of smooth/fast greens.
With technology HAS to come some changes…History shows man is usually SLOW to adjust….The PGA is confusing tradition with sustainability of most courses…
Take World War One tactics, not to dissimilar to the Civil War, even though technology was radically different…
Steroids made baseball a video game for a while, all the time PRETENDING these were JUST superior athletes ect….They’ve fixed that to some extent…
NOW we have golf….In the PGA— STEROIDS in both the players AND the equipment is mostly going unchecked…..
I totally disagree about having different standards for pros and amateurs. Even the courses that I play, some of which aren’t very long and don’t have the money or real estate to grow, are obsolete for hack players like me. Driver/wedge golf gets boring to play and to watch. I guess being able to hit wedges into par 4s makes some guys feel special, but I’d rather hit a variety of shots. On some courses, I’ll leave my woods in the car just to play some different shots.
I was always a long hitter. I started in 1984 with wooden clubs. I was never a great player, but it was rare for me to get paired with someone would could knock it past me. Now I’m 51 years old and I still play some of the same courses that I played in 1984. I hit drives now that are past anything that I could do when i was in my twenties. I’d like to think that I’m just a better player, but I know that it’s the equipment. 51-year olds don’t naturally get stronger and longer.
I think the equipment has moved the pro game too far past the amateur game. Yes, we can all play the same equipment. The pros could always hit it further than your typical weekend players. But the advancement in equipment has magnified that difference. We all hit it farther now, but the pros now hit it distances that few amateurs can imagine.
When I started in 1984, I could watch pro golf and imagine myself doing anything that a pro could do. I could see myself reaching the same par 5s in two that the pros could reach. There was never, ever a par 4 that I couldn’t see myself reaching in two. I’m not saying that I was a great player starting out. I wouldn’t accomplish these things often, but I could do it if I hit it well. Now, there’s just no way that I can hit 600 yard par 5s in two, and few others can either. I’d have a lot of trouble getting to some of the 500+ yard par 4s that they play now. I think that the new equipment has created a much bigger gulf between the pro and amateur players. I don’t that that disconnect, the feeling that we no longer play the same game, is a healthy thing for the future of the game. Part of the appeal of pro golf in the past was that you could play and accomplish, at least for a hole here and there, the same things that the pros can do.
Great post. I remember years ago when I was young, how we loved to hit our best drive of the day, calculate the distance then marval at how far past Daly would have been. But he was playing, more or less, the same equipment as us.
Now, there is that big (unnatural) gulf between pros and amateurs. One is that they fine-tune the ball-driver-player-launch angle-spin rate for individual players. It’s kind of like NASCAR, in a way, in that the scientist in the garage plays a very important role. Two, the equipment is designed for maximum distance for perfect contact. Say Roy gets a new ball and driver that adds ten yards; if you give that club and ball to an amateur he isn’t going to get a damned yard more than his old club/ball.
I’m a bit of a sap for some of the traditions. I got a little misty eyed just reading about Arnold Palmer in that exhibition, the greeting that he gets from fans and other players, and the fact that he’s 85 and not so steady anymore.
But my god, they overdo it on TV. The whole “bridge thing.” Sport-realist said something yesterday about “manufactured moments,” and he’s spot on. I don’t recall that having been a big deal years ago. It was an iconic moment when Palmer posed there in 1995. It started a tradition that was kind of nice with Nicklaus. It was really cool when Sam Snead did a little jig there in the first Champions Challenge back in 2000. Not that Watson doesn’t deserve his moment, but now it’s getting to be a bit much. Is Todd Hamilton going to do that in another 12 years? How about Tom Gillis? He may never get back to the British Open, perhaps he could do a preemptive goodbye.
Well stated.
well in today’s PC land, we ALL should get a turn to walk on that bridge…
They keep moving the time from 11 to 12 to 12:30…Soon, Speith and friends will be starting in the dark again, and only Matsuyama will keep playing with his flashlight..
