Despite the loss, today’s performance was vintage Tiger Woods. Solely on principle, whenever someone plays like that (eventually finished 8-under, after flirting with a 59 at one point, and starting out 6-under after 6 holes), you wish anyone that plays golf like that can win. Alas, it wasn’t enough to erase his very average play over the weekend, and for all the dreams of spectators, Tiger never had any illusions about pulling off the improbable win.
Looking Back at Tiger’s Big Day
From the Associated Press:
“The whole idea was to try and shoot something in the low 60s and that would probably get me in the Top 10,” he said after an 8-under par 63 left briefly brought him within a stroke of the lead. “Certainly from where I was at, I couldn’t win the tournament, even if I shot 60 or something like that. I was so far back; these guys, (with) no wind, soft greens and pretty benign pins, they’ll go low.” [...]
He was the leader in the clubhouse for hours, but he knew it wouldn’t last.
“Whether you can win a tournament or not, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “You go out there and post a low number, as low as you’ve got for that day. It doesn’t change, whether you’ve just made the cut or you’re dew sweeping on the last day. It doesn’t matter. You post a low round and see what happens. You can feel good about it, you know?”
And ESPN’s Jason Sobel rejoices, as today’s performance ensures that there will no mention of the word that starts with “S” and rhymes with clump.
Woods emphatically responded to questions about his struggles during a final-round clinic that included an eagle and eight birdies against just a pair of bogeys, resulting in an overall tally of 8-under 63 that left him in a tie for 11th place at the end of the day.
Though he didn’t win the tournament -- that honor went to Steve Stricker -- Woods did his best to silence the critics following an August in which he finished 1-1-2-2 in his four appearances.
Woods, as Sobel explains, suffered this weekend because his putting simply wasn’t as good as it needed to be. It happens to the best of ‘em, and despite numerous instances that contradict the claim, Tiger Woods is human. Still, today he proved that there’s nothing fundamentally flawed with that part of his game, and offered an emphatic reminder: he is a human that is very, very good at golf.
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