Tiger Woods is playing again. He is way, way back. He shot a respectable 68 yesterday, but is 3 over today.
We had it all wrong. Stevie Williams is leading the tournament with his new golfer Adam Scott. Who knew it was Stevie all the time who made Tiger?
He had a decent day yesterday. Started out slow but picked up on the back 9.
I’ll reserve judgment until he has a couple more tournaments under his belt. He’s already performing better than I expected coming back from an extended break.
“Wait and see” is a sound, sane, intelligent response.
Too bad all the reporters roaring “HE’S BAAAAAACK!” yesterday didn’t take that same approach.
He was +1 today, not +3 (never was +3 at any point). ~t37th in a 76 player field. Much better than last year when he finished t78 in an 80 player field. Obviously not sharp.
If he doesn’t improve this week and next, he will probably miss the FedEx playoffs.
n Tiger missed a 2 footer. He was the best chipper on the planet. Now it is not so.
Am I missing something here? On his first tournament back from an extended layoff through injury, Tiger Woods plays a solid round, no more no less.
Is that not what everybody would expect to happen?
This OP sounds far to keen to gloat against Tiger Woods, when to my non-golf playing eyes the situation does not warrant it at all.
The OP IS gloating, and that IS inappropriate.
But not nearly as inappropriate as the gushing that came from the media, who acted as if his decent-but-not-great showing on Thursday proved Tiger is back on top.
The media care infinitely more about Tiger Woods than they do about golf, and from a business perspective, that’s understandable. The viewing audience shrinks drastically when he’s not playing or not in contention.
But BECAUSE the desperately media want him back on top, they tend to seize on ANY decent showing as proof that the old Tiger has returned and will now win 10 straight majors.
Well, I cant comment on that. Over here it has simply been reported as Tiger Woods playing his first tournament after injury, nothing more than that.
And that’s appropriate- but ESPN and other American media outlets are acting as Tiger’s cheerleaders, rather than as reporters.
Reread please. There was no gloating. I said he shot a respectable 68, and then dropped back with a 71. Where is the gloat?
I noted Steve’s new boss is leading. A fact. How much is due to his great caddying ability?
Tiger shot 72 today. he is 13 strokes back.
I will go on record. I want Tiger to beat Nicklaus’s majors. I am not anti Tiger.
But he is way off doing that.
Gonzo, you did say he was three over on Friday. But that never happened. the worse he ever got was 2 over.
If this were an ordinary star, say, Ernie Els, or Padraig Harrington, or even Phil Mickelson, I’d be baffled at the hype. But Woods was SO overwhelmingly, transcendingly dominant, and for so incredibly long (#1 for nearly 12 years!), you really just gotta deal with it now. There is a crop of young stars which is starting to look really good…finally (what the hell happened, Sergio?)…but no worldbeating alpha male dai-yokozuna king of kings has emerged. Keep in mind that Tiger’s still young, not even 40 yet. As long as there’s the slightest possibility of him making a run at Nicklaus’ supreme record, the media will cheer him on.
Me, I don’t have a dog in this fight anymore. There was a stretch where I was really worried that someone with his infamously lousy attitude would push aside a class act like Nicklaus (my heart skipped a beat when, ever so briefly, he was in the sole lead in the final round of the Masters), but now that it looks increasingly unlikely, I’m content to just watch and enjoy the ride.
As for Steve Williams, well, I’d be surprised if he didn’t at least get a good chuckle out of this. 
That’s what I keep hearing… but it’s not true. If Tiger were a doctor, a lawyer, a stockbroker, an accountant, THEN he’d be young. But a 35 year old with bad knees is NOT young in the world of sport.
Hey, as a 50 year old man, I feel weird saying a man much younger than myself is “getting old.” But he is.
So that is better? He is way, way back.
I hope Adam Scott wins, and says something like this in his acceptance speech:
*
I couldn’t have done this without my caddie, Stevie Williams. He’s such a great caddie, I hope we’re working together for the rest of my career. I’d have to be nuts to let him go!*
Do you have an actual quote from a media professional predicting anything like 10 straight majors, or do you just feel tough when you knock over straw men?
I’ll bet my house right now that you can’t find a professional commentator who has even predicted Tiger will win the next ONE major in a row.
I think Tiger failing is much better for the media than business as usual of Tiger kicking ass. Sure, when and if he finally regains his form it will be big news for a while, but i bet a lot more people like reading about him failing.
But they won’t watch golf. Tiger carries the sport on his back. It was a 3rd tier sport before Tiger came along, and it will be a 3rd tier sport after he’s gone. He brought a large audience of non-golf fans who were watching to see history, not because they really cared about the game.
I admit that I never watched golf before Tiger, and still don’t give a shit about a tournament if he’s not contending. Once he leaves the sport for good, so will I. I am far from alone. Let’s face it, the sport without Tiger is just a bunch of rich, white country club Republican assholes playing a lawn game in ridiculous clothes.
Has it been a month already? Time flies.
Golf is more exciting now than it has ever been,there are plenty of young stars(many of them non-white(and I doubt republican)) that make it very fun to watch.
GO ADAM AND STEVE!