Tiger Woods Kills Time
Tiger Woods and Steve Williams
Thank goodness for Larry, Mel and Steve, for their questions about putters, the Road Hole, and the continued relevance of the Old Course.
You would think Tiger Woods had these slavish attendants to the ‘game of golf’ planted to ease his passage through his Open inquisition. Surely not.
Woods might want to have a word with Steve as the tournament progresses. His framing of the putter query was not the best in the present circumstances with the Woods family unit in bits. Changing his putter for the first time in 11 years “must be like kicking a member of the family out, or something “a pretty drastic move,” mused Steve.
“One of those things,” said Woods, before disappearing down the country lane of detail, the ball coming off the face faster thanks to the new, groove technology, his struggles on slow greens, etc.
When you have 20 minutes to fill, it’s amazing how much time drains away in the discussion of golfing minutiae, fascinating stuff in golfing terms but not the story Woods was here to address. In this post-nuclear phase of his career it’s not about the golf. Not yet anyway.
In his first public address in Britain since the great unravelling, his handling of it and the consequences for his game were very much on the agenda at St. Andrews.
How about this for a welcome to the neighbourhood?
“Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your act on the golf course – many of us over the years have heard you use the F word, seen you spit on the course, throw tantrums like chucking your clubs around. Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums this week and respect the home of golf?”
If the eyes could talk, the quote would not have made it into a family newspaper. Carried in that ebony stare was the death sentence. Instead of the execution we might have had were he to give free rein to his emotions, we got Woods speak. “I’m trying to become a better player and a better person, yes.”
It is five months since Woods walked through the blue, velvet curtains at the PGA headquarters in Florida to lay bare his shame and humiliation in that weird, evangelical address; three since his return at The Masters, an awkward experience that contained uncomfortable echoes of the Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick’s parade through Victorian England.
Woods was less circumspect here, slicker in his positioning of the dead bat. The old IMG schooling has reasserted itself.
There are only so many ways you can frame a question, and Woods knows every one. Speculation about his divorce – I’m not going to go into that; his deportment on the course, you seemed a bit unhappy this morning, Tiger? – I was fine. I don’t know what you are talking about. There is a perception of you as a different sort of person now – hey it’s their opinion.
What we saw here were signs that world’s greatest golfer is regaining sovereignty over the Tiger Woods show. After the moderator’s gentle opener Melanie wanted to hear Woods’ views on the Road Hole. I’ll bet she did.
“Well, Mel, it’s a tough hole – same angle obviously – more club into the green,” and so on. The cynic sees Mel primed to go beforehand. And as for the putter. Conservative punts on the value to Nike of the change of magic wand in Tiger’s bag suggest a figure £50 million.
Nice of Steve to raise the issue in this forum.
Woods was out early on Tuesday, his third practice round since his arrival on Sunday. In that quaint American way Woods is imbued with a Disney-like sense of wonder at St Andrews, at the history contained in the dunes and hillocks, the gorse and hollows that stand between the slate grey townscape and the North Sea.
His divorce from wife, Elin, is said to be close. A new kind of normality in this post-priapic period is beginning to settle, the mortification receding.
The four-day interlude at home in Florida between European engagements was an example of how Woods is managing this phase of his life.
“Well, I went home and had a great time with my kids. Normally I don’t come over, play two days and then go back home.”
And yes, Woods can win here. His performance at The Masters, where he finished fourth in the full, brutal arc light of moral indignation, was remarkable. At the US Open at Pebble Beach last month a 66 on the Saturday left him three off the lead. Again he finished fourth.
He was asked if victory would offer some kind of redemption. It was never about that, for him. It has only ever been about the golf.
“I’d like to win here no matter what.”
Courtesy of The Telegraph
Harrington Agrees With Course Changes
Padraig Harrington
The famous Road Hole has been lengthened by 40 yards, with the tee box now sitting outside the boundaries of the Old Course.
Many players have criticised the changes, with Colin Montgomerie claiming modern-day course designers would be “off their head” for making alterations like it, but Harrington, a two-time Open champion in 2007 and 2008, believes it restores some of the ‘aura’ of the course.
