Tiger, Hurry Up and Wait

Tiger, U.S. Roll in President's Cup

 

Every sports fan looks forward to weekends during football season so they can sink in the couch and cheer on their favorite NFL and College Football teams.  This may have caused you to overlook the masterful performance put on by Sir Tiger Woods in the President’s Cup this weekend.  Tiger ended up a perfect 5-0 on the weekend.  He is only the 3^rd professional golfer to win 5 matches in one President’s Cup, and became the all time leader in points with 18.  The United States won the event by a score of 19.5 – 14.5, with Tiger’s 5 points being the difference. 

Sunday’s match probably had a little more meaning than the previous 4.  Y.E. Yang, sound familiar?  He was the golfer who upended Woods in the final round of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine, breaking his streak of 14 straight majors when holding a 54-hole lead.  Anyone that has watched Tiger over the years knows he is an absolute freak when it comes to competition.  Yang exposed Tiger in the PGA and Tiger returned the favor just 2 months later by humiliating Yang 6 and 5, and clinching the cup for the U.S.  He teamed up with fellow American Steve Stricker to embarrass his international foe in every match with the exception of one.  In the Saturday Foursomes, Mike Weir and Tim Clark had Woods and Stricker backed into a corner, 1 down with 2 to play.  Tiger and Stricker finished birdie – eagle to win the match in 18 holes, a heroic finish that we have come to expect from the #1 player in the world.

There has been much debate around the PGA Tour on whether Tiger had a successful 2009.  I think it mostly depends on your point of view.  Some people would argue that his success is directly related to the winning of major golf tournaments.  I believe Tiger would agree with you.  Not saying that winning 6 golf tournaments with over $10 million in earnings excluding the $10 million prize he won for winning the incredibly over-hyped FedEx Cup isn’t a great year.  Any other golfer on tour (with the exception of maybe Phil and Vijay) would consider those statistics as their best year ever.  However, Mr. Woods has other things on his mind.  It seems that everything he does as a professional golfer is geared towards winning major tournaments.  That is the ultimate record that he wants to achieve, beating Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors.

That is the final piece to put all debate to rest that Tiger Woods is THE greatest golfer to ever play the game.  You can be sure he will be more focused than ever in 2010 after being skunked this year.  I have a feeling that at the Masters next April everyone will be playing for 2^nd place.

 -mfb