Tag Archives: British Open

Uncategorized

Tiger will be just fine, thank you very much

Tiger Woods didn’t win the PGA this past weekend. He’s still looking to win his 15th major golf tournament.

And strange as it seems, golf’s pundit class is giving him a bad time because he hasn’t won a major since 2008.

Get off it, already.

http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/pga-championship-tiger-woods-departs-a-major-empty-handed-again-081113

Even if Tiger Woods never wins another major championship, he’ll be able to look back on what has been an extraordinary golf career. He’s won 79 PGA events overall, second to Sam Snead’s 82 wins. He is stuck on 14 major wins, with Jack Nicklaus ahead of him with 18. The way I see it, being mentioned in the same sentence with Slammin’ Sammy and the Golden Bear puts Tiger in the middle of some pretty tall cotton.

I think he’ll win more majors. Whether he catches Jack is another matter. Still, it shouldn’t really matter when measuring the impact Tiger Woods has had on the game of golf.

All of this armchair handwringing reminds of what sports talkers used to say about auto racing legend Mario Andretti, who’s generally recognized as one of the greatest drivers in the history of his sport. But he won only a single Indianapolis 500 race, in 1969. He figured to win many Indy races when he arrived on the scene in 1965. He had bad luck at Indy.

Someone finally asked Mario to comment on one of his many failures to win a second Indy 500. His answer, which I only can paraphrase now, was classic. He said he doesn’t measure the success of his career by what he didn’t do at Indy. He prefers to look instead at the big picture: Daytona 500 victory in 1967, Formula One championship in 1978 … and a host of victories at tracks worldwide of all kinds and shapes racing open-wheeled cars, NASCAR stock cars, Formula One road course vehicles.

I believe the totality of Tiger Woods’s career, when it finally concludes, will measure up.

Uncategorized

Still pulling for Tiger

Tiger Woods is two shots out of the lead at the British Open.

Admission time: I’m pulling for Tiger to win this event Sunday. It would be his 15th major championship, three shy of the great Jack Nicklaus’s record. I’m not yet sure I want him to beat Jack’s record. I’m still wrestling with it.

It might be different had Woods not acted like a dirt bag about four years ago when it was revealed he was a serial philanderer who couldn’t remain faithful to his gorgeous wife.

Still, I’ve struggled as he’s struggled to regain his top form. He finally got it back this year, returning to No. 1 in the world golf rankings. But he hasn’t won a major championship since 2008.

He’s in position now to win his 15th if he can make up those two strokes and get past the leader, Lee Westwood, who himself is no slouch on the links. Westwood will have the benefit of playing before a home crowd of fellow Brits. Will the pressure spur him on or will it make him choke?

As for Tiger, he at one time seemed immune to those kind of atmospherics. He just dialed in his game, turned it on and off he went.

But that was then. This is now.

Would I want to hang with Tiger? Not for a minute. He’s not my kind of guy. He is, however, fun to watch hit a golf ball. I’ll be pulling for him Sunday … along with many millions of others who would admit that they, too, watch golf often only when Tiger is on his way to pick up the winner’s trophy.