Starting to think Louis might repeat here….
Chambers Bay and the US Open have to be loving this British Open Criticism…
And Rory can’t be as upset as he was. And Jordan’s decision to arrive late looks smarter and smarter.
Indeed. USGA not looking like such buffoons now, in comparison to the R&A.
Haha, yeah, Matsuyama will get another birdie, then wait for the next day to play another hole.
Why do I have a feeling that deep inside Jordan Speith is a whiny, needy little bitch aching and screaming to emerge?
Uh, because you don’t like him and will bend reality to express displeasure?
My feeling is that Jordan had a valid complaint and expressed it. Like I do myself.
Disagree. Totally disagree. I’ve seen this kid interviewed since he was 16. He’s the real thing.
Legitimate complaints are not whining. They shouldn’t have forced players to go out this morning, only to call it off shortly after – after some of those players damaged their position on the leaderboard. While players on the 11th green held up play to the benefit of those standing on the tee behind them who weren’t forced to tee it up. Everyone was not treated equally.
Most of the criticism has come by Dustin Johnson…I guess ALOT of players have been directed at the R&A rules officials……Even saying players/caddies were YELLING at the R&A officials……..cmon tmz show the footage….
I have clients that know Spieth and his coach from Brook Hollow CC in Dallas. You are wrong, Barry Burn…dead wrong.
Wow I hate the graphic they just used. It listed DJ’s recent major results. It said “Masters”, “US Open”, “Open”, “Masters”, etc.
It’s “British Open.”
You remind me of something. Yesterday, I saw a graphic that was truly enlightening. And ESPN left it on the screen long enough for me to absorb it. It was a graph of “the loop” and how the wind direction affected those holes differently from the in-a-straight-line In and Out holes.
Read about the 1938 Open Championship….Winner was +15….An excerpt: Gale force winds ripped apart the large exhibition tent and scattered debris for a mile around. Alf Padgham drove the green on the 384-yard (351 m) 11th hole, while Cyril Tolley cleared the water on the 14th only to have the wind blow his ball back into the hazard…………………………….
Now that’s the golf I want to see….If they are ALL in the same conditions, let them all suck together…..Players would be 4 and 5 putting greens, with balls going all over the place….It would be very entertaining, as I sit on my comfy couch….
This was at Royal St George…..
I think the golfing world has separated REAL TOUGH golf with Florida golf……Is the REAL scare that OVER par would be the winner? It sure seems like it….
Well, if it were match play, or a ten-man field, maybe, but I’m not a fan of some golfers playing in bad conditions, some not. Why not draw a name in the lottery and save the wear-and-tear on the planet by lessening American air travel to Scotland?
Duval missed the cut at St Andrews in both 2005 and 2010, so it would be a nice accomplishment….He’s missed 6 straight British Open cuts…
Woods missing THIS cut almost guarantees he will miss the PGA Championship cut…..This missed cut shows me that Eldrick’s game is WORSE than even I thought……
Having read the above posts I believe the term Whinging Pom could be changed to Whinging Yank. This years Monday finish will be the 2nd Monday finish in 155 years. Are all Americans so parochial as the ones above?
Remind me who was whining about the American greens…Oh yeah Ian Poulter……nice try though…
DJ scratches his nuts at 16 tee, worldwide TV no less, lol.
I think the comments bashing Saint Andrews and basically saying it’s not challenging enough to host a major are totally valid, and yes, it’s largely due to advancements in equipment technology. However, if we are going to call out SA for not being worthy of a major, we have to also agree that Augusta isn’t up to the challenge either.
Agreed! Either roll the equipment back, or jettison St. Andrews and Augusta. Modern equipment has changed “classic” courses from chess to tic-tac-toe.
Move back (the equipment) or move forward (to long, long courses, with heavy rough lining the entire length of the fairway).
ESPN continuing to butcher coverage, showing woods for no reason
Haha, I missed it. So many delays and false starts that I missed the start of play.
