Sunday, August 2, 2009
Tiger Wins
Tiger Woods won the Buick Open today at 20 under, 3 strokes ahead of the several folks tied for second. I watched most of the televised play both yesterday and today. Both days, and particularly Saturday, Tiger putted great and his iron/fairway wood play was unreal. But goodness gracious, his driving was terrible. Now according to the commentators, the fairways were really narrow and there were big, erratic winds, but what bothered me was how tortured Tiger's swings seemed to be. I mean, he always had a power swing, not the smooth, graceful swing of, say, Ernie Els. But he really seemed off to me. Is Hank Haney still his swing coach, or has he switched again? The commentators kept replaying his drives in slo-mo to show how he was getting his hips in front of his arms, skewing his spine angle, etc, etc. It was ugly. But, he is so good that he could save just about anything. Today he almost pulled off an unreal cut shot from under a tree 230+ yards from the green but was just short and hit it in the water. (reminded of Kevin Costner in Tin Cup). He took a drop and then proceeded to lob a 53 yard wedge to within a couple of feet of the cup, and holed it for par. Really amazing. Anyway, as he said yesterday, he was hitting the ball badly but scoring well. The guy is just so fun to watch, even when he is off. By the way, I think this was his 69th victory. Not too bad. Can't wait for the PGA tournament in 2 weeks.
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A few years ago in one of the majors, PGA I think, Tiger had driven the ball poorly on the last day but still shot 1 under and moved into the top ten finishers. The commentattor who had followed Tiger all day said it was one of the most entertaining rounds he has ever seen, and he didn't believe anyone else in the wworld could have broken 80 from where Tiger drove the ball that day. That is what makes him so fun.
ReplyDeleteYes, this was Tiger's 69th win.
ReplyDeletePer Wiki, the top five in wins (majors):
Snead 82 (7)
Nicklaus 73 (18)
Woods 69 (14)
Hogan 64 (9)
Palmer 62 (7)
How old is Tiger, anyway? It is well-known that he wants to break Nicklaus' major record but I wonder if he is shooting for Snead's total wins record. Without some sort of goal like that, I can't imagine that he could keep himself motivated. Married, 2 kids, all the money in the world. What else has he got to play for?
ReplyDeleteTiger is 33 and I think if he played a lot more he could win 100; 82 is nothing if he wants it.
ReplyDeleteOnce again per Wiki, it took Snead 30 years of active playing to reach 82 wins, Nicklaus 25 years to reach 73 wins -- and Tiger has won 69 times in only 14 years. At this pace and assuming no major injury, it would seem likely he will exceed Snead's 82 wins, even if he just has 10 more good years. Whether he will win 5 more majors (to reach 19), may be more difficult.
ReplyDeleteI think he will do both
ReplyDeletehe averages 5 wins a year over 14 years with 8 months out for broken leg two periods of swing reguild and a reduced sh=chedule during the normal 3 year got married and had kids phase. He will win 25 tournaments in the next six years along with 4 majors provided he just plays a little more often.
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