Tigers shot 66 with 3 bogies. It was an interesting round that put him 3 back. I will be watching tomorrow to see if he has it back. i would be surprised.
I am still kicking myself for not backing McIlroy at $26 to shoot the low score in the first round. He has only played 10 majors (including one as an amateur) and this is the forth time he has led after the opening round. He already has 8 rounds of 68 or better in majors and has finished third 3 times 10th and 20th. At 21 he looks an awesome talent.
**Moderator’s note: **
Merged Frank’s Master’s thread with this one. Replies from #14 to here are replies to Frank’s thread and so may not make sense in the context of the OP’s thread.
- Gukumatz,
Game Room Moderator.
I guess I am one the anointed “Tiger Haters” so let me take the time to review Tiger’s last 12 months:
2010:
Masters: Tiger, after self imposed exile from game, practices hard for 3 weeks leading into the Masters. Plays nicely, finishes T4, all the sycophants are saying he is picking up where he left off. Never really had a chance to win tournament on Sunday
Next Tournament. Quail Hollow: Tiger Misses cut, Cannot find a fairway. Basically gives up in 2nd round. Shoots 74-79
Next Tournament. TPC, Tiger barely makes cut, languishing near last place of players making the cut. Walks off golf course with an alleged neck injury that he said he first noticed before the Masters.
Couple Days later, Swing Coach Hank Haney “fires” Tiger as a client after TW throws him under the bus.
Memorial. On a course he has dominated and tournament he has won several times, never a factor. T19
USOpen, Fires a 3rd round 66 to get into 3rd place going into Sunday. The sycophants are drooling again. Unheralded playing companion, Frenchman Gregory Havret, dusts him in the fourth and final round when TW closes with a 4 over par 75.
ATT National. Tiger, former host of the tournament, is never factor, finishing 46th.
British Open. Tiger opens with a 67. Sycophants are crowing. Plays rest of tournament in 2 over par, finishes T23
Bridgestone: Finishes T78 in a 80 player field. Clearly has no idea what is going on
PGA: Never a factor, finishes T28
Barclays: Shoots 65 to open tournament, and then follows it with two rounds over par. Again not a factor on Sunday. T12
Deutschebank: Finishes T11, some good rounds
BMW: One round in the 60’s
Tour Championship: Did not qualify
Ryder Cup. Tiger/Stricker (#4 in the World) wins first two matches, beats some of Europe weaker players: Fisher/Poulter and Hansen/Jimenez. Woods/Stricker faces Westwood/Donald in the third session, they suffer the worst defeat of the 2011 matches getting closed out on the 13th hole. TW plays well sound in the singles match, easily beats #33 ranked Francesco Molinari.
China: Finishes T6, about 12 shots from the leader.
Australia: finishes in the top 5 against suspect competition. about 4 players inside top 100 in the rankings.
Chevron: Has 4 shot lead going into final round. Makes some very bad swings, shoots over par and chokes the tournament away.
San Diego: full of anticipation to start the season and on a course that he has won 6 times on PGA Tour, TW opens with 69-69, to get into contention, shoots 149 on weekend. Playing companion Brendan Steele accuses Tiger of “mailing it in” on Sunday.
Dubai: works himself into contention. never a factor on Sunday. Chunks an easy wedge shot into water on 72nd hole.
Matchplay: Loses to a guy that was thinking about quiting because he was playing so badly. But gets to a playoff hole. Cannot find a 100 yd wide fairway on the 19th hole and hits his drive off the planet.
Doral: Backdoors a top 10 by shooting a 66 on Sunday. Never a factor. Sycophants are crowing again.
Bay Hill: Another course he has dominated, never a factor
And that brings us to the Masters. TW got hot for 11 holes on Friday. Will he finish it off? If you go by the last 15 years, the sycophants would say yes. Going by the last 13 months, the “haters” would say No.
Remember in the middle of the 11 hole stretch and after 3 straight birdies, TW misses the planet on his drive on hole #11. Ball ends in the only spot that has an open shot to the green.
Even during the hot 11 hole stretch, he has some very loose tee shots. Drives on 11, 13, 17, 18 were not executed well, and hole 11 was the same shot he hit on the 19th hole in the matchplay.
OK, Call me a hater, and I think he can still win this tournament because it is the Masters and a Major. But remember, we have seen this flash of brilliance several times over the last 12 months.
49 players left…who is playing as a 3some today?
NM…I see Els is playing alone
Actually Els is playing with Jeff Knox. Knox is very good amateur who happens to be a member of ANGC. If there is a odd number after the cut, the players are asked if they want to play with a marker.
Ok,thanks.How is Knox doing?
Not sure if he holing out on every hole, but I do know that he outdrove Els by about 15 yards on the 13th hole. FTR, Els did hit a 3-wood and I don’t know what club Knox used. Then they both knocked their second shot into Rae’s Creek
According to this article, Knox once shot 61 at ANGC (from the Member tees).
Jason Day takes the lead with an unbelievable one putt up the hill.
What a great tournament so far!! Love it!
Outstanding round from Rory McIlroy. Remarkable composure for a 21 yr old. I like him, just enough cockiness w/o being over the top.
Rory is (-12) and has a four shot lead over 4 players. Rory will be playing with 2009 Masters Champ Angel Cabrera. KJ (Oddjob) Choi, Jason Day, Charl Schwartzel are also tied at 8 under with Cabrera.
Interesting tidbit, five players atop of the leaderboard represent 5 different continents (Antarctica and North America are not represented).
Luke Donald and Adam Scott are T6 at (-7).
Relative unknown Bo Van Pelt is the low American at (-6) in 8th place.
Tiger (-5) spit the bit today, shooting 74 and probably out of it. Mickelson also didn’t do himself any favors, shooting a 71 and two shots behind Tiger.
The tournament is there for McIlroy to win (or lose).
Interesting watching the '75 Masters highlights-that was the tournament that turned me back on to the game (I got bored with it from ages 11-12) and made me a rabid idolater of Jack. The greens are clearly much, much faster nowadays-Weiskopf’s chip at 15 would have run off the green into the right bunker today, and his Texas Wedge putt at 16 would have ended up on the bottom fringe, missing the hole by 20 feet. Both he and Miller had this kind of “stabbing” stroke, rather wristy (Jack not so much but he too broke his wrists)-nobody today putts like that, nor do they use anything like Miller’s little Bullseye blade, typically using one of those huge jobbers with all those flanges hanging off of it. Distance control is so very important now, it’s pretty hard to consistently lag it close with such a wristy stroke.
Tiger’s round yesterday was a textbook of example of “drive for show, putt for dough”. So much of winning comes down to making putts, and Tiger missed at least 4 or 5 that could easily have been made.
His birdie on 2 today might give him his confidence back and get him on a birdie roll again. Or not…
Umm I think birdie birdie eagle answered that question.
I’d like to thank Tiger for making this run — always more interesting when he’s a real factor.
-5 through 8, -10 for the tournament. That was a ridiculous eagle on 8.
He hasn’t made an eagle.
McIlroy has lost his putter.
Schwartzel is just killing it!!
This is going to be terrific today!
WOW! What an approach Tiger made on the 2nd par 5!!!
ETA: I forgot I’m watching it about 5 minutes time delayed…
He’s tied now.
Holy shit!
As good as that front 9 was, it’s remarkable to think that Woods may well need a duplicate 31 on the back to win outright.
I seriously doubt that. McIlroy isn’t looking good and Schwartzel has gotten ridiculously lucky on two holes but has done nothing on the others. The way Tiger’s playing he could shoot 62, but if he does, he’ll win by five.