Yeah, I was also a little mystified about the same poster’s claim that in the past, you could “always, ALWAYS” count on Tiger bouncing back from his “meltdowns.” Unless I’m mistaken, since he turned pro in 1996, the only meltdown he’s had is the one he’s in now. He had a bad stretch in 2010-11, but only by Tiger standards – a few really bad weeks, and no wins, but overall, he was playing better than all but about 30 guys in the world. His ranking fell to #58, but that was because his injuries made him miss or WD from so many events that he only had about half the minimum divisor, but he still had three top 5’s out of the six majors he played in those two years, plus several top 10’s or 20’s in other elite events. And before that, i.e. before 2010, his worst “meltdowns” were a few brief periods where he fell all the way to #3 in the world. So no, we’ve never seen him bounce back from anything like he’s going through now.
The fact is he’s been having one injury after another, and he can’t seem to decide on a swing philosophy, and he’s not getting any younger. Any one of those things would be enough to keep any normal player from regaining the #1 spot, and all three together make it seem very unlikely. His driver problems started at least ten years ago, so if he was going to fix them, you would think he would have found the solution by now – although everybody in the world seems to think it’s just a matter of not swinging so hard.
So I’m not optimistic. With his phenomenal talent, he should be able to win occasionally if his putter gets hot, but I don’t see him dominating again.
According to this entry in the Sandtrap forum, he has to keep a stroke average withing 3 shots of the field average in the tournaments he played in.
I do not have any other citation other than this forum, but I do remember reading this loophole years ago. I think it might have been due to Jerry Barber entering tournaments when he was well into his 70’s
FWIW, there is no way that I think Tiger keeps playing and misses cut after cut so IMO the loophole is not applicable. And it would be extraordinary for him to have a 3 stroke difference between his scores and the field average. As bad as he has played this year (including an 85) I don’t think his stroke average is close to being 3 shots higher than the field average. I haven’t done the math and I am not sure how a mid round WD (Torrey Pines Round 1) would impact the math.
Edit: Tiger has committed to next week’s tournament, in Greensboro NC.
Thanks for that; I hadn’t heard of it, but it makes sense. You would think that old coots wouldn’t want to embarrass themselves by entering when they couldn’t play, but that didn’t stop guys like Doug Ford from playing in the Masters into his late 70’s.
Still, it’s not much of a restriction. Three shots per round is 12 shots per event, and the field average presumably includes guys who missed the cut. So if you barely made the cut, and then had a rotten weekend, you might end up 20 or 30 shots behind the winner, and still meet the requirement.
I’m amazed; he seemed to close the door on that a couple days ago. He must really believe he’s close, to do that.
Damn, there were some impressive putts today. McIlroy’s eagle was a thing of beauty.
I’d like to see a replay of Daly’s septuple bogey. The older he gets, the more utterly mystifying it gets that this guy won TWO majors.
Dinsdale - Jordan’s hiatus was due to a combination of a bunch of unrelated factors that hit at once. He’d won acclaim as the Immortal Invincible Undisputed Greatest Of All Time One Man Team God Scottie Who, so there really wasn’t anywhere to go but down, he’d won pretty much everything it was possible to win in the NBA and was ready for a change, there wasn’t any great rival at the time to motivate him, and everything got put into perspective in the worst possible way when his son died. He was still in great shape, he still had a ton of competitive fire, and he still was capable of playing at a championship level…just not in baseball. He was lucky that Scottie Pippen was still around after the '94 season, especially after all the heat he took for singlehandedly blowing the playoffs that year :rolleyes:, and with the core group still intact and Dennis Rodman waiting in the wings, he pretty much just had to pick up where he left off. Another important factor was that he wasn’t in his forties at the time. Michael Jordan in 1995 was in far, far better shape than Tiger Woods is in 2015.
He could spring back, but this time that’ll probably mean being in contention occasionally, maybe a few top 10 finishes. When it comes to dominance, 2013 was almost certainly the last hurrah.
Love seeing Speith and Day in the final pairing. I can’t decide who I want to win, though!
I think we need to start a pool on when Tiger is going to retire. It’s not about missing cuts (although that’s bad enough), but if he’s not winning, why would he keep playing? He’s not out there “just making a living”. I can see him taking a break, and then just never coming back. I’d give him another year at this pace.
Not surprisingly Spieth’s performance in majors this year is the 2nd best since 1983 according to the strokes gain total stat developed by Mark Broadie.
I would never have guessed that Phil’s 2004 is #2, especially since I have such a vivid memory of him making that last putt to win by one at the Masters.
I wonder why they only go back to 1983? It’s not like the world ranking, where the data isn’t available. The scores for everybody are right there.
So, anyone interested in discussing Tiger in the context of this weekend’s tourney/the rest of the year?
Right now, he threw up a good first round, and is still in the mix in the 2d round. I don’t think he makes the playoffs unless he wins (maybe not even if he does.)
Personally, I welcome his willingness to play more regularly, including in events he previously didn’t. Impresses me as a recognition that he has to do SOMETHING different. Doubt he will be able to get back to where he is, but I could imagine he might be able to play himself back into being a competitor. And it might signal a new stage of his career.
