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A striking feature of the first decade of Tiger Woods' career is that he took situations that seemed to need a miracle and made them inevitable. This happened many times and without fail. This ball is in a funky lie on the side of the bunker and has to fly 200 yards to get to the green? It seems impossible but it definitely happens. This 40-foot putt is like a 1-to-20 chance, but it will certainly force an overtime. These situations ranged from specific rounds to entire months, and Tiger just exceeded the odds with inevitability that was never calculated.
After the last five years of back surgery, golf discomfort and personal embarrassment, it seemed likely last summer that Tiger would never play competitive golf again. The thought that he would win again was a hopelessly romantic notion. The thought that he would win a Major was still the province of only the most delirious and scary corners of Tiger-fanboy of the Internet.
We over-type and exaggerate everything about Woods. Trying to seriously frame an achievement or failure in the world of Tiger, who has a 20-year library of over-typing and overreaction, is fraught with pitfalls. Tiger left without the Claret Jug Sunday. In an earlier act of his career, it would be a failure. Now? The experience of the day, the solo solo on the back nine of a major, is a triumph.
These past five years of injury and ignominy have been an inexorable dive on the path of forced retirement and the demise of public life. A year ago, the correct position was that it would take a miracle for Tiger to win again. It now seems inevitable that he will win again, perhaps as early as next week in Firestone. I do not know if it's going to happen, but it looks like it's going to happen. And Tiger brings us back to this feeling is one of the great achievements of his career.
Here are five more thoughts on Tiger's Sunday at the Open.
1. I think Tiger has set the pattern of how he will try to do that. It is very different from the way he won his first 14 majors and also a sign that the greatest spirit of golf has been reactivated.
It was fascinating to hear that he was trying to "fight his way" to the championship. When he was 30, he took control of a major over the first two days, held a good cushion, and spent the weekend slowly bleeding the rest of the pack. He has never won a major from behind, but in all likelihood, that's what he's going to have to do to get one at this advanced stage of his career. There is too much talent in the game now and Tiger is not able to dominate a major as before.
This week, he stayed two days back, then he became super aggressive in the middle of his Saturday turn to argue, and started Sunday leaving the leaders collapsing in front of him. It worked for 64 holes.
2. Right now, Tiger's round was a fun Sunday. All the words that skyrocketed about how good it was to have him again running a major's Sunday were appropriate, even in Tiger's overworked world. After descending from the top however, it should also be recognized that Tiger has a problem with the closing stretches of the tournaments.
The wounds and miserable play of the last five years have obscured the fact that it was also perhaps a bit of a problem in 2013 when he was in good health and that he was generally playing well, as he did it this week. This has really been a problem throughout the post – hydrant era (the term Alan Shipnuck), certainly among the majors.
Golf Channel's end-of-season show, Live From The Open, congratulated Tiger. But they have also provided some evidence to support the argument that he still has difficulties in concluding. Brandel Chamblee said that he hit five or six fairways all nine this week, until the ninth, when he hit one alone. He has also done a lot of damage throughout the season on the last 9 holes of 72 holes. There was this bullet that he pumped out of bounds at Bay Hill. And the balls of water in the players.
Here's a chart of the segment, which I think is worth watching, even for the most ardent Tiger adventurers.
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It is not enough to pour cold water on a beautiful day. All in all, Tiger's Open, and all of its season, is an incredible achievement. But once he had the solo lead and we arrived at the back nine, the load came off the rails with a 3-over stretch in two holes. It is worthwhile to recognize this recent story by considering if and when and where Tiger can win again.
3. I'm going to make a detour in the feelings zone, so if it becomes a little too clear for you, do not hesitate to come down and join us at the next stop. I will not be offended.
Chances are, you'll never be able to do one thing as well as all those professional golfers are doing their only thing. Some fly around the world in private jets. They are making a lot of money playing a game. This is not a relatable existence. But most of them, even the richest and the most talented, have a tentacle of some sort.
