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He came from four shots back to earn his second victory of 2008.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Tiger Woods birdied his last two holes Sunday to rally from a four-shot deficit and win the Dubai Desert Classic, starting his season with two victories that looked nothing alike.
One week after winning the Buick Invitational by eight shots, Woods had to birdie five of his last seven holes for a 7-under 65, then wait to see if Ernie Els could catch him.
Needing a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff, Els hit his second shot into the water and made bogey.
“To go 2-for-2, it’s a pretty good start, isn’t it?” Woods said.
This is the third time he has started a season with two straight victories, and it was another sign that the world’s No. 1 player could be headed for a big year.
Two for two is pretty good and yes Tiger could be headed for a big year. Expect the press to start talking about a Tiger slump after two consecutive tournaments without a win. It is part of the Tiger Woods news cycle we’ve become accustomed to over the last 10 years.
No mention is made in the AP article of when Tiger plays next. Will it be The Northern Trust Open aka LA Open at Riviera CC? Tiger has played this tournament most years, but not all. 2007 saw Tiger skip the tournament. He has never won in LA, the closest Tiger to a victory was a playoff loss to Billy Mayfair in 1998. Billy remains the only person to beat Tiger in a playoff, not withstanding that there is a golf fiction book saying Tiger lost a playoff to Ed Fiori in 1996. If Ed was only so lucky.
Twenty one wins and counting till Tiger breaks the all-time PGA career win record held by Sammy Snead. From AP-
SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods joined the King, and left everyone else at the Buick Invitational feeling like paupers. In his most dominant start to a season, Woods built an 11-shot lead Sunday until his game and the fickle weather turned cold on the back nine. A birdie on the last hole gave him a 1-under 71 and an eight-shot victory, giving him 62 for his career to tie Arnold Palmer on the PGA Tour list.
*****
Woods opened with a 40-foot birdie putt, threw in a 60-foot birdie just to keep a four-deep gallery from falling asleep, and only looked mortal when he made three straight bogeys toward the end of his round.
All that did was affect the final margin, not the name on the trophy.
Woods finished at 19-under 269 to win the Buick Invitational for the fourth consecutive year, tying a PGA Tour record for consecutive wins in a single tournament. Woods is the only player to own such a streak at two events, having also won four in a row at Bay Hill.
Ryuji Imada matched the best score of the final round with a 67 and was the runner-up.
Woods returns to Torrey Pines in June for the U.S. Open, and if this week was any indication, it could be another long week for his peers.
Watching Tiger win by eight is about as exciting as watching grass grow, but I had the Buick on this afternoon. He’ll pass Palmer this year, which makes Ben Hogan’s 64 win total on deck. Tiger should pass that with ease this year, Jack Nicklaus total of 73 is possible in 2009, though I’d predict Tiger to pass Jack in 2010 unless Tiger gets injured.
History in the making can be fun to watch. Woods success isn’t rubbing off on US youth at present as seen by the slim amount of winners age 29 and younger on tour who were born in the US. If you need more proof, look at the dismal failure of recent American Ryder Cup teams.
Before we get to that, we have to hear about the Tiger Woods-Rory feud.
The weather at Torrey Pines was unseasonably cold during Thursday’s first round of the Buick Invitational, but things got even chillier in the press room when Rory Sabbatini and Tiger Woods walked past each other after both shot five-under 67s to tie for third place.
No hello. No smile. No handshake. Nothing.
So much for their frosty relationship warming up since Sabbatini angered Woods and other top golfers by pulling out of Woods’ Target World Challenge last month before the final round without talking to a tournament official. Before that, Sabbatini took several verbal jabs at Woods last year, saying the world’s No. 1-ranked player was “as beatable as ever.”
Woods said after Target’s final round he would “get to the bottom” of why Sabbatini withdrew from his tournament, but clearly Woods hasn’t wasted much time worrying about Sabbatini.
“I haven’t talked to him about any of it,” Woods said. “It is what it is.”
Sabbatini also was tight-lipped when asked about his relationship with Woods. “As far as I understand there’s no animosity,” Sabbatini said. “We’re both competitors and we both want to win. That’s the situation.”
