Tiger Wins Another Masters

[Adam's Apple]

Three cheers for Tiger Woods! Great to see him playing his game again. The pundits may have been right when they said marriage would settle Tiger down and get him back on his game.

 

[sitarro]

Three cheers for Tiger Woods! Great to see him playing his game again. The pundits may have been right when they said marriage would settle Tiger down and get him back on his game.

Tiger is a great player , but he is also the luckiest player that has ever swung at a golf ball . To hit a shot as far right on 17 and still have a shot ? To blow it over the green on 16 and be left with an almost impossible shot (Lanny Wadkins said he could easily hit it outside DiMarco's), he should have walked off 16 with a par at best . Normal people could never get away with so many mental errors on Sunday afternoon on Augusta National.
I realize that luck is an important part of any game but really , he didn't hit the last three greens on Sunday and still won . If DiMarco would have had any of the same luck it wouldn't have been close . Tiger has become great at scrambling because he has to scramble so much . Palmer was the same way .
I have been saying the same thing since he came out on tour , he is no Nicklaus .
I also find it amazing how much the media loves him . If DiMarco would have won , would he have made the front page of USA Today ? If Tiger isn't playing , you're lucky to get golf before little league scores on television sports casts .When Tiger plays he will almost always get a picture even if he loses . I was so pissed at what I saw when Tiger first made it on tour that I disliked him , I have since found a respect for him and his game despite the press .
I still don't think he compares to Nicklaus . If you could do time travel and bring Nicklaus in his prime to today's game , with today's equipment and golf course conditions , he would win almost every week .Conversly , if you sent Tiger back in time where he had to use the tools Nicklaus used , I would bet he wouldn't be in the top 125 . . . just my opinion . Equipment design has made a huge difference in todays game . In the old days you would have never seen a swing like Tigers , the shafts wouldn't have been able to take it , the limits of the ball would have also hurt him tremendously . I remember when we used to carry a small metal tool with a golf ball size hole in it . You would periodically check to see if the ball you were playing was still round . Even the balatas in the 80s could be knocked out of round .The balls that Nicklaus used were really crap (MacGregor's Tourney), there has been much written about how many tournaments he would have won had he been playing a Titleist .His 18 Major wins is only part of the story , he finished 2nd in 19 Majors !
Anyway it was a great Masters as always and Tiger makes a great champion , he has brought a revival of golf's popularity the way Palmer did many years ago .

 

[OCA]

I agree for the most part with ya Sitarro, DiMarco blew so many short birdie putts on the front 9 that he should have been 1 or 2 up going to 10.

However.....the belly wedge of Tiger's on 16 will probably be known as the greatest golf shot ever played in a major hands down, plus how does DiMarco come up short again on 18 in the playoff...unbelievable. Overall DiMarco lost this Masters, Tiger didn't win it.

 

[no1tovote4]

I agree for the most part with ya Sitarro, DiMarco blew so many short birdie putts on the front 9 that he should have been 1 or 2 up going to 10.

However.....the belly wedge of Tiger's on 16 will probably be known as the greatest golf shot ever played in a major hands down, plus how does DiMarco come up short again on 18 in the playoff...unbelievable. Overall DiMarco lost this Masters, Tiger didn't win it.

It was the first time Tiger lost a lead in the last round of any major tournament. DiMarco had his shot and choked the smallest bit. The closest to them was 7 strokes back, can't say he choked it all down now can we?

 

[dmp]

I'm surprised nobody from the NAACP has sued to change the name of the event.

:-/


Yay for Tiger! He's a good role model for SouthPacific folk.

 

[OCA]

It was the first time Tiger lost a lead in the last round of any major tournament. DiMarco had his shot and choked the smallest bit. The closest to them was 7 strokes back, can't say he choked it all down now can we?

Lets see a 4 footer for birdie on 8, another short birdie putt on 7, and a couple more that I can't remember the holes now. Yes coming up short twice in a row on the same exact hole is sort of a choke.

 

[OCA]

Tiger practically handed this tournament to him on the back 9, DiMarco simply did not step up to the plate when the chips were down. I will say however that overall he played beautifully, just didn't put the hammer down when it was presented.

 

[sitarro]

Tiger practically handed this tournament to him on the back 9, DiMarco simply did not step up to the plate when the chips were down. I will say however that overall he played beautifully, just didn't put the hammer down when it was presented.

I go back and forth on Tiger , I like him and hate him. I am so very bored with the poor me , I am black attitude he shares with Charles Barkley . I dislike Tiger's swing almost as much as Barkley's (coming out of your shoes on every shot) and have never liked that style of play . Oh I know , he has brought all sorts of new people to the game with his exciting antics on the golf course but . . . is it really better for the game . The media works very hard at keeping their darling in the spotlight , do you think that if DiMarco would have won he would have been on the cover of every newspaper in America on Monday? I hate the manipulation , the media loves the fact that they have what appears to be a black man dominating the eletist white man game . They pretend that it is still the fifties and that there are courses blacks can't play , anything to keep racism in the news , even when it doesn't exists. . .I am a white male and there are courses I will never get to play.
The general public thinks that killing the ball is the only thing golf is about. A great many of the people brought to the game are assholes that I would rather stay home watching team sports on the couch rather than clogging up golf courses and not fixing divots . The golf cart was the beginning of the Americanization of the game that has progressed (or degressed) to the point where a person can buy clubs and balls that will make up for a total lack of practice and athleticism . We are laughed at around the world as pussies that need a little car to take us each hundred yards that we hit it .In the place golf was invented , you walk or you don't play . The next step is to install little cannons in your cart and you will line up the shot and use specific charge strength to manipulate the length the ball travels . Add television and air conditioning and you will make a lot of new people to the game happy.
The emphasis on 350 yard drives is destroying the game , the ball goes too far . The only reason Tiger can even play the game is because of the technology that allows him to swing so hard without snapping shafts .If the USGA doesn't do something to reign in the manufacturers , all of the greatest golf courses in the world will be obsolete . Jack Nicklaus said a while back when speaking about equipment change. . . "I am 63 with a replaced hip and a bad back and I am hitting it longer than I did in my prime on tour , does that make any sense ?"
Have I strayed from the thread subject again?
As far as the shot on 16 , it was a great shot in that if it would have missed the hole it would have stayed within a few inches . The fact that it went in was pure Tiger luck.