At the least, looks like he’s going to make the cut. Some other big names up there, tho. Will be to his credit if he is able to take it to the finish line and end up on top.
I have a fairly busy long weekend planned, so I figured I’d just get this out of the way…
The thing that’s bothered me most about Tiger’s seemingly endless elevator ride is that he’s become such a titanic, polarizing figure that no one can ever just say “all right, good job” anymore. Does this mean he’s back? Has he fixed what’s been ailing him? Will he become Superman times Silver Surfer with a dash of Fantabulaman again? I. Don’t. Know. And. Neither. Do. You. Personally, I wouldn’t bet on him breaking any more records, but I wouldn’t blow a gasket if he did.
Jordan Speith is fresh meat. If he has a bad round, or has a fallout with his coach, or grumbles about how the bunkers are set up, in the grand scheme of things it’s not much. There’s a big future ahead of him, plenty of chances to learn from his mistakes and get stronger. Rory McIlroy recently had a terrible break, but nobody’s saddled him with a litany of expectations and hangups. He’s not an icon or a pioneer or a messiah, he’s just a European who’s really, really tough to beat. Despite all the coverage there’s been of them, I don’t feel that it’s overdone or overbearing. Tiger, through all the ups and downs and plummets and bouncebacks and more plummets and more bouncebacks and shouting and speculation, it’s reached the point where just THINKING about him is draining for me. And that, I think, is the biggest travesty…it’s become just about impossible to simply enjoy the guy. Just like what happened to Michael Jordan. And Lebron James. And Tom Brady. And Floyd Mayweather. And Michelle Kwan. And Ken Shamrock. And Lance Armstrong. You want to add any names, go right ahead.
We’ll see if he can close it out. Much harder for him to string 4 good ones together than it used to be.
It’s a relatively easy course and a relatively weak field, and it’s only half over, but you can’t do much better than sharing the lead, so good on him. I hope he can close it out, so he gets into the playoffs and has more reps against world class competition.
I don’t remember all the details, but yes, he has other options to get in the FedEx playoff (solo 2nd was one of them, then tied for 2nd - but other shit had to happen, and so on and so forth).
About 50/50 in the playoffs if he finishes solo 2nd. It depends on how others perform. Right now, if he were in solo 2nd, he would have 447 points, and that would not make the playoffs. He would be 126th.
Absolutely no chance if he finishes T2nd or worse.
I’m not a Tiger fan particularly, though I would like to see him break or tie Jack’s record because well, everyone likes a record-breaker. Anyway, the point at hand is he seems to have had 3.5 decent rounds here, as opposed to the two middling to terrible rounds he has been managing so far this year, so surely even his detractors must agree he is moving in the right direction?
I actually find him more interesting (not sure I’d go so far as to say I “enjoy” and I certainly don’t “like” him) now as what I consider a tragic, almost mythic figure, than when he was just the best golfer by far. Sure, no one can predict the future, but hypothesizing about famous people/teams certainly isn’t unique to Tiger, or even sport.
Not everyone likes a record breaker, if you prefer the current record holder. I grew up with Jack as the man. My first good set of clubs were McGregor Jack Nicklaus VIPs. And IMO he is miles above Tiger as a human being. So he means something more to me than Tiger, and I’d just as soon have him remain the top majors winner.
Is Tiger heading in the right direction? Not sure. If he is going to become a journeyman, competing over the weekend in tourneys he would never before grace with his presence, well, that would be a DIFFERENT direction… But if he wants to concentrate on beating Sammy for total wins, I’d wager he has that well within his reach.
So - how exactly did he triple that par 4? I turned on the tourney late. Read something about missing the green, then missing it again with his chip, then 3-putting? Yikes! :eek: Sound like something I’d do! (Wish I’d seen it! ;))
Oh good god, those were a couple of godawful efforts. :eek: I think I’ll have to bleach my eyeballs and my brain.
There’s one par 3 on the course I play regularly where the green slants sharply left rear to right front. All too often I will miss deep left. If I’m trying to be cute, especially if the pin is back left, I can find myself hitting one or the other of those chips - but can’t remember ever BOTH on the same hole!
Actually, he played like Rickie Fowler last week — in contention until the final nine, and then a big number on a hole or two that wrecks his chances. He wasted four shots in two holes, and four shots lower would have put him in a playoff with Davis Love, which would have been nostalgic, since Tiger’s first pro win in 1996 was in a playoff against Davis Love.
But there are positives — it was his first top ten since 2013, and although it wasn’t the strongest field, it was a 40-pointer, so the low end of respectable. And his ball striking seemed to be better; it was his short game that killed him. A little more consistency with the driver, and a few less flubbed chips, and he should easily get back into the top 50 next year, with wins in the weeks where his putter gets hot.
Really a shame that he’s out of the playoffs, just when his game seems to be on the verge of being good again. On the other hand, it may be a blessing in disguise, because he looked like his back was acting up, and four straight weeks of competition might have reinjured it.
I’m like a Cubs fan now. Just wait till next year.
