And then there’s the 17 year old Italian kid, Matteo Manassero. The next generation is definitely sharpening its knives.; imagine having 3 Seve’s going around and blowing everyone else away.
Arnie had a huge lead in the 1966 US Open, and blew it to Billy Casper, going from like 7 ahead to 2 behind. He was never the same since.
I might agree that Jack’s record is safe ,if Tiger did not almost win a major out of the gate. That keeps me from burying him. He will work hard . He still has incredible talent. He has the best teachers and psychologists available. He is healthy and strong. It is all about his brain. Can he handle the disruption . Of course sleeping around on the sly with an army of women can be pretty disrupting too. If I had to bet, I would bet he comes wins again. The next tourney will be revealing.
Now that I think about it, where Tiger failed this week and the last half of the Masters was his mental game. That is a bad sign. I do not know if he will commit to playing enough tournies to fix what ails him. He has selected his competitions sparingly for years. I think he needs to immerse himself in playing competition until he gets it back. He may be too rich and spoiled to pay the price to fix his game.
I wonder if in a couple of years down the road we’ll look back and look at this tournament as the point where Tiger’s star began to wane and Rory McIlroy’s ascended to ultimately replace him.
Tiger missed the cut by 8, Rory shot 66-62 on the weekend for his first PGA tour win.
I’d bet you everything I own that this won’t happen. Seriously, everything.
Geez, was someone listening to the commentators yesterday? 
They have to hype their event. The next Tiger Woods may come along before he gets the record. Then he will have something else to kick himself in the ass for.
Nope. But if Jim Nantz said the same thing, then I’m revoking my post. :o
Yeah - he said something quite similar. Not necessarily Rory alone, but just suggesting this weekend might signal a passing of the torch to a new generation. I think they mentioned Rory, Ryu and Anthony Kim …
And I feel similarly WRT Nantz.
My money is on a return to form. Heavily. Tiger’s mind-bogglingly infrequent periods of decline are always feasts for doubters. It happened after he won his first Masters and then reworked his swing. It happened after he switched to Haney…after he got married…after his father died…after his knee surgery…etc.
Each time it has taken him a while to return to top form, but it has always happened. I will bet on him to return to top form every time until he finally proves me wrong.
Granted this is a different ball of wax. The guy’s life is in shambles. But he’s too proud and too talented to go down this way. He’ll find a way to get back to where he thinks he should be.
I hope it is true because golf needs Tiger. It is better TV when Tiger is there.
All right - I’ll bet $100 Tiger wins another major in the next 3 years. Any takers?
And my sure bet for the week is that Rory doesn’t have a chance in hell! Think he’s sobered up yet?
He is Irish, but under age for drinking ,so of course he did not drink and party after. That would be just wrong.
Oh, he has a very good chance of getting at least 1 major in the next 3 years-but he’d still be 3 short of Jack going into his late 30’s. He could still do it of course, but won’t unless he straightens out his mental approach. What I am seeing is a golfer who can no longer pull off the shots he made in his youth, and he seems unable or unwilling to adjust.
Rory was age 20 on Sunday at the time of his win. But he turned 21 on Tuesday. He had a press conference Wednesday and he didn’t look like he had been partying too much.
He appears to have his priorities where they need to be. A great kid, and I like what I have seen.
Time to worry about Tiger. He just made the cut and is 10 back. He had 31 putts in each round. His stats are terrible. Tied with Lefty though.
Philly is making a big move today. Minus 7 for the day after 17 holes, minus 10 for the tournament. T5
El Tigre is trying to keep pace. Minus 3 for the day after 15 holes, Minus 6 for the tournament. ~T30th.
Tiger parred the par 5 16th that everyone is killing. Then he bogied 17 and 18. He is in 45th place now. He better sign up for a lot of tournies right now. His game needs a lot of work. I am not used to sliding way down the leaderboard to find his name.
This week Tiger is
57th in putts per round
70th in driving distance
58th driving accuracy
31st greens in regulation
45th putts per Green in reg.
What does he have to build on. Guys are turning in 66 s and 67s and he shot 70.
FTR, those stats are the rankings for players that made the cut. There were only 70 players that made the cut. That means Tiger is DFL in driving distance for those players that made the cut.