Eldrick now in 149th place…..Normally being ahead of Nick Faldo and Tom Watson would be a compliment, but that was a while ago….
Oh, I forgot to check on Duval…
Two holes for Duval, a bogey and a birdie. Needs to finish in par.
Why would they show David Duval? After all he only won a major….He’s going to hopefully make the cut, while Eldrick could literally finish around last place….
espn can take their scroll off about eldrick ‘in danger’ of missing the cut….just shows you how they used the scroll as an excuse to give the illusion that eldrick was apart of this….
Oh, my. I totally tune out the scroll. (Now, though, I won’t be able to ignore it…) Does it really say “in danger”? Too funny. I guess they are fishing for people who will see that and call Aunt Minnie to tell her she better turn on ESPN and cheer on Woods.
yeah, they’ve had the ‘in danger’ since yesterday, along with all those ‘anniversary’ announcements of woods winning this 10 years ago….granted they listed a few other players, but the OBVIOUS attempt of keeping his name is around is disgusting…
The ESPN article on Mickelson was written by Kevin Van Valkenberg.
Yes, I noticed. I don’t know of him.
The way the players are plying #17 bears some scrutiny….We’ve seen ALOT of bogeys, doubles, and triples—why? because everyone keeps trying to hit the green in two…..IMO, I would play my 2nd to definitely come up 20 yards or so short of the green….If it rolls up fin, but otherwise, all you have is a simple up hill chip and good chance at a par……
So after all that Spieth ends up PAR for the 2nd round, now 5 back of the lead, so lost 3 more strokes to this round to Johnson…..
BUT, I think it will help Spieth to NOT be paired with Johnson for the third round….
I agree about the pairing. I never liked it, and felt it was designed to disrupt both of them.
I think they’re making too much of the distance thing. Spieth trailed by only two in round one. He did nothing on the back nine and trailed by only two. He didn’t play great in round two and is down five now.
He’s not trailing because DJ is longer. Spieth is just off his game. Plenty of time.
yes and no…The closer you are to the hole, USUALLY, means an easier time scoring…..Spieth knows he basically has to shoot 66, 67 to have any chance, imo…..
About the distance there were two pot bunkers DJ flew that Spieth landed in. Spieth had to pitch out sideways or backward. So you can kind of assume he would be two strokes lower had those bunkers been fifty yards closer to the tees.
Agree that length is an advantage, but Spieth is having lots of wedges into greens too. It’s not DJ wedge, Jordan 5 iron. He just isn’t hitting those wedges very close.
Oh, yeah, for sure. Spieth competes with them despite having less distance. It’s just that this course makes his task a bit harder than a lot of other courses.
That one bunker that Spieth landed in, DJ hit an iron. It was a bad club choice.
He escaped that one, though. Got a par. He had a wasted shot from a bunker on Thursday and one on Friday.
Getting interesting. Garcia, Koepka, Rose, Schwartzel and a lot of others lurking in range.
FINALLY showed a putt of Duval…..How much will they follow Eldrick on the 18th….get the butt cam ready….smh…
soak it in guys…soak it in…..I gotta find my wine…..
God, listen to this pathetic commentary. Yeah, it’s all about his kids.
Here we go with the “He hit shots no one else could hit” swill.
The rest of the tour is sterile don’t you know.
Yeah, I challenge Tirico (or anyone) to name one shot Woods hit that “we’d never seen before.”
yeah it’s a bunch of pigswill…..Again as Lanny has pointed out, 2000 had a distance advantage with the golf ball….To Tirico saying he hit shots NO one else had???? Um, what shots were those? I guess Nicklaus just used to hack it up any ole place……smh……They live in such a bizarre cult like understanding of the past…
Yet they also keep the MYTH going about his part time kids and OH HOW STRESSFULL that is and all that….It’s a laugher……
none of these morons, including Azinger understands the NIKE contract, which will keep him playing, regardless….Once the contract is up, wouldn’t surprise me to hear about retirement…It’s always been about the money with Eldrick…Once the money dries up, he won’t care to play on tour anymore….