“It’s an intimidating tee shot and a tight fairway, but the way I look at it you always want to make sure that the guy who wins the Open is tested at some stage coming down the stretch,” he said. “It’s no problem with length and it’s the same angle, it’s just playing as a big hole – as it should be at the end of championship golf. There is no-one going to get through 16 holes without thinking about it for four days.
“It’s what you were used to seeing on the TV years ago and exactly what they need. Everything evolves – you do realise they used to play this course from the greens to the tees, the reverse way round?”
“I know 17 is very high-profile, but this is the modern game. I’m sure the old tee was probably not there 30 years ago. It has to change at some stage … that is part of golf. All courses, and this one in particular, has evolved over the course of time.” Harrington has been paired with Ryo Ishikawa and Tom Watson in the first round, which starts on Thursday.
Courtesy of Golf Digest South Africa
Graeme McDowell Wins, Els Third In Open
Graeme McDowell
Graeme McDowell, the Irishman, has become the first European to win the Open since 1970.
In a US Open with golf’s biggest stars on the leaderboard, it was Graeme McDowell who played like one.
McDowell seized control after a shocking collapse by Dustin Johnson, then failed to get flustered with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els lined up behind him. The 30-year-old from Northern Ireland wasn’t perfect, but he was good enough.
He closed with a 3-over 74 to become the first European in 40 years to capture the US Open, getting an embrace on the 18th green from his father.
“You’re something, kid,” Kenny McDowell said, speaking for thousands who watched this unlikely Open unfold along the Pacific coastline.
It was a final round no one expected.
Johnson took a triple bogey on the second hole to lose all of his three-shot lead, and a double bogey on the next hole ended his hopes. Three of the biggest stars of this generation were right there, ready to continue the lineage of great champions at Pebble Beach, only to play far below their expectations.
McDowell made only one birdie – an eight-foot birdie putt on the fifth hole – and his final round was the highest score by a US Open champion since Andy North in 1985.
No matter. It added up to a one-shot victory over another surprise contender, Gregory Havret of France, who shot 72.
“I can’t believe I’m standing with this right now,” McDowell said, posing with silver trophy. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve been dreaming it all my life. Two putts to win the US Open. Can’t believe it happened.”
Woods couldn’t believe it, either.
Poised to end six months of bad publicity over a shattered personal life, he bogeyed five of his first 10 holes and took himself out of contention with a 75.
Els and Mickelson hung around a little longer, and both had opportunities, but neither could capitalise.
Els had a brief share of the lead on the front nine but came undone along the coastal holes – including one stretch of bogey-double bogey-bogey – and never quite recovered. His hopes ended when he missed his target with a sand wedge on the par-5 14th and took bogey, then missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 15th.
He closed with a 73 to finish alone in third.
Mickelson, with another great chance to end a career of disappointment at the US Open, holed a birdie putt from just off the green on the first hole, then didn’t made another birdie the rest of the day. He also shot a 73 and tied for fourth with Woods, missing a chance to supplant Woods at No. 1 in the world.
Woods made only two birdies, but was more troubled by his mistakes.
“I made three mental mistakes,” Woods said. “The only thing it cost us was a chance to win the US Open.”
Even so, nothing compares with what happened to Johnson. The 25-year-old American looked so unflappable all week, and came apart so quickly. On the final hole of a round he won’t forget, Johnson missed a two-foot birdie putt and wound up with an 82. It was the highest closing round by a 54-hole leader in the US Open since Fred McLeod shot 83 in 1911.
McDowell finished at even-par 284 and ended 40 years of questions about when a European would capture America’s national championship. England’s Tony Jacklin was the last one, in 1970 at Hazeltine.
McDowell had to work harder than he imagined.
Even under overcast skies and a stiff breeze, the course was as firm and dangerous as ever. Davis Love III, with a 71, was the only player among the final five groups who matched par.
“I can’t believe how difficult this golf course was,” McDowell said. “No matter how good you play … good golf got reward, and bad golf got punished really badly.”
McDowell got into the US Open by narrowly getting into the top 50 in the world at the deadline to avoid qualifying. He wound up with his first victory in America to go along with five European Tour victories, most recently the Wales Open last month at the home course for the Ryder Cup in October. He is sure to be part of the European team now, moving up to No. 13 in the world.
Only the best have won a US Open at Pebble Beach – Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Woods in 2000 by a record 15 shots. Lanny Wadkins won the only PGA Championship played on this fabled course by the sea.
