Tiger ‘09 > Tiger in ‘00

SBN’s go-to source for golf analysis, Waggle Room, checks in today with some thoughts on Tiger Woods in the wake of his dominant performance at Cog Hill this weekend. Namely, that Tiger in 2009 is just as good--and probably better--as the player that came to dominate the golf a decade ago.

Their words:

The grandiose wins have been replaced by ho-hum victories by one to four shots. The wins pile up, but they don’t have quite the same feel to them. Woods rarely has an absolute victory these days. Winning going away is a rarity. Perhaps that is because Woods has no statements left to make in these run-of-the-mill Tour events. For God’s sake, he has won 71 of these things in 252 starts. It is a formality that he will overtake Sam Snead’s record for Tour wins.

While people like me lament that Woods 3.0 isn’t nearly as dominante, this Tiger is more sophisticated. He has more shots in the bag. They were on full display at Cog Hill, and he has compiled a highlight reel of great escapes this season. Perhaps that bag of tricks was borne out of his wild driver - the one club he seems incapable of taming. In some sense, it is more impressive that Tiger wins at approximately the same pace despite not putting the pedal to the medal in every tournament.

To some extent, Tiger 3.0 is more exciting than the Terminator. This Tiger keeps it close. He makes it exciting. There are more opportunities for a Rocco, or a Yang, or a Slocum. What happened at Hazeltine never would have happened to 2000 Tiger Woods. And, you know what, I’m glad that those guys had their shot at Tiger. Since the supposed Big Three or Five or anybody else that’s purportedly really great can’t do it, someone had to step up and mar the record of the greatest golfer ever. In the midst of golf’s Lost Generation, Woods has no equal except some middling pro on an idle Sunday for Tiger.

The entire piece is good, and a breath of fresh air amidst the constant carping from golf fans that “Woods isn’t the same as he used to be.” Maybe he’s not, but that doesn’t mean he’s worse off, either.