Tiger Woods is not one. He was groomed in a bubble to be a golfer since he was a toddler. His social life was abnormal or nonexistent. Then he became the most famous athlete in the world and he became even more abnormal and protected. Tiger is an ultra-known automaton that does not seem to be relatable.
My five-year-old is starting to look at professional golf, pick up some names and talk a little bit about it. He looked Sunday and when I put him to bed, he exclaimed, "Hey Did you know that Tiger Woods is a daddy and a golfer?" He was so excited to tell me and to find out on Sunday when he saw Tiger with his kids after the tour.
Tiger-as-pap is the most noteworthy part of the major winner of 14 times. During his afternoon press conference, talking about his children and organizing this Sunday show was the most moving I can remember seeing him since he won his last Open. That was in 2006, his first big after the death of his father, and he burst into tears on the shoulder of his younger brother. At this press conference, he had to stop, his eyes became a little teary, he swallowed several times and he had to stop while he was pushing his thoughts
"I tell them that I've tried, "he says about his meeting. children in the 18th green. "I know that they know how much this championship means to me and how good it is to be back in. It's so special to have them aware because I've I have won a lot of golf tournaments in my career, but they do not remember any of them, so that they understand, what I was doing at the beginning of my career, the only thing that I did. 39, they saw are my struggles. "
This is a variation of what Tim Rosaforte relayed before the turn and this Tiger told us last November, when he said that his children only knew him as a "YouTube golfer". The emotional look about his children was relatable. This declared reward of being able to show for them feels authentic, and motivating.
4. We are doing a major investigation into the fact that the R & A, and in fact the whole country of Scotland, must start immediately, if they have not already fact. Did we find who shouted business cottages in the middle of the Tiger swing on tee 18? We can track down anything with the technology of today. I guess we can isolate at least which company had this specific cottage. My money would be on a small outfit of Austria, Red Bull GmbH, and I would expect nothing more than the most severe penalties.
5. Tiger repeats that this year is a "gift" and a blessing. He said that the thought of even playing at the British Open, let alone taking the lead on a Sunday, seemed unlikely to him at the end of 2017, while he was waiting to see it. he would be able to resume golf swings.
Golf was in a good position with so many young superstars. The game is as deep as ever. The tiger era was an anomaly that you can not reproduce. These TV ratings do not come back and it is futile to try to force it with this new generation of stars. But the gift, for the next generation and for us, is that we now have a competitive tiger that joins the battle in a real way.
Tiger played well, some of the young stars are more candid about his incompetence. was the last years. Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, and Justin Thomas, who played with him off-camera in South Florida, all hinted at this with some sweet comments "yeahhhhh it was not very good". They said that they wanted the "real" tiger to be back on a ranking so that they could confront it.
Now they get it. We had Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods all on a Sunday standings. It's a gift, you all. The youngest ones seem to know it too. Jack Nicklaus always talked about how he looked at a standings and only chose one or two players (and sometimes none) who really worried him and he felt that he had to beat. McIlroy says he's now throwing Tiger with DJs, Spieths, JTs and others as one of the real contenders he's looking for in a leaderboard. Spieth smiled as he was discussing a discussion he had with his younger brother as they looked up at the leaderboard and saw Tiger coming towards them. It's very cool.
These are already two Hall-of-Famers, 15 to 20 years younger than Tiger, who savor the experience of almost as much Sunday as the fans who watch from home. Tiger is coming back and being competitive in any context is an incredible story. The intergenerational battles that it could engender should however not be a neglected side effect. Players like Spieth and Rory make the return of the Tiger even more attractive, placing him as this old underdog,
We may never have Sunday at the Open again. It may be Tiger's last chance, the best chance of a major before another injury gets in or that his game is away or that the younger do not run away the player. But that is unlikely. It seems that we will find Tiger in the competition with some consistency. Tiger transformed what, a year ago, looked like a fantasy – true competitive golf, Sunday, nine major tracks – into a sense of inevitability. Whether he wins another major or not, in the context of this stage of his career, for that reason alone, he is back.
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