Sabbatini’s agent said his client withdrew because he had shin splints, but Sabbatini admitted that wasn’t the case, saying he was “tired.”
Sabbatini at least took a step toward mending his image this week when he donated his Target last-place check of $170,000 to the United Through Reading Foundation, which assists servicemen and women and their families who are in combat overseas.
This isn’t the first time Rory has been generous to US servicemen and their families. Read this news from three years ago.
Dublin, Ohio: If Rory Sabbatini qualifies for the NEC Invitational this year, those in the know won’t disparage his unusual choice of Thursday attire, which is actually a tribute to soldiers in Iraq.
The 29-year-old South African started wearing camouflage pants in February as a tribute to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which provides aid to families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His wife, Amy, read an article about the US government’s poor death benefits and the charity in an airline magazine and called it to his attention.
With Sabbatini donating $US250 ($332) for each birdie and $US1000 for each eagle, the fund jumped by $US1500 after the first round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Sabbatini turned in his best score in camouflage, firing a six-under-par 66 to trail leader Jeff Sluman by one shot.
Rory, who’s South African not American, should be cut more than a little slack. He’s not a saint, Tiger Woods isn’t. They don’t get along, do all players get along on tour? Tiger’s relationships with Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson has been frosty also. Some of Tiger’s conduct has included-
1- A hot headed caddy named Steve Williams whom he refuses to reel in,
2- Deliberately defaced a green at the US Open
and
3- let go another caddy for little more than making money because he had become well known for being Tiger’s caddy. Remember Mike Cowan’s television commercials in the late 90′s?
Rory and Tiger have issues between themselves. Tiger has some issues also. The Golf media blows things up bigger than they ever should be. Like how much Tiger is becoming a Daddy talk did we hear in 2007? Zack Johnson, The Masters Champ, became a first time Dad last year. Four LPGA golfers gave birth in 2007, some even coming back to play in the same year. How much press did Zach or Hee Won Han get for their baby making? Catorina Matthew came within one 30-foot putt from winning the Kraft Nabisco less than six months after giving birth. I think we can all agree, Mothers have it a great deal tougher than fathers when it comes to child rearing.
Kudos to Rory for his generosity. How many US born pros on the PGA Tour are that generous to our fighting men and women?
Who thought snafus by the golf media would grab so much attention in 2008?
The editor of Golfweek magazine said he was overwhelmed by negative reaction to the photo of a noose on the cover of this week’s issue, illustrating a story about the suspension of a Golf Channel anchor for using the word “lynch” in an on-air discussion about how to beat Tiger Woods.
“We knew that image would grab attention, but I didn’t anticipate the enormity of it,” Dave Seanor, vice president and editor of the weekly magazine, said from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.
“There’s been a huge, negative reaction,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails. It’s a little overwhelming.”
Among the critics was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who said he found the imagery to be “outrageous and irresponsible.”
“It smacks of tabloid journalism,” Finchem said in a statement. “It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.”
Golfweek’s cover was inappropriate and in bad taste as were Kelly Tilghman’s comments about Tiger. The media that covers the sport is being put under a microscope right now. To be honest, the people who cover golf, are some of the laziest people in the MSM. I could spend a half hour detailing why I say that. Instead I’ll just point to the latest example provided by Golf World’s Ron Sirak.
As much as I don’t mind the golf media taking some long overdue lumps, I wish the focus right now was on the course.
Update- Golf Week has replaced the editor responsible for the noose cover. Is it ironic Seanor lost his job while Kelly Tilghman was only suspended?
Call this the ‘Sports Knucklehead of the Day’.
Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized after saying during Friday’s telecast of the PGA Tour’s opening event that today’s young players should “lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley.”
In a statement issued Monday, Tilghman said: “On Friday during our golf broadcast, Nick Faldo and I were discussing Tiger’s dominance in the golf world and I used some poorly chosen words. I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments.”
The Golf Channel also responded to the situation. “We regret the unfortunate choice of words Kelly used during the broadcast and apologize to anyone who was offended by her remarks,” the network said in its statement.
