Question:
I think I remember someone posting something very similar to this after he won the Masters by 12 strokes.
At the Masters he played well after his first 9. I don’t remember how I viewed it, but he played much better this week. I was really impressed with his Masters play, but I wasn’t left dumfounded. He can overwhelm Augusta if he’s driving well, and he putted great that week. He had to have everything going this week. He almost won every day, which I find to be the most incredible. Does anyone really think he’ll win another major by 15 strokes? I would have thought he could win by 12 again, but 15? He’ll never have as good a week.
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think I remember someone posting something very similar to this after he won the Masters by 12 strokes. At the Masters he played well after his first 9. I don’t remember how I viewed it, but he played much better this week. I was really impressed with his Masters play, but I wasn’t left dumfounded. He can overwhelm Augusta if he’s driving well, and he putted great that week. He had to have everything going this week. He almost won every day, which I find to be the most incredible. Does anyone really think he’ll win another major by 15 strokes? I would have thought he could win by 12 again, but 15? He’ll never have as good a week.
The problem with this guy, is that whenever anyone says " He’ll never…" he goes out and does it!!! David — RSG Roll Call http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/sneddond.htm
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<Lots snipped I’m also really looking forward to seeing Tiger at some point in his career making a run at breaking the 59 barrier. I’ve heard -no proof whatsoever- that he shot 57 in a practice round.
Zooey – I heard the report of the 57 from Mark O’Meara during an interview at some time in the hazy past. Or from a reporter who said "Mark O’Meara said…" However, I prefer to get more strokes for my dollar. Depending on where he played, he could have been paying a lot per stroke… Joel T. Keys
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The only "flaw" I can see in his game is that he is prone to occasionally rocketing an approach shot 10-20 yards farther than he intended. Most of us don’t have the power to do it, but Tiger does. He
Oh I think you are so wrong on that one. Many of us are far more likely to blast one 10+ yards long than Tiger is… IMO:) It’s just that the reasons we do it and the reason he does it may not be the same. I know it happens to me frequently because I club for typical contact and distance and anytime I get exceptional contact and distance… I’m long. dsc – acssysdsc
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I have a feeling, just a feeling, that we’ll see more "perfect golf" from Tiger in the future. More than we have so far. Until some other ubergolfer comes along, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him blow out a tournament or three a year. This might very well be the level of play that he comes to *expect* from himself. After the 1997 Masters he said (to paraphrase) he’d had lightning in a bottle that week. But I didn’t hear him say that he thought he played over his head in the 2000 US Open. -joseph – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I don’t believe it’s all about how you get there. The victory is still the main objective. It’s going to be very interesting over the long haul to see if he can surpass Jack’s major total. [...] [...] Can he EVER play better overall? His driving was phenomenal. His iron play was phenomenal. His pitching and chipping was phenomenal. His putting was beyond phenomenal. He actually could have holed a couple of more on the front nine Sunday, but his stroke was on. He just came up short. His luck was incredible. [...]]
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I think I remember someone posting something very similar to this after he won the Masters by 12 strokes. Mark – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Organization: NetReach InterNetNews Newsgroups: rec.sport.golf I had already written this, but just saw that Andy North has a column on espn.com with kind of the same premise. Tiger played almost perfectly for 4 straight days. Obviously, Tiger could be the number one ranked player for a long time, but I can’t see how Tiger could ever play as well as he did over a 4 day stretch again in his life. Therefore, in a small way, it’s all downhill from here. Can he EVER play better overall? His driving was phenomenal. His iron play was phenomenal. His pitching and chipping was phenomenal. His putting was beyond phenomenal. He actually could have holed a couple of more on the front nine Sunday, but his stroke was on. He just came up short. His luck was incredible. Not only with the weather he got compared to some others, but it seemed that he got two terrible lies all weekend (I missed some so he may have had more). I didn’t think the lie he had on Saturday when he chipped from #6 was that bad. His stance was awkward, but he had a good lie. Almost every time the ball went in the rough it was either sitting up or he could at least get a club on it. Consider: He broke the all time record for margin of victory in a major, a record which I can’t see even Tiger breaking. He either tied for or had the best round outright in 3 of the 4 rounds, and on the 4th he was second best. He broke the record for most under par in a major, and this wasn’t the easiest of Open courses. He tied the record for total score in a major, a record I think he’ll beat some day. I just can’t see him being as accurate with all of his game over a four day period again. He may score better, but I can’t see him playing better.