He won’t retire. Guys like that are addicted to the competition, the attention.
Athletes rarely know when its done. That I can’t blame him for. They’d have to rip the uniform off my back or the club out of my hands.
I think Eldrick’s Nike contract is for around 3 more years….After that, expect Nike and him to part ways…. He will be around 43 years old, and his agent will be after the Michael Jordan underwear or gatorade commercials, but that would mean his IMAGE would have to be rebuilt…..
I don’t expect Eldrick suddenly coming up to the booth and chatting with the guys on the day…. He hasn’t done that his entire career, and it’s unlikely to turn over a new leaf……Eldrick is no ambassador like Nicklaus or Palmer….He simply plays for $$$$$$ or legacy…..
Ok Azinger has lost his mind……..
Dustin Johnson is an incredibly talented golfer. Reminds me of Greg Norman in terms of sheer talent, though Greg was a greater, more dominant force.
I just hope that Johnson doesn’t have the continual streak of heartbreaks in majors that Norman had.
DJ really should win this, but there are lots of great players like Louis O., Day and Speith right there.
That’s a pretty good comparison, DJ and Norman. Still a long way to go, but coming in as one of the favorites and leading after two, he’s in great shape. But there will be guys near the top who have a bad Day Three and are non-factors on Day Four.
One other thing about DJ. He’s had a great YEAR. He’s really been solid all year.
Don’t these low scores and a cut at even par, in what were severe weather condition, show people that this dirt track is obsolete?
Sunny and mild, what’s the lead? Could someone have been -15 or better?
BTW, I’ll never buy a VW. Those horny old women commercials may give me nightmares as it is.
Haha, yeah, those commercials are a bit much. Here’s what I think is obsolete: The idea that a continual “arms race” by the equipment manufacturers, while lucrative to them, is harmful to the game of golf. Roll back the ball, and St. Andrews would be a classic once again. I bet if there were a serious push to remove St. Andrews from the rota (and Augusta replaced by the TPC as a major), there would suddenly be great interest in rolling back the ball.
Gary and Jack seem to think it’s all the ball. Couldn’t they just dial that back and still roll out new and “better” clubs each year. Seems like the manufacturers would be fine.
Duval grinding well. Swing still looks good. Always wanted him to figure it out.
Yeah, and people generally replace balls anyway (due to losing them), so no equipment manufacturer should have a reason to opposed a limit on the ball. I just don’t get it.
It’s the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic basically or Augusta…..
I thought Mike Tirico, one of the Top 5 All Time Tiger Lickers in history, was close to clinical depression watching Woods butcher the 18th and miss the cut by a mile. Laughable.
From eagle try to par. He had his, “A meaningless eagle and the cheers are the loudest we’ve heard all week,” loaded and ready to go.
Dottie seems not to be down with the Tiger worship. She brought up the fans laughing at his play.
I wonder if Tom Watson would have beaten Tiger for the opening 2 days, had he not rushed to get his round in before dark.
It’s going to be harder for the media to keep up the same narrative if Duval makes the cut. Here’s someone who legitimately lost their game much longer ago, with their own injuries, and is still likely to kick Tiger’s butt.
One thing the media will never fail at is finding reasons to talk about Woods. Every half-decent round, “He’s back.” Every missed cut, “What does Tiger do now?”
They think we all want that. Who knows, maybe the typical golf audience does.
hey and I’m guessing you know who is NOT giving a post round interview….What an ambassador to the game…
Something to consider, for sure.
Lanny, I guarantee you’ll enjoy this. Go to the Golf Digest site. I thunk the column is called The Loop. The entry is: “Tiger Woods is totally, completely, unequivocally, and utterly done.”
True and funny.
Thanks! I’ll go read it right now!
Very nice! I’m going to have to write that up with a couple of excerpts. Thanks, again.