“We take this matter very seriously. She has apologized privately to Tiger and publicly on the air.”
No doubt about it, that was an incredibly dumb thing to say. Should Tilghman be fired? No, I’m a proponent of free speech. I’ve stood up for Ann Coulter and Cindy Sheehan, though I’ve given them both Knucklehead awards too.(Cindy for whining about her lack of press)Let Kelly keep the job, I think the public humiliation she is receiving is enough.
Update- Golf Channel has just suspended Kelly Tilghman for two weeks.
From the water is wet department of news.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – No one came close to matching Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, which is becoming as predictable as Woods being voted the PGA Tour player of the year.
With seven victories and another major championship, Woods won the award Tuesday for the third straight season and the ninth time in his 11 years since he turned pro. The only questions now are whether he’s playing his best golf, and how much better he can get.
“Is he spoiling everyone?” Brad Faxon asked after a pro-am round at the Target World Challenge. “I don’t see anyone close. I don’t see who the next guy is.”
Phil Mickelson was the only other player on the PGA Tour ballot with three victories, including The Players Championship. Woods won the money title by more than $5 million over Mickelson, and Woods’ stroke average was 1.4 shots per round lower than Ernie Els.
But when asked to review his year, Woods spent a lot of time looking at lost shots.
He was tied for the lead at some point in the final round of the Masters and U.S. Open and was a runner-up in both of them by a combined three shots. And the only tournament he failed to win during the PGA Tour Playoffs was at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where he took nine more putts than Mickelson in the final round and finished two back.
I predicted Tiger to be player of the year. Am I psychic or what?
At least no mention is made of Tiger becoming a Dad too. I’d point out that Masters Champ Zach Johnson did that also in 2007.
How long is it before the 2008 PGA Tour starts?
The PGA Championship finishes today in Tulsa Oklahoma. Guess who is leading?
TULSA, Okla. – Tiger Woods saved his best golf for the last major. Woods followed his record-tying 63 at Southern Hills with a round that wasn’t anything special Saturday, but no less effective at the PGA Championship. He made 15 pars in his 1-under 69, giving him a three-shot lead over Stephen Ames going into the final round.
It felt much larger considering the history of the world’s No. 1 player.
Woods is 12-0 when going into the final round of major with at least a share of the lead, and he has never lost any tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes.
*****
Woods finished at 7-under 203 and will play in the final round of a major for the third time this year. He was trailing at the Masters and U.S. Open and never caught up, but the odds are much higher in his favor of capturing his first major of the year.
Ames made a 12-foot birdie on the final hole for a 69 that put him in the final group of a major for the first time. Just his luck he gets Woods, spotting the 12-time major champion a three-shot lead.
*****
Only five players remained under par at Southern Hills.
Woody Austin lost his chance to be in the final group when he took bogey on the final hole for a 69, leaving him at 207. Johnson Senden had a 69 and was another shot back, followed by Els.
Verplank held his own until a double bogey from the rough and trees on the signature 12th hole, and a three-putt from the back of the 18th green for bogey sent him to a 74.
Anyone want to bet against Tiger winning today? I don’t think there is a sucker out there to take me up, but feel free to leave a note if you are. Even money odds, Ok?
I was thinking about Tiger and Southern Hills yesterday. There is a golf saying, ‘Horses for certain courses’. This can be easily done with PGA tour stops that play the same course year in and year out, but the PGA is a major that changes courses every year. The last PGA at Southern Hills was in 1994, and the last major(The US Open) held at the course was in 2001.
Don’t worry, I still have come up with a formula or comparison. Consider it golf’s version of that Kevin Bacon game.
Tiger has won majors at Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Medinah, Vahalla, Hoylake and St. Andrews. Forget Hoylake and St. Andrews, only one former British Open Champ, 1994 winner Nick Price, has also won at Southern Hills.(Nick does co-hold the course record for Augusta, a 3rd round 63 in 1986)
For our little game remember these names- Hubert Green, Dave Stockton, Arnold Palmer, Lou Graham, Ray Floyd, Lanny Wadkins, Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks, Phil Mickelson, Gary Player and Corey Pavin.
