Well, somebody should say something about this.
– Painful to watch Adam Scott’s last four holes. It wasn’t so much a meltdown as a slow disintegration. I really thought he couldn’t lose as late as the 16th hole. But honestly, he deserved bad karma, first for using a long putter, and second for not calling a penalty on himself when his ball moved.
– Tiger didn’t win, and that’s all some Tiger fans and most Tiger non-fans will care about. But there were many positives for the week. It’s now clear that his game is back to the point where he can contend in majors without his best stuff. As many wedges as he didn’t hit close, and as many makeable putts as he missed, I’m surprised he was in the top 30. But he finished T3, his best major performance since 2009. And if his ball had rolled two less feet in that bunker, so it wasn’t up against the face, who knows what would have happened?
As it is, he moved up to #2 in the world rankings, he moved up to #1 in Ryder Cup points, and he extended his lead as #1 in the money list, scoring average, and FedEx points. Not too bad for a guy who was being written off six months ago. And he still has obvious room for improvement.
– Ernie won, and he really deserved it. I think he missed even more makeable putts than Tiger, so I couldn’t be happier for him.
– The Rory Era appears to be in hiatus. Another poor finish, T60 this time. Kind of amazing to think that if he finishes solo 25th at the PGA next month, it will be his best finish in a major since he won last year’s US Open.
The guys who were so good that they would make it impossible for Tiger to dominate again are not showing up. The only two guys ahead of Tiger this week were stars ten years ago – in Ernie’s case, 20 years ago. Tiger just needs to tighten up his wedges a couple shots a round, and he will be back to dominating. And if Ernie can win the Open during a poor putting week at age almost 43, then Tiger is a shoo-in to break Jack’s record, barring a serious injury.