Though it took them two-thirds of the season -- finally-- the Detroit Tigers have put some distance between themselves and those pesky Cleveland Indians in the AL Central Division. It wasn't supposed to be this close for this long. Barring a major swoon in the next couple months, Jim Leyland's boys should cruise into the playoffs.
Then it becomes a crap shoot. Looking back at last year, many were likely surprised when the Tigers swept the NY Yankees in the ALCS. Equally surprising was the SF Giants brooming the Tigers in the World Series. Currently, the defending world champion Giants find themselves mired in the cellar of the NL West, 13 games behind, and hopelessly out of playoff contention. Funny, or maybe not, how that works out sometimes. As this is written, the Tigers are tearing it up riding a 12 game win streak. Right now -- these guys are good.
But for every good, there has to be an equally bad. It's like when somebody makes a pile of money. Somewhere, somehow, somebody else is losing it. And that just might be a decent analogy to another form of Tiger.
That would be Eldrick Woods. That Tiger seems to have lost his once famed ability to win a golfing "major". Sure, Woods is still ranked the #1 player in the world and, yes, he continues to win tournaments. On some of his favorite courses over the years, Eldrick remains all but unbeatable.
But over the last 5 years, Woods has stunk it up in the majors. In 2008, most thought Tiger was a lock to easily pass Jack Nicklaus' record of winning 18 such events. Now one is left to wonder if he'll ever win another one. Further, Tiger himself used to say winning majors was the yardstick he wanted to be measured by. Excuse the pun, and with all due respect to his current flame Lindsey Vonn, it appears her man has been coming up woefully short.
Once again, Tiger will have an early tee time on Saturday. That's because he's 10 shots behind, and only made a rather generous cut by a couple strokes. Woods will be in the clubhouse after his round is complete before the leaders even tee off. When it comes to Tiger's expectations of himself, this is bad.
Of course, the Tiger groupies remain ever hopeful that their hero will mount a monumental charge on Saturday to get back into contention. Four words.
Don't count on it.
Amongst the army of golfers ahead of him are a slew of world class players, and they aren't ALL going to choke when the pressure ratchets up. These guys have been there, done that before too. For that matter, with few exceptions, it's been Tiger himself that's racked up a recent history of his wheels falling off on the weekends in major tournaments.
Bottom line?
Stick a fork in him. He is not -- repeat NOT -- going to win the 2013 PGA. Not even close.
Before the season started, there were those (hi Al) that predicted Woods would not only win a major this year, but maybe two, three, or gasp, even the Grand Slam. Yours truly remained dubious of his winning just one, and scoffed at the notion of winning them all.
What the future bodes for one Eldrick Tont Woods is certainly unknown. He might very well continue to win some tournaments, remain #1, lead the money list, and have various other accolades showered upon him.
But from what I've seen over the last 5 years, it appears Tiger has developed this unenviable tendency to choke on the weekends in majors. Maybe he's thinking too much about those chicken bones that were suggested by Fuzzy Zoeller and Sergio Garcia getting lodged in his throat. Beats me.
But of late, his major play has become decidedly minor.
And that's ugly.
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