First, the only person to have win at Augusta and at Southern Hills, is Ray Floyd. He took the 1976 Masters at Augusta and the 1982 PGA at Southern Hills. Tiger has won four times at The Masters.
Retief Goosen has won two US Opens, the 2001 US Open at Southern Hills and the 2004 title at Shinnecock.
Note Ray Floyd won the 1986 US Open at Shinnecock. Retief Goosen was second to Tiger Woods at the 2002 Masters. Tiger wasn’t a factor in the only US Open(2004) he played at Shinnecock as a pro.
Corey Pavin the 1995 US Open Champ at Shinnecock, was 2nd to Nick Price at the 1994 PGA at Southern. Lanny Wadkins was 2nd at the 1982 PGA at Southern, and the 1986 US Open.
Phil Mickelson was 2nd at the 2004 US Open(Shinnecock) and 3rd at the 1994 PGA. Heck Phil was third at the 2001 Masters which Tiger Woods won .
Arnold Palmer won at Augusta, and was second at the 1970 PGA at Southern. Note Gary Player also a former Masters winner was second at Southern when it hosted the 1958 US Open.
The reverse Palmer, Player Southern-Augusta connection goes to Dave Stockton. He was 2nd at the 1974 Masters, and won the 1970 PGA Championship.
Besides the Shinnecock-Southern connection, there is the Medinah-Southern connection. Lou Graham won the 1975 US Open at Medinah and narrowly lost the 1977 US open to Hubert Green, finishing in 2nd place one shot behind. Tiger of course won 2 PGA Championships at Medinah.(99 and 06)
How does Vahalla work in? Woods won the 2000 PGA there, Mark Brooks was the 1996 PGA champion, played at the same course. Mark Brooks lost the 2001 US Open playoff to Retief Goosen played at Southern.
Cherry Hills(Outside of Denver) is connected this way. Arnold Palmer won the 60 US Open there, and I already mentioned his other connections above. Hubert Green won the 85 PGA at that course and the 77 US Open at Southern.
Note- Hubert Green was 2nd at the 1978 Masters to Gary Player.
Dave Stockton the 70 PGA Champion at Southern, was 2nd at the 1978 US Open at Cherry Hills.
So we have the Medinah-Southern-Augusta-Vahalla-CherryHills-Shinnecock connection that revolves around at ten or twelve golfers. What’s the signifigance of all this? Absolutely nothing, I’m just showing off some of the golf trivia stored in my head.
Update- Corrected my post to say only Ray Floyd has won at Augusta and Southern Hills. Tiger is trying to become the second.
Will the Spaniard nicknamed ‘El Nino’ finally win a major Championship?
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – The cheers grew louder as Sergio Garcia crossed the bridge over Barry Burn toward the 18th green at Carnoustie, a reception so warm it gave him chills. He removed his cap in a steady rain and soaked up the adulation. It was a scene fit for a coronation at the British Open.
For Garcia, the odds have never been better. He has never played better or felt so confident.
Garcia played close to perfection Saturday, a 3-under 68 that gave him a three-shot lead over Steve Stricker, with no one else closer than six shots. And while this will be the third time he has played in the final group at a major, there are two drastic differences.
Garcia finished off his bogey-free round with a 5-iron that never left the flag and sent him chasing after it, screaming out instructions with an intensity that showed he already knew the outcome.
“Oh, be good,” he said. “BE GOOD!”
It hopped onto the green and stopped 12 feet left the flag, and the only disappointment was having to settle for par.
Sergio’s play was near flawless yesterday. He only has one player within five shots of him. I think Sergio will pull off his first major today.
Stricker might have to match his record round to give Garcia a fight. He ran off three straight birdies at the start Saturday, and was equally impressive with four par saves at the end for a 64, the best score ever at Carnoustie during a British Open.
*****
The 27-year-old Spaniard has held a 54-hole lead nine times in his career, and he has only converted five of them. Two years ago at the Wachovia Championship, he squandered a six-shot lead in the final round and lost in a playoff.
