Tiger got 6 bogies and 2 birdies. he was 1 over on the par 5s. I don’t see where the hope that he is coming back comes from. He was 40th in driving distance the first day. Phil was 6 birdies and 2 bogies. So he is 8 up on Tiger and 2 out of Bubba Watson’s lead.
Tiger finished at +2 today. No way he gets back in it. He won’t even get TV time this weekend., except for a postmortem explaining why it is gone.
Golf Channel has early coverage tomorrow. 10 am to 11:30 am et. TW will probably start his round about 7:30 am.
Tiger is #9 in the Ryder Cup rankings, which come to an end after the PGA next week. only the top 8 automatically qualify. and five players are in a position to pass him if they continue with good tournaments (Watney, Mahan, Van Pelt Watson, Fowler). It would have to be the perfect storm for all of them to pass Woods, but i would guess two of them pass Woods unless Woods stages a big comeback this weekend.
Captain Corey Pavin has 4 Wild card picks. It would be ludicrous to suggest that Pavin would not pick Woods, but I cannot imagine Woods would want a pity pick.
Total brain fart. Went the wrong way when converting from central time to eastern time. Golf channel has coverage from noon to 1:30 pm.
Anyways, Tiger is stinking up the joint again today, and is only beating a handful of players, (including two Swedes, irony anyone?). He is 3 over after 15 holes.
If Mickelson finishes in the top 4 this weekend, he will take over the top spot in the golf rankings, his first time ever.
Tiger is not showing any improvement. Most teachers say the hardest thing to conquer in golf is the mind. Tiger’s mind is not right. His focus seems loose. He hit 2 fairways in the 2nd round. That is terrible. He used to save pars from horrible tee shots and irons. No more. He is not doing well with par fives. That was his bread and butter. His putting is pedestrian. I see nothing to point to as a starting point, nothing to build from.
I can not believe his game fell that far ,that fast. He has to commit to a much bigger schedule to get it back. I don’t think he will.
Woods mercifully has finished the tournament in Akron. 18 over par, the leaders are at 9 under, and won’t tee off the 4th round for another 3 hours. TW finished next-to-last
Checking some online bookies (Ladbrokes), he is currently the co-favorite (w/Mickelson at 8/1) to win the PGA next week.
Hmm, bet $800 to win $100…
How much trouble is his game in? 79th out of 80. If there was a cut, he would have been home for the weekend. It is merely the worst tournament he has ever had. He is beginning to look like he is Duvaled.
I always wanted to play golf like Tiger. Now I can.
winner winner, chicken dinner. my thoughts exactly. matter of fact i might want to increase the size of that nassau bet i have pending.
Phil has had several opportunities to become no.1 dethroning Tiger. He has failed terribly . Today is 9 over and climbing. Is he afraid to take over? He could have backed into it a couple times, but like today he went down in flames.
Phil closed out as poorly as Tiger. No number 1 for you!
It is time for some young guys to take over. Kim, Westwood, Dustin, and a few others may seize the opening the stars have provided.
Man. Just to remind everyone, this is someone who used to be able to finish in the top 10 on his worst day. When he was on, he was untouchable; when he was off, he was only nearly untouchable. I see “+18”, and I think, that can’t be right. Hell, Colin Montgomerie wouldn’t have stunk up the joint that much.
The real problem is that the world hears about it. Normally, when a golfer has a surge of godlike dominance and then crashes back to earth (Vijay Singh, anyone?), the media stops hyping him. No pity for has-beens in this sport, bucko. Tiger, however, has had SO many mind-blowingly stratospheric achievements (the double-digit win at the Masters, the Tiger Slam, the million dollar recovery shots, a match play record around 250-2, etc.) and became SO huge that the spotlight is never turning off. Meaning that the pressure is never going off, and he’s not getting the quiet time he so desperately needs.
I’d say the wisest thing would be another hiatus, but with the entire league still riding on his shoulders, it would be a difficult decision. This is pretty much the first year ever that I can say I don’t envy him.
