Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Sprechen Sie Tiger?

On the first day of the Deutsche Bank Championship, Tiger Woods went out and tore it up with a 64. He followed that up with a second round 68 to check in at 10 under par. But wait a minute, though most will only speak of it in hushed tones, Tiger's had this nasty habit of late where he self-destructs on the weekends. Would it happen yet again?

Nope. Woods carded another 68 in the third round, and closed with a semi-blistering 66, for a grand total of 18 under par. Very impressive stuff.

Problem was, it still wasn't good enough to win. Louis Oosthuizen, the South African who seems to have a perpetual smile on his face, had totally blistered the same course with a 63 in the 3rd round and Woods trailed him by 6 shots going into the finale. Oosthuizen is one of those streaky golfers. There's times when he might not even make the "cut", but when he's hot, he can shoot the lights out. Still, while 6 strokes is a lot to make up in one round, if Oosthuizen faltered and Woods got on a roll, who knows?

But as golf fans well know, there was another dog in this hunt as well. That pesky Irish kid, Rory McIlroy. He'd posted 65, 65, 67 in the first 3 rounds to lead Tiger by 3 heading into the final round, while being 3 strokes behind the South African himself.

With all due respect to Louis Oosthuizen, I suspect most golf fans wanted to see Tiger and Rory dual down the stretch of a tournament. The old pro with all the hardware in his trophy case against the upcoming dashing young lad.

Despite some of his weekend play, particularly in the last few "majors", nobody wants to believe that Tiger has become a choker when the pressure is on. Up until his personal life took a nosedive a while back, his entire golf history suggests quite the opposite. On the other hand, McIlroy is a bit of an enigma. He had the 2011 Masters Tournament seemingly well in hand until a disastrous 3 hole stretch over the back nine in the final round tumbled him off the leader board on the way to shooting 80. It might fairly be said he choked. As a young man just shy of his 22nd birthday in the most prestigious golf event in the world, that could have been devastating. But it wasn't. Just two short months later, he'd be back to win the U.S. Open by a whopping 8 strokes. Sure, lots of folks have been "one-hit wonders", even the ever-entertaining John Daly won TWO majors, but the people that know best -- McIlroy's pro golf peers -- generally acknowledge him as being a supremely gifted young player. Indeed, not long ago, Rory blew away the field at the PGA Championship for his 2nd major, by another 8 strokes, eclipsing Jack Nicklaus' 32 year old record. Your truly suspects Rory learned a very valuable lesson at the 2011 Masters -- especially between his ears. Nobody knows what he may or may not go on to accomplish in golf, but anybody expecting him to choke when the pressure is on is in for a long wait. It ain't gonna happen. This dude's the real deal. He now knows if he just plays up to his abilities, he can stare down the best -- and beat them.

On a related note -- how did the Deutsche Bank Championship wind up in a suburb of Boston anyway? I thought Boston was Irish Catholic territory. The Kennedy clan must be slipping. Next thing you know, Martha's Vineyard will be called Marta's Biergarten. Careful of the ethnic stuff? Hey, forget that. I'm a full blooded kraut on my mom's side, and half on my dad's, and proud of it, so I've got a right.

Nevertheless, hurray for the Irish kid that swooped in and scooped up all those deutschmarks, excuse me, euros.

I suspect he's going to last longer than the gaskets on a Mercedes. Verstehen?

Ja. Sehr gut.









4 comments:

  1. Not much to argue about, John. Rory is a fine young player and I suspect he has quite a few more major championships in his future. And I agree his comeback from his Masters collapse in 2011 was quite impressive. The kid can flat out play. And by being a student of Dave Stockton his putting will probably end up really good, rather than the current really good just some of the time. A scary thought.

    I still think Tiger is improving. This past weekend it looked like he is getting a handle on distance control with his approach shots. With all he has changed, his putting is suffering from lack of work, as he was primarily working on his full swing.

    Tiger has won 3 times this year, so he is back, albeit not all the way back. I don't know if it is even fair to think that he might be able to get all the way back, as that was almost superhuman. Tiger didn't even have to play his best to win most of the time, and when he did he blew away the field.

    Wouldn't it be fun if Tiger could almost get back to where he was and McIlroy continue on the path he seems to be going? Could be the next great rivalry and what fun to watch.

    If I were to bet on one of the two, I would bet on Tiger as he knows how to get it done. I am not sure Rory has the mental strength to take down a legend, he has never seen Tiger with Tiger's "A" game. But I've been wrong before.

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    1. I hope it plays out that way, Al. It would indeed be fun to watch T and R slugging it out on Sunday in the final pairing, particularly in majors. While giving full kudos to T for what he's accomplished in years past, I wouldn't underestimate the kid's mental strength in such showdowns. And who's to say we've even seen R's A game yet? He's already just as long or longer off the tee than Tiger ever was, seems to have every shot in his bag, and with Stockton's putting tutelage, and a little more experience around the world, he could become scary indeed. But I don't think it's going to happen over the long haul for two reasons. First, the competition is, and will likely stay more brutal than it's ever been, and then there's Sweet Caroline. That could play out either way. She could be a steadying influence, or cause erosion in R's dedication to golf. Remember, T's not so slow downward spiral began shortly after he hooked up with Elin. Such are the nature of the beasts sometimes......

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  2. John: Again, I agree. Golf is far more a mental game than most people realize. So if a player has any distractions, it can and will affect his/her game. And we all know a "significant other" can do that to us. It is amazing that Tiger has had the ability to come back at all, I am betting on him again. He proved he has the ability to overcome mental stress. Rory may have the physical edge, but mentally he is a virgin. Only time will tell how it all plays out.

    The Princess

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    1. Princess. I dunno. In all the years I played golf, there was likely no bigger mental case on the course than me, but I could never even break par. Go figure. I do know a little bit about a significant other wreaking havoc, though. Not sure what you meant by "virgin". That term is totally unfamiliar to me. Maybe I need to do a little more homework before writing this stuff. Ya think? LOL

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