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I don’t believe it’s all about how you get there. The victory is still the main objective. It’s going to be very interesting over the long haul to see if he can surpass Jack’s major total. I think the real key for Tiger is going to be whether he can keep himself interested. Remember Jordan in his last year? It was all about finding motivation for each game for him. Obviously the money no longer is a factor for him and I think he’s proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he already deserves to be included in a list of the games great players. Really all he has to shoot for now is proving that he is indeed the greatest player to ever hold a club and that is going to be a monumental task even for him. I’m also really looking forward to seeing Tiger at some point in his career making a run at breaking the 59 barrier. I’ve heard -no proof whatsoever- that he shot 57 in a practice round. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I had already written this, but just saw that Andy North has a column on espn.com with kind of the same premise. Tiger played almost perfectly for 4 straight days. Obviously, Tiger could be the number one ranked player for a long time, but I can’t see how Tiger could ever play as well as he did over a 4 day stretch again in his life. Therefore, in a small way, it’s all downhill from here. Can he EVER play better overall? His driving was phenomenal. His iron play was phenomenal. His pitching and chipping was phenomenal. His putting was beyond phenomenal. He actually could have holed a couple of more on the front nine Sunday, but his stroke was on. He just came up short. His luck was incredible. Not only with the weather he got compared to some others, but it seemed that he got two terrible lies all weekend (I missed some so he may have had more). I didn’t think the lie he had on Saturday when he chipped from #6 was that bad. His stance was awkward, but he had a good lie. Almost every time the ball went in the rough it was either sitting up or he could at least get a club on it. Consider: He broke the all time record for margin of victory in a major, a record which I can’t see even Tiger breaking. He either tied for or had the best round outright in 3 of the 4 rounds, and on the 4th he was second best. He broke the record for most under par in a major, and this wasn’t the easiest of Open courses. He tied the record for total score in a major, a record I think he’ll beat some day. I just can’t see him being as accurate with all of his game over a four day period again. He may score better, but I can’t see him playing better.
Response:
I had already written this, but just saw that Andy North has a column on espn.com with kind of the same premise. Tiger played almost perfectly for 4 straight days. Obviously, Tiger could be the number one ranked player for a long time, but I can’t see how Tiger could ever play as well as he did over a 4 day stretch again in his life. Therefore, in a small way, it’s all downhill from here.
Don’t forget, though, Jon, that some folks were saying the same thing about Tiger after he blew away the field at the Masters in ‘97. I suspect Tiger still has some good rounds left in his bag. The only "flaw" I can see in his game is that he is prone to occasionally rocketing an approach shot 10-20 yards farther than he intended. Most of us don’t have the power to do it, but Tiger does. He doesn’t do it nearly as much as he did a few years ago, but it still crops up once in a while. If he refines his approach game a little more, as I suspect he will over time, he can become even better than he is today. — Don Porter Newspaper Reporter & Webmaster Web Page: http://www.datacruz.com/~dporter
Response:
I had already written this, but just saw that Andy North has a column on espn.com with kind of the same premise. Tiger played almost perfectly for 4 straight days. Obviously, Tiger could be the number one ranked player for a long time, but I can’t see how Tiger could ever play as well as he did over a 4 day stretch again in his life. Therefore, in a small way, it’s all downhill from here. Can he EVER play better overall? His driving was phenomenal. His iron play was phenomenal. His pitching and chipping was phenomenal. His putting was beyond phenomenal. He actually could have holed a couple of more on the front nine Sunday, but his stroke was on. He just came up short. His luck was incredible. Not only with the weather he got compared to some others, but it seemed that he got two terrible lies all weekend (I missed some so he may have had more). I didn’t think the lie he had on Saturday when he chipped from #6 was that bad. His stance was awkward, but he had a good lie. Almost every time the ball went in the rough it was either sitting up or he could at least get a club on it. Consider: He broke the all time record for margin of victory in a major, a record which I can’t see even Tiger breaking. He either tied for or had the best round outright in 3 of the 4 rounds, and on the 4th he was second best. He broke the record for most under par in a major, and this wasn’t the easiest of Open courses. He tied the record for total score in a major, a record I think he’ll beat some day. I just can’t see him being as accurate with all of his game over a four day period again. He may score better, but I can’t see him playing better.