This has been an interesting year of golf to say the least. As the broadcasters on CBS stated the whole weekend, the Majors this season have been all about who didn't win them rather than who won them. From Phil Mickelson to Tom Watson, now you can include Tiger Woods in the group of people who just weren't meant to win. Y.E. Yang won the 91st PGA Championship today. However, the manner in which Tiger lost was astonishing and something we as golf fans have never seen in his illustrious career.
He missed putt after putt... after putt. After winning the last 2 tournaments prior to going to Minnesota to try to capture his 5th PGA Championship, and 15th Major overall, he continued his run and held the lead through 3 and half days before Y.E. Yang nailed an eagle chip from right off the green on the par 4 14th. He had various opportunities to tie it up, but it just wasn't to be. Tiger's missing putt after Yang won it on the 18th was representative of the whole day Sunday, and he walked off the green in defeat.
Wow... I hope you all got a chance to watch this one because it just was hard to believe. So many times we've watched Tiger hit miraculous shots at Majors to win, and I'm sure we all thought he would do it again. Especially against this guy. Yang? Who the hell is he? I don't know, and I don't really care. I'd bet you we'll never see his name on a leader board at a major again, but it doesn't matter. He did it. He beat Tiger on a Sunday after trailing by 2 shots going into the day. It's the first time Tiger has ever lost a lead on a Sunday in a major, and only the second time in his career he's done it any tournament.
I'm not going to go crazy and say Tiger has lost it... but has he? Sure, he won 5 tournaments this year, but he's not exactly young anymore. He's still 5 majors behind Nicklaus, and a year without majors for Tiger at this point is not good. At all. We'll see what happens next year at Augusta in April, but if you're a big Tiger fan you'd better hope he comes out swinging for the victory in Georgia. He's got to win 6 more tournaments to go down as the best ever, and what seemed like a sure thing just a few years ago, is suddenly in doubt.
Congratulations to Y.E., it was nice to meet you. Tiger... step it up next year for the sake of professional golf, and us as fans. Everyone likes to see an upset... but not against you.
Except that tiger is only 4 behind nicklaus, and thus only needs to win 5 more majors to set a new record. He's also only 3 behind nicklaus in overall tournament wins. Its virtually a foregone conclusion he'll break both of those records, the only question is by how much. It used to be assumed he'd win 20 or more majors easily and smash the record, the real question now is if he'll get to that number. I think a lot of people feel he needs to win 20 in order to be considered better than Nicklaus, given Tiger doesn't have to deal with the Palmer's (7 majors), Player's (9), Trevino's (6) and Watson's (8), among others, that Jack did. Keep in mind that Jack was 38 When he won his 15th major (Tiger will be 34 this December), and 46 when he won his 18th, and he played in an era before the extensive conditioning that Tiger goes through. There is plenty of time. The idea that he's done is like the idea Yankee fans/radio hosts had that Mariano was reaching the end 5-6 years... very very premature, give it 10 more years before thats a realistic proposition.
ReplyDeleteyeah i forgot he had 14 at the time of writing the article, thanks for your comment
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that Jack had about 19 second place finishes at majors. That may be even more amazing than his 18 wins. How many seconds does Tiger have? Obviously you won't be able to compare Tiger and Jack on that stat until Tiger is much older and has played more tournaments but it is certainly as much an indicator of greatness as total wins in majors.
ReplyDelete2nd place finishes isn't really a measure of greatness... did you feel like Tiger was great when you watched him finish in second in this tournament? not really, rather he showed that he is human, and perhaps not the greatest of all time (if only for one day). I agree that it's impressive that he finished second so many times, but the famous mantra is that people never remember who came in second, which will be the case for all of Jack's second place finishes. I don't know the stat, but doesn't Phil have an awful lot of second place checks as well? It's more a sign of vulnerability than anything else to be able to go through the week playing your best golf, but still lose to someone who for four days, played superior. Tiger usually wins or doesn't play his best, so this second place finish was an odd case because he played well enough to win but didn't get it, which is why he's so great (because he almost always wins when he plays his best). This is not to say that I think Tiger is better than Jack because not only did I not grow up watching Nicklaus, but he played in a different era. It's like comparing LeBron to Jordan or Magic or even players before that time period. Physically and technologically LeBron has an edge that makes him a superior player if they were to step on the court together, but Jordan is still considered the best to ever play because of the way he dominated his era. It's hard to compare great players across the years, and for that reason this argument may never be settled.
ReplyDeletejust a clarification: obviously there's more of a technological edge in golf than in basketball (clubs, balls, etc...)
ReplyDeletemore of a clarification: the technological edge in basketball is stuff like shoes, weight lifting equipment, shot correction coaches that watch videos to see flaws, etc...
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