One of the sad aspects to modern golf coverage, which has extended to 18 holes in major championships, is that the focus is much more on a limited number of individuals. In the old days, when there were only four or five holes covered, you had to wait until the leaders got to 14 to show them. Until then, you showed people as they came through, and as a result, a wide variety of people were shown during your 90 min. or so of broadcast time. I remember these times with quite a large helping of nostalgia; how the hell else would anyone have ever heard of Forrest Fezler?
I remember that I worried about this when they started showing more and more holes. The trend started with the portable camera; I remember especially at Hilton Head they’d start showing the leaders when they got to 12 and 13. But they still didn’t do too badly, beacause they didn’t insist upon watching a leader spend 90 seconds deciding what to do, lining up, taking five practice swings, then finally pulling the trigger. They would cut away and then cut back as needed. So you still saw a lot of golf from non-leaders and non-big-names.
Now, of course, you don’t see anything from anyone who isn’t directly challenging for the lead, and isn’t named Tiger or Mickelson (can’t say Phil; I think Phil Blackmar still toils on the senior circuit). That’s sad. I remember one of the years that the Open was at Shinnecock (can’t recall if it was the '86 or the '95(?) Open), the winner (Floyd or Pavin) didn’t end up standing out as a possible winner until they were already to the 12th hole or so. They had played pretty good golf up to that point to put themselves in contention, but we never saw that because they didn’t start within 2 shots of the lead and they weren’t being followed.
Tomorrow, if we see a shot from someone other than Tiger, Westwood, and Mediate, it will be a damned miracle. :mad:
I think he should withdraw. I’m afraid he’ll do permanent damage to some other part of his body, or his game, by favoring the knee, like Dizzy Dean coming back too soon from his broken toe.
I would not be surprised if he can not play today. he looked bad and may do permanent damage. Of course he had the Mayo Clinic in his room last night working on it.
Tiger Woods is the most remarkable golfer ever to play the game. He hasn’t played a competitive round of golf in two months, and comes back from knee surgery to lead the U.S. Open after three rounds? After being five back with six to play?
Barring injury or accident, he will establish records and milestones that will last for years and years. And years.
Anybody catch what Rocco did after Woods left the press tent? He called out to him as if he (Rocco) were a reporter and said “Mr. Woods, Mr. Woods! Right here! Are you COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND?”
Mediate seems like a cool guy, and I’ll be pulling for him if Woods’ knee buckles.
Rocco’s always been pretty cool with the Tiger thing. A lot of the guys on the tour seem to gt a little testy and pissy about all the Tiger questions and attention, and never want to admit that he’s better than they are. Rocco always gushes like a fan and has no problem at all with saying, “Tiger’s just better than everybody else.” Even yesterday, when Tiger was chasing him down for the lead, Rocco was still marvelling at Tiger’s round and enjoying it like a fan on the couch. So many players on the tour come off as so humorless and conceited [cough]Lefty[/cough], that Mediate is refreshing guy to see in interviews. If Tiger can’t go or can’t finish it off today, I hope Mediate wins.
I hope his fucking leg snaps off.
Where’s Tonya Harding when you need her?
Fucker makes me sick, he’s so damned good.
Drives so damned wild he’s PAST the rough, getting drops from the TV cranes and such, then pulling off IMPOSSIBLE shots.
Actually, I bet his knee is just fine.
Hell, how do we know he even had surgery?
I say it is all a PR stunt to sell more Nike gear and Tiger-soda.
Just a great job of acting by Tiger - same as when women try to convince you that childbirth is actually uncomfortable.
They’ve been working THAT scam for millenia.
Agree - the prime time finish is fantastic.
But how can he be SO much better than everyone else.
He’s moving one direction, and it seems every other player is moving the other.
Are they playing the same course?
(Nitpick nitpick). It’s Tiger. He legally changed his name when he turned 21.
I’m an unabashed Tiger fan. He’s the reason I enjoy watching televised golf. And yesterday was a joy, just adding to the years of excitement he’s provided.
Tiger was five shots back when he made the eagle on 13. I am damn sure glad they showed that and not Robert Dinwiddie finishing out his 75 on 18.
Yesterday showed exactly why the producers always keep a camera on Tiger.
Mickelson is done. He’s almost 38 and he’s turned into Greg Norman. A phenomenal physical talent who doesn’t have the mental strength to consistently win majors. Sometimes, as with Norman, his natural abilities will win the day, but in a tight situation he is more likely than not to have a mental meltdown. After Tiger’s eagle on 13, he put his next drive in the rough, and rather than risk anything he settled for a routine bogey. Mickleson would have tried for the miracle shot and likely taken a triple bogey.
P.S. I have a great personal anecdote about Phil Mickelson.
I was at the International about 15 years ago (now defunct tournament in Colorado). The parking lot is at the bottom of the course, a couple of miles and about 750 vertical feet from the clubhouse - they have buses running form one to the other. I was to meet friends at the clubhouse at a designated time, but I got there an hour or so early, so I decided to walk the course from bottom to top and see some play.
The Castle Pines course is very hilly and forested, so everyone has to keep to the cart paths to get around, which made for slow going, especially with the altitude. Time was getting short and I was very frustrated with the crowd, so in a moment of anger I used the highly accurate course map in the program to plot a shortcut through the woods to the clubhouse. I ducked under the ropes and started up a large hill through scrub oak and sage, which rapidly got more thick. I climbed for what seemed forever and finally - dirty, sweaty, bloody and swearing like a sailor - I emerged - right into the players parking lot. Phil, who was sitting on the open trunk of his courtesy car putting his shoes on, looked a bit scared. I saw the clubhouse, let out a relieved “Fuck, yeah!” and walked past him. He was laughing at this point.
Please. Bitch couldn’t even get THAT job done right and Kerrigan didn’t even see it coming.
Tiger’s been using clubs all his life. It’d be like an episode of Highlander out there. Tiger’d be taking all of Tonya’s powers (and I shudder to think what those even ARE) without having to pull anything bigger than a 5-iron.
Tiger is showing me something today. If he holds up and wins this, it’ll be his most impressive win ever. He’s really gutting it out despite obvious pain and a horrible start. This will go down as the “bloody sock” of golf.
