“And we’ll see you tomorrow morning!”
With apologies to Jack Buck.
Well, folks, what we have just seen shows one thing:
When you have a Tiger down, you had best shoot, stab, put fire to, drop concrete on, and otherwise pulverize the cat, otherwise, it comes back to bite you.
As they say, “Game On.”
How mant days can that knee take, though? Still monday morning bonus round of US Open golf is pretty cool. I have a feeling a lot of guys are going to be streaming that at work tomorrow.
Holy f’n shit. This is the best tournament I can remember watching. Tiger was barely holding it together all day.
I love Rocco Mediate.
Damn glad I will be “working” at home tomorrow.
Rocco is charming. He’s the next big thing in golf, assuming he isn’t a one-hit wonder.
He’s 45 years old. Palmer is his hero and sponsor.
He’s had back problems. When he’s healthy, he says he can run with the big dogs.
Let’s hear it for old guys.
A friend of mine (not a foaf) works with professional golfers, and has known Mickelson since they were both junior golfers. His comment was that Lefty is one of the most disliked players on the tour. The other golfers call him Fig Jam.
(Fuck, I’m great. Just ask me.)
Just when I thought Tiger couldn’t amaze me, he does it again. Incredible that he has a chance to beat one guy tomorrow for the US Open while playing on one leg.
Aside from the fact that the number of majors players win after their mid 30’s drops off precipitiously, Mickelson’s problem is that he is NOT a physical talent. He has made an effort to get and stay in shape but I’m not sure his body can cope well with the effects of aging. But he probably has several contentions in majors in his future, apt comparisons to Norman aside.
I’ve already figured out which tasks I need to accomplish today can be done with half-screen views so that I can leave the streaming video open at the top of my screen 
Surely I’m not the only one who noticed that after gimping through the first few holes, Tiger forgot to act when trying to win the thing. Then on the 18th, a PR guy reminded him of the value of a gimp and grimace. Win, folks will forget Venturi. Lose, and a convenient excuse.
Anything to sell more product.
Look for a snooze on Monday. Tiger can beat Rocco head-to-head with nothing longer than a 5-iron.
Your disdain for Woods is noted. Also note this : All anyone has to do is beat him. There is no defense in golf. Just one fewer shot should do the trick.
What’s more likely – that Tiger has pain that comes and goes, or that a guy who has steamrollered the world of professional golf for more than a decade suddenly needs an elaborately contrived excuse, just in case he doesn’t win? :dubious: Sure, the guy’s a corporate shill extraordinaire, but he’s no coward on the course.
ETA: He admitted in his after-round interview that he had taken some serious meds after the first hole because the pain was so bad. It makes sense that it would have lasted him through the meat of the round.
There’s people who get over the fact that other people make a lot of money for playing games, and there’s those who don’t.
I can’t say I really watched the US Open, but I listened to the last half (give or take slightly) of Tiger’s round yesterday. With special attention to the last couple of holes. It really is amusing how many times the announcers said things to the general effect of “Rocco just dodged another bullet”, when everyone knows that Rocco had done his best to track down Tiger, and now was just waiting on pins and needles to find out if his best was good enough.
I’ve readily acknowledged that he is - IMO - the most dominant athlete in the history of sport. And Rocco’s gotta feel sick about those 2 short putts he missed on the back 9.
A large part of my dislike for him is based on the failure of EVERY OTHER PLAYER IN THE WORLD to step up to the plate. Fucking lefty pulls a Tin Cup quad on the course he grew up playing. What was the Big Easy doing taking it easy in the trees on the back 9 yesterday. Yesterday I thought Westwood might step up, but no. Sergio? Who’s he? Retief? Bueller? A golf fan shouldn’t be in the position of hoping some guy like Rocco pulls the round of his life outta his ass to beat Tiger.
Hell, Tiger doesn’t just beat everyone when he is on top of his game. He whups them when he is playing like shit.
Another thing I dislike is the way the media runs with his celebrity. Everything is packaged and overdramatized. The kind of shit that draws audiences and sells papers (and product) to be sure. But not what I prefer in sport.
(Related aside - did you notice the ads for the Olympics, asking “How often does the whole world experience something the moment it happens?” Well, am I the only person who thought - it sure won’t be at the Olympics, because every SECOND of coverage will be tape delayed and soap-operatized.)
Dinsdale turn that frown upside down. I couldn’t care less who wins anything in golfland but I love the theatre that comes with Tiger Woods. When he nails the miracle putt and the entire gallery of thousands of people all throw there arms to the heavens I get tears in my eyes.
Mind you I really, reallly love sport.
Hey, I’d be a convert if they’d only feature the lovely Mrs. Woods standing greenside in a bikini…
I’ve usually nothing but respect for Tiger but couldn’t help but notice he grimaced and played up the pain after his bad shots more than his good yesterday, which is probably what made his club flingings so ugly late in the match. Maybe if I hadn’t played 18 Saturday with someone who’d just gone through a hip replacement (needs another but has to wait because of blood loss) and did so without all the theatrical grimacing it wouldn’t have struck me wrong.
The announcers mentioned Rocco’s come back from 5 or 6 bouts with health issues. My sympathies for a fighter will have to lie with him. While I hope Mediate can do it today, Tiger’s still #2 in length of drive and his approaches and putting should be unaffected by what can only be described as minor surgery. I thought he’d tie it up yesterday. I think he’ll win today. The theatrics were bullshit but he is, without question, just a freakin’ awesomely good player.
I’ve never understood the Tiger hatred. what do some people have against greatness?
And it isn’t that other players don’t step up, they give him the best they’ve got. He’s just that much better than they are.
I think the suggestion that he’s faking the pain in the knee is ridiculous. It often looks like it comes and goes and that he’s walking without pain around the greens is because the nature of the injury he’s got is that it only hurts when he twists the knee laterally (as on big swings), not when he’s walking normally. When it grabs him on those swings, he’s not faking it. An excuse to lose? Please, when has he ever tried to make excuses for losing?
After watching Mickelson take his 9 on Saturday, the reason why so many big names fail to win really sank in for me. The guys you mentioned…Phil, Ernie, Sergio, etc., are all phenomenal players…several of them with every bit as much natural talent as Tiger…who have trouble adapting their egos to the harshness of major setups. After coming up short once on the same pitch shot Mickelson played on that par 5, Tiger would have put his next shot 30 feet past the pin and tried to get out of their with Bogey at the worst. Mickelson kept trying to erase his mistake with a miracle chip to save par, and he ended up shooting himself out of the tournament. I’ve seen Tiger hit awful shots, miss crucial puts, and sulk like a child on the course, but I’ve never seen him fail to recognize what the smart play is. That, combined with his talent, is why he’s almost always the guy to beat.
Completely irrelevant.
I never said they shouldn’t keep a camera on Tiger. Hell, they have the resources and the technology to keep a camera on every goddamn player on the course.
What gets my goat is not that they show Tiger’s eagle chips and spectacular putts. Nor is it that they show his non-spectacular shots. It’s that they show Tiger walking; they show Tiger scratching his ass; they show Tiger talking to his caddy; they show Tiger standing there for 3 minutes contemplating his choice of club; they show Tiger making his shot; and then, after the shot, they replay it from six different angles, with another three in slow-motion, plus special bonus crowd reaction shots.
In the time they spend showing Tiger Woods not playing golf, they could show about three full rounds of other players.