McDowell might not have the pedigree, but he sure had the game.
“To play steady and to withstand some tough holes the way Graeme did and to come out on top, he played some great golf,” Mickelson said. “It was a wide-open tournament. Many guys had a chance. And it made for kind of an exciting US Open, I thought.”
It didn’t sound like one.
The gentle waves lapping the shore almost made more noise than the gallery, with so few birdies to cheer on a day that was more about survival. McDowell had a three-shot lead as he walked down the 10th fairway, and from there it was a matter of hanging on.
“You go chasing and you’ll make bogeys,” McDowell said.
Mickelson gave it one last try when he fired at a dangerous pin on the right side of the 16th green. It came up just short and buried in the deep grass, and when the Masters champion heard the groan, he said to caddie Jim Mackay, “I took a chance, Bones. Didn’t pay off.”
Els played the par-3 17th in 5-over par for the week, including a bogey from the bunker on Sunday. Needing an eagle on the 18th to have any chance, he came up woefully short and to the right in a bunker.
None of this would have been possible without Johnson’s collapse, which was simply spectacular.
He had a three-shot lead and was in the middle of the fairway at No. 2 with a wedge in his hand after a 343-yard drive. When he walked off the green at No. 4, he was three shots behind, a six-shot turnaround in three holes.
- From thick grass on the edge of a bunker, he chopped at it left-handed, then nearly whiffed right-handed, and, when he finally chipped it to three feet, he missed the putt and took triple bogey. His lead was gone.
- With a driver on the par-4 third, he pulled it so far left that it disappeared into a cluster of trees behind the 16th greens. Fans heard it, but didn’t see it. The five minutes allowed for the search ended, and seconds later, someone cried out, “Found it!” Too late. He went back to the tee, hit into a fairway bunker and made double bogey.
- Trying to drive the fourth green, it went right into the hazard along the ocean for a bogey.
Three holes into the final round, the U.S. Open was wide open, setting up perfectly for the three biggest names in golf – Woods, Mickelson and Els – to seize the moment.
To most everyone’s surprise, none of them did.
Courtesy of Golf Digest
Special Exemption For Singh
Vijay Singh has rapidly slipped down the Official World Golf Ranking as a result of injuries.
Fortunately for fans of the Fijian, the USGA has offered him a special exemption, meaning he does not have to go through the rigors of qualifying. The 47-year-old Singh was set to play a 36-hole qualifying event on Monday.
Singh currently has the longest active streak in Majors, but looked in danger of missing out on the US Open, after an injury-plagued season saw him slip down the rankings. The multiple Major winner has never won the US Open.
Joining Singh as another special invitee at America’s national open is former champion Tom Watson, who almost became the game’s oldest Major winner when he came runner-up in last year’s British Open.
Oldies Tame Augusta
American favourite Fred Couples set the early pace at Augusta National.
Jack Nicklaus still holds the record as the oldest US Masters champion for clinching the title back in 1986 at the age of 46. But more and more, that record seems to be under threat, as pro golfers stay more competitive as they get older.
Last year, 49-year-old Kenny Perry almost rewrote the history books, but faltered at the last hurdle – losing in a playoff to Angel Cabrera.
And this year, two senior statesmen have bolted out of the blocks, setting the early lead after round one.
Fifty-year-old Fred Couples has always been a Masters favourite – he won the title back in 1992 and holds the record for the longest consecutive streak of cuts made at Augusta. His form this year has also been sublime and he’s won three tournaments out of the four he’s played on the Champions Tour.
It’s no surprise that Tom Watson – a full 10 years older than Couples – also sits near the top of the leaderboard. The multiple Major winner’s golfing stamina is truly remarkable, and it’s not uncommon to see him leading a Major after the early rounds. And in fact, as we all remember from last year’s British Open at Turnberry, it is not uncommon to see him leading a Major come the final afternoon as well.
Couples used patience to get around a wet Augusta in a 6-under 66 – behind him is a whole host of players on 67, including Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, KJ Choi and YE Yang.
Can the oldies hold out come Sunday? Might be tough, as the leaderboard is tightly congested, with lots of good players under par – and, don’t forget, there’s one T Woods sitting comfortable on 4-under-par 68.
Gonna be an interesting weekend….
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