There are only a handful of golfers playing today who can compete consistently with the Tiger Woods of 2012; none can compete with the Tiger Woods of 2000. Nobody else has won as many PGA tour events in 2012 as Tiger Woods: three. That being said, in grand slam events this year Tiger has adopted an old high jump maneuver perfected by Dick Fosbury in the 1970's, the Fosbury flop. He could be a leader or a co-leader on Friday or Saturday when he implements the Tiger Flop. Drives grow erratic, second shots grow inaccurate, or putts grow nervous. In the British Open last month, he challenged a pot bunker and lost.
Regardless of the way he stumbles, Tiger is consistent in his spectacular falls, his epic fails. Will he reach Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major championships? Don't count him out yet. But in the tournament in which this reporter thought he had the best chance this year of capturing a major, Woods is following form again. Starting in the last pairing on Saturday with one of his least favorite golfers on the tour (and vice versa) Vijay Singh, Tiger had anti-crafted a three over par round through seven holes when the weather warning sirens sounded, and play stopped for the day.
In contrast, Singh played two under par through the same seven holes and is tied for the lead heading into Sunday with Rory McIlroy, who was four under par through nine holes of play. What's worse, CBS broadcasters were claiming that the front nine were the easy scoring holes. What does that foretell for Tiger? He did catch a break with the early halt to Saturday play.
How big a choke is the latest version of the Tiger Flop? Of the top 34 on the leaderboard, only Blake Adams had as bad a day, and you could argue it was not as bad, for Adams was three over through ten holes.
What other golfers "flopped" at Kiawah Island in South Carolina? Sergio Garcia, U. S. Open champ Webb Simpson, Hunter Mahan, Lee Westwood, Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler, and Brandt Snedecker missed the cut. World number one Luke Donald is tied for 65th at eight over par, British Open champ Ernie Els is tied for 43rd at four over par, and Louis Oosthuizen is tied for 35th at three over par.
Bubba Watson is three shots worse than Tiger, while Phil Mickelson and defending PGA champ Keegan Bradley are two shots worse than Tiger.
Still, it will be difficult now for Tiger to pass other great players above him on the leaderboard. Graeme McDowell and Steve Stricker are one shot up on Mr. Woods, Adam Scott is four shots better, and Rory and Vijay are five shots up.
What's in Tiger's favor? He has 29 more holes to play. Who would bet on Tiger now, after seeing his steady slide on Saturday? Almost nobody.
Could Singh at age 49 pull it out? Yes. More likely, however, would be McIlroy capturing his second major or Scott his first. Even rotund Carl Pettersson could pull it out.
Of the Americans, Stricker has to be the favorite. Why? Why not Tiger Woods? It's not the year 2000 anymore. Mr. Nicklaus, get ready to crack open another bottle of champagne when the Wanamaker Trophy is awarded.
No comments:
Post a Comment