Sergio has had a history of near misses in major Championships. The 99 PGA Championship where he finished second to Tiger Woods after making a recovery shot from behind a tree was Sergio’s best chance to win a major previously.
Sergio also had his chances at the 2001, 2002 and 2005 US Opens. He finished in the top five at both last year’s British Open and PGA Championship.
Els, a three-time major champion, overcame a triple-bogey 8 on the easiest hole at Carnoustie to shoot a 68, leaving him in the large group at 3-under 210 that included Chris DiMarco (66), Padraig Harrington (68) and K.J. Choi (72).
These players are all good and capable of shooting a low number. But they would have to hope Sergio either falls back or plays par golf. If Sergio is under par today, he will win.
How about Tiger?
One guy Garcia won’t have to think about is Woods.
Trying to become the first player in more than 50 years to win the British Open three straight time, Woods beaned a 63-year-old woman in the head. It left her bandaged and bleeding, and Woods queasy at the sight of blood on the links.
He wound up with a 69, leaving him eight shots behind at 1-under 212. Woods has never won a major from behind, and only once has he made up an eight-shot deficit on the final day of any tournament — the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.
Tiger is out of it. Paul Lawrie came back from 10 shots behind at the 1999 British Open also played at Carnoustie. I don’t expect similar miracles today.
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| Friday, July 20, 2007 |
Halfway through the 2007 British Open, Sergio Garcia looks primed to claim his first Major, two-time defending champ Tiger Woods is 7 strokes back, and Phil Mickelson has missed the cut for his second straight Major.
Instead of charging, Tiger Woods got in trouble on his first swing of the day at the British Open. Woods yanked his opening shot into the Barry Burn, looking on in disbelief as the ball dribbled into the meandering stream. He limped home with a 3-over-par 74 that left a daunting seven-shot gap between him and leader Sergio Garcia. The world’s best player had plenty of work to do if he wants to become the first in more than a half-century to win a third straight Open championship.
Garcia followed a brilliant 6-under 65 with a workmanlike 71, sinking the sort of testy putts that have bedeviled him through his career. “I managed to not make many mistakes,” he said. “I didn’t play as well as yesterday, but I was quite consistent.”
[...]
Phil Mickelson seemed destined to miss the cut in his second straight major after slumping to an ugly 77 for a 148 total. “I thought I was playing a lot better than this,” moaned Phil Mickelson, who has only one top-10 finish at the Open. He had to take a one-stroke penalty at No. 2 after his ball plugged into the soggy turf. On the PGA Tour, he could have taken relief for an imbedded lie, but not under the Royal & Ancient rules. At the 18th, Mickelson lost two more strokes. He drove into the Barry Burn, wound up missing a 3-foot putt and took double bogey.
Garcia hasn’t made those sort of mistakes.
Golf is a bizarre, humbling game. And that’s doubly true in Scotland.
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| Thursday, July 19, 2007 |
Tiger Woods shares the lead in the British Open after one day. If history is any indication, he’ll dominate the rest of the tournament, winning his third Claret Jug in a row.
 With his jacket zipped up tight and oversized gloves to keep his hands warm between shots, Tiger Woods got off to a strong start Thursday at chilly Carnoustie in his quest for a third straight British Open title. Woods joined K.J. Choi atop the leaderboard by rolling in a 20-foot eagle putt at the sixth hole, leaving both players at 3 under on a dreary morning along the North Sea.
[...]
Woods, his new daughter back home in Florida, was trying to become the first golfer in more than a half-century to pull off an Open three-peat. Peter Thomson claimed the claret jug from 1954-56, and only three others have won three straight years in a championship that dates to 1860.
Thomson, who won five times overall and was runner-up on three other occasions, expects Woods to be posing with the trophy come Sunday. “He has a chance to win eight in a row,” said the revered Aussie, now a member of the Royal & Ancient. “If I could do it, surely he could.”
Indeed. I don’t expect Tiger to win eight in a row — the game’s just too hard and the competition too stiff — but he doesn’t tend to lose Majors if he gets off to a good start.
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