He might be done, but the story will not be done for a very long time. It will definitely die down a little, but you’ll still have to endure the usual ‘Tiger is on the verge of a dramatic victory! Don’t count him out!!’ coverage at least every Masters until his retirement.
Duval makes the cut
Thought he gave it away with the three putt on 17. Good for him.
I was confused on the holes, having left the room, and I thought that missed putt was on No. 18 and ended his bid. Very happy to see him make it!
Yes!!
Wow 36 holes left to go? It really seems like a Sunday afternoon or something…
It does. Very odd.
Eldrick will now be chasing the CUT SLAM….He’s missed 2 major cuts in a row, and will be 3 after the PGA Championship, leaving only the Masters next year to finish off the FOUR MISSED MAJOR CUTS IN A ROW…….Can’t wait for the media hype of that one..
Haha, that could definitely be what we’re looking at next April.
Would it constitute a cut slam? Surely it has to be in the same calendar year…
Tiger Cut Slam.
I don’t particularly like the word “done” as it relates to golfers. Yes, TW is an (egg) shell of his prime self but he’s still out there hacking it around so the idea that he is done, doesn’t quite work for me. For me, “done” in this context means a player is “done” playing; which TW is not.
That said, the point really is what I said first, he is a shell of his prime and the golf media should move on. Of course that brings us to the golf media agenda and once you see that it’s pretty easy to sift through all the BS and find the nuggets of relevancy.
The ole saying, “Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t”
Players pissed they had to go out this morning. Had they slowed the greens down to offset the wind, the players would have bitched about the speed of the greens. There were only wrong answers today.
TOP 5 ALL TIME TIGER WOODS LICKERS:
1. Kelly Tilghman
2. Mike Tirico
3. Notah Begay
4. Notah Begay
5. Notah Begay
I agree with #1. As for the rest, a top five doesn’t cut it. At least a top 100 is called for.
Tiger Licker Honorable Mention:
Tim Rosaforte
Rich Lerner
Mike Wilbon
These are the media people who will be talking about
Woods in reverent terms forever. Even after he retires which I hope will happen after this year…these hacks will keep drooling over him. Tilghman and Begay would not even have media jobs if not for Tiger Woods because they have zero talent otherwise.
Oh, yeah, Rosie, for sure. I think I’d put him #2 after Kelly T.
Could easily add a few more, but I just cannot believe that a Paul Azinger actually GOES THERE!!!!……..I mean it’s one thing for regular nobody media folk, but Azinger is supposed to be above the NONSENSE of making EXCUSES for Eldrick sucking….
The ULTIMATE ‘going there’ for me is using his ‘part time’ children as somehow being an excuse for his future golf career..
The mother Elin has the custody of the children…Eldrick doesn’t go home to them…He’s obviously been a TERRIBLE father and family man, so how does Azinger actually go to the ‘OH THE CHILDREN’ nonsense….
I mean does Azinger not at least SUSPECT the steroid use, or has he been living in a cave? Same with Tirico for that matter….
Some of these announcers are SO out of touch with reality, but a former PGA golfer, who should have some ‘who’s who’ info, should know better….
It just makes Azinger look like a complete idiot…..
It’s hard to fathom. I missed the kid comments. I did think Dottie Pepper’s comment that it is “okay to talk about that” referring to Woods having nothing left in the tank was highly interesting. It really sounded to me like a message to the producers of the broadcasts: “Look, guys, you make me follow Woods’s group every time he plays, and he simply isn’t worth following right now. I’m tired of pretending different.”
I wouldn’t be surprised that if after Azinger called Woods a “hack,” ESPN/ABC had a little talk with him. “C’mon Paul, say something conciliatory”
I agree that at some point, Woods will assemble some sort of game and contend here and there. He isn’t so far removed from back surgery that he isn’t perhaps still finding his way back to something that feels right. He’ll never dominate anything, but he’ll contend here and there. Maybe win some tour stop (Harrington managed that this year). You never know, the stars may align for him and he’ll pick up a Masters or a win on an obsolete rota course (the day that happens I’ll avoid the sports media like the plague),
I knew it. When DD showed up on GC earlier this year I thought he looked like he shed some lbs. Curtis Strange said DD has lost 50 over the last 6 months!