 

[Nuc]

I go back and forth on Tiger , I like him and hate him. I am so very bored with the poor me , I am black attitude he shares with Charles Barkley ..

Tiger routinely gets death threats and it's not because he is Asian. You are an idiot. Hank Aaron likewise got death threats because he was black.

 

[sitarro]

Tiger routinely gets death threats and it's not because he is Asian. You are an idiot. Hank Aaron likewise got death threats because he was black.

I'm an idiot? You sound like the one that is truely the idiot. Celebrities in general get threats all the time . David Letterman is one of the most white guys on the planet , he gets threats all of the time . Lindberg was also very white , his kid was kidnapped . It goes with celebrity .
As far as Tiger , the huge number of fans that adore him are overwhelmingly white . Look at the galleries at any tournament he chooses to grace with his presence , almost exclusively white . Even at the "whitest" place on the PGA Tour , The Masters , the fans give him standing ovations on every hole . He is easily becoming the richest person in sports and that in itself makes him a target for any low life out there . The fact that he has dark skin also brings out the ass hole biggots but I have a hard time feeling sorry for a guy that plays a few golf tournaments a year , that he flies to in his private jet with his gorgeous Scandanavian wife and earns 100s of millions of dollars .
Oh by the way , Hank Aaron's death threats were at a much different time in America . It is disingenuous to hold on to the poor discriminated black line , everyone is discriminated against in some way or another . I have a beard , there are those that prejudge me because of that . If you live in the South you are discriminated against by people that live in the Northern part of the country .If you voted for George Bush you are considered an idiot by people that voted against him .
These are completely different times in this country from even a decade ago , intelligent people that pay attention are very bored with the whining .
Why don't you figure out a different cause to push like the criticism of the Kennedys for pronouncing the name Cuba. . . Quber.

 

[Adam's Apple]

And while on the topic of Tiger: Do you think Tiger will turn out to be the next Jack Nicklaus, as many sportscasters and columnists are predicting?

 

[Nuc]

And while on the topic of Tiger: Do you think Tiger will turn out to be the next Jack Nicklaus, as many sportscasters and columnists are predicting?

Barring injury he probably will. Such records as length are not objective due to technology. But if he can win as many majors as Jack that would be quite a statement.

 

[Gabriella84]

I have never understood the appeal of golf on TV. I have always thought of it as an activity that you had to play to enjoy.

 

[sitarro]

And while on the topic of Tiger: Do you think Tiger will turn out to be the next Jack Nicklaus, as many sportscasters and columnists are predicting?

The only comparison that can be made between the two is total major championship wins . Everything about the game has changed . The technology used for club design and the golf ball makes it impossible to compare the two . Tiger doesn't need to play in most tournaments , his endorsement money has made it easy for him to take three weeks off from the Tour to fly his private jet to Britain and play as many practice rounds as needed to get ready for another major...The Open .Jack Nicklaus played almost every week he couldn't afford to concentrate only on major championships . And like I stated before, Nicklaus's Major championship record is a lot more than his total wins . He won 18, he placed second in 19 and third 9 times . . .nobody will ever dominate the game that way . He did that while playing a full schedule and raising a number of sons.He also played competitively on both the PGA Tour and the Senior Tour .
Tiger will not have that long of a career , his back will not be able to take the rediculously violent action he produces with that swing . His competition has become much stronger and most have better swings for a longer career . V.J. 's swing is one that will last a lifetime . Michelson's game has improved tremendously and Ernie Els will come back soon. There are more players every year that were raised with the same type of professional instruction and equipment that creates a Tiger.
On top of all of the wins in his playing career Nicklaus has become one of the most sought after golf course Architects in the world , I really don't see that becoming a focus for Tiger . With all of the easy money available for him producing ads why would he bother to try to learn what it takes to become a great designer of golf courses ?
I'm certainly not saying that Tiger is not a great player , he is one of the best out there right now , but he is not Jack Nicklaus .

 

[sitarro]

I have never understood the appeal of golf on TV. I have always thought of it as an activity that you had to play to enjoy.

I've never understood how anyone can sit and watch anything as boring as team sports . Basketball, baseball , football , soccer? I understand why most people that watch that crap need to get drunk.

 

[Gabriella84]

I've watched golf on TV. When they are driving the ball, you can't even see it. And you can't very well watch the entire tournament at one time, because there are 80 people playing at once.
Take something like the Masters. I am sure they mostly show Tiger Woods and five other people. What if you are a fan of someone else?
My point was that golf seems to be a sport that needs to be seen in person. So you can watch the shots and follow whoever you want.