As for taking over the #1 ranking: Well, here’sthe ranking just before Bridgestone. Yeah, it’s a little frustrating that it’s taking this long, but I can’t see anyone else pulling it off. The only other player in striking distance is Lee Westwood, who’s currently out of action with a calf injury. Mickelson is streaky. He’s always been streaky. That’s just how his game is. The thing is, though, someone who has a mix of great and horrible tournaments does a lot better than someone who’s consistently up there but doesn’t win (which is why Ernie Els could never gain the top spot). Furthermore, there’s no pressure whatsoever. Mickelson doesn’t have to be #1, and absolutely not by a certain time. He’s a perfectly decent guy, he loves his family, he’s clean, and every so often he’s capable of an amazing win. That’s plenty enough for his fanbase and the league. It’ll happen, and it’ll be really nice for him when it does, but not as much as simply being able to make lots of money at a recreational activity.
Tiger got points because it was a no cut tourney. But his game is dropping fast. If he was hitting fairways, he could build from that. If he was constantly hooking he could adjust. But he is barely able to hit the earth. He is chipping and putting badly ,so the short game is not saving him. His irons are weak. Most of that means his brain is not under control. He certainly has shown in the past that he has the best skill level . But it requires the mind . He screwed that up big time. Perhaps after his divorce ,he can get his concentration back, but I doubt it. It is like starting over.
He won’t be on my PGA pick list.
Tiger earned 0 ranking points this week in the OWGR. The OWGR only give points for top 60 finishes for non-majors.
Even though PM tanked on Sunday, he did earn some points (~2.0 pts).
Tiger is losing 6.94 pts per week due to attrition.
Lefty is losing 6.38 pts per week due to attrition.
Last week, the rankings were 9.80 (TW) to 9.30 (PM), 0.50 differential
Preliminary rankings are out, and they are 9.63 (TW) to 9.19 (PM), 0.42 differential
http://www.owgr.com/rankings/default.sps
This is actually the first week that Lefty has more net points than Tiger, 385.96 to 385.08. Phil has larger divisor (more tournaments) and that is why TW is ranked higher.
Tiger was in a rut in his marriage. Sure, he was winning. But as was born out, this success was more likely due to the freedom his secret licentious extramarital activities afforded him. Now that he’s had to pull back into line, his game has obligatorily gone down the toilet.
I look at it like as symptom of the ‘Agassi Syndrome’. Once Andre Agassi hooked up with Brook Shields his on-court performance plummeted. When that relationship ended he went to No.1, through to his conjoinment to Steffi Graf and onto the end of his illustrious career.
The pattern here is obvious: Sportsman who have non sportspeople as partners have a distinct encumbrance that has direct repercussions on their performances. As such, until Tiger turfs the ball and chain, at least for someone who understands and is accepting of the world he lives in, we won’t ever see the ‘old Tiger’ again.
2.3 kids and mutton for dinner doesn’t jibe with multi billion-dollar sportspeoples’ training intensive, celebrity lifestyles I’m afraid. :o
Westwood is 37,3 years older than Woods.
There are TONS of athletes who had non-sports spouses, Sablicious, and who nonetheless excel in whatever they’re playing. Jack Nicklaus’ wife was decidedly non-athletic, tho she once got unconscious on long putts in one game they played together, totally bemusing Jack in the process. Then again, they apparently were nuts for each other (once someone caught them necking in an elevator), so I’d amend your theory to say that those athletes who marry for love (and it’s mutual) do better than those who marry someone who is just there to dig up gold so to speak.
Of course there are more examples of sportspeople that have successful ‘vocationally incompatible’ relationships. That’s because affairs and the like are shunned be mainstream society (*see Tiger!), especially when it comes to those deemed to be role models. Moreover, your assertion doesn’t mean the sportsperson partner may not have excelled further had they have been with another of a similar vocation. 
The latter is unquantifiable, I know. But the implication from the evidence of those that suffer from this ‘Agassi Syndrome’ is that non sporting partners are a bane rather than boon to their spouse’s on-field endeavors.