I used to enjoy the “Live at…..” shows on GC. Maybe it’s the split crew situation, with their personnel on both sides of the Atlantic. It was better with Nobilo, Chamblee, Rosaforte all on set. Pretty much sucks this major.
I don’t like Lerner at all.
I’m kind of the same way. The show used to add a jolt of excitement to an event back in the day, but these days it seems formulaic or something. Maybe it’s gotten old for them.
There have been decent TV ratings for PGA Tour events on NBC and CBS…but ratings for the Golf Channel on their own have been poor. When you look at the Golf Channel numbers separate from NBC numbers you see a three year downtrend. The Golf Channel by itself has never done anything of note as long as they have been on the air other than ride the Tiger Woods bubble. They have gotten lucky, very lucky, to still be around.
Could be wrong but it seems the fact that GC is part of upgrade tv packages would have an impact on their numbers.
“an impact on their numbers.”…up or down?
Down. As an upgrade, not as many people have access to GC which would limit who can watch.
right…they are not part of “basic cable” pkg….TGC is available in 79 mil homes…to compare, ESPN is available in 93 million homes
Agree. Not sure who’s bright idea it was to have Lerner going 1 on 1 with the different guys like Nobilo, Rosie, and Chamblee, but having them all on at the same time is 10 times better.
The media likes to makes a big deal about Woods missing cuts. They seem to think it’s a big thing that he’s missed two straight major cuts and that it’s amazing that it took so long. Actually, top players don’t often miss major cuts until they’re older.
So I got curious. And I have no life.
Woods, 39 years old with consecutive missed major cuts.
Nicklaus did miss two in a row, both US Opens, as a young amateur. As a pro, it didn’t happen until he was 45.
Palmer also missed two US Open cuts as an amateur, but as a pro didn’t miss two straight major cuts until he was 49.
Player didn’t miss two straight until he was 44.
Watson was 40.
Mickelson 37 the one time he has missed consecutive major cuts.
When you look at who Woods finished ahead of he came as close to last as you can get.
Good stuff. The media was so invested in Woods, that everything they said was designed to build up Woods and lessen the accomplishments of others. I expect they’ll continue doing that and ignore or gloss over these kind of stats, which show that, while most all golfers’ careers are front-loaded, Woods’s was especially so.
http://espn.go.com/golf/theopen15/story/_/id/13272459/the-open-tiger-woods-weakened-weight-expectations
This is a great article in the same vein as Shane Ryan’s article. Kevin Van Valkenburg explains why the media still covers Tiger and why they should stop. There are several articles like this, so it looks like the mainstream tide is legitimately turning. Tiger playing so poorly in perfect conditions on a course he dominated twice is what finally drove it through the thick skulls of everyone except the pathological diehards.
I’ll give it a read right now (while I wait for ESPN live coverage to commence).
Article is spot on. Too many folks are lamenting TW now while ignoring what he did. He failed at his goal to pass Jack’s Majors record but he won more tournaments as a whole than Jack and won 14 Majors along the way. If that’s considered a failure…..sign me up!!
The problem was that the Woods Only crowd made a rule: You only matter if you are the greatest of all time, i.e., Tiger. The others were total crap, and irrelevant. Well, reality hit, Woods certainly isn’t the greatest of all time, and his legacy falls weekly. So, after enduring all that “Second place is first loser” nonsense, the backlash against Woods is of course going to be brutal.
So, yeah, sign me up, too. But I would have said sign me up to be Sergio, or Webb Simpson, or — oh, my — Stephen Ames. But for decades those guys were treated like worthless dirt.
Yeah, payback is hell.