Tiger Misses Quail Hollow Cut; World Braces For Extensive Overreaction

After all, this is how he should have played at the Masters, no? Or is this the beginning of a different era, the post-accident Tiger?

Bob Harig's report features Woods' post-round interview and this:

Among the issues: Woods hit just six fairways over two rounds and had back-to-back double bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes.

Now it's on to the Players Championship next week, although Woods first has a weekend off.
"I'll get to watch how it's done," he quipped. "I'll get to see how real golfers do it."

Asked if his problems were due to lack of practice, playing or mechanics, Woods said: "It is what it is. Whatever it was, it wasn't good enough."

Steve Elling writes:

At times, it looked like Icelandic volcano ash was leaking from every orifice, and Woods couldn't get off the course fast enough. For the first time, he mailed it in over the last few holes when any chance of making the cut was history. Woods has repeatedly professed to giving every shot his best effort over the years, but this time, he flat-out quit.

When he four-jacked the 14th hole, he barely waited for the ball to stop rolling before he slapped at it again. When he dunked a ball in the water hazard beside the 13th green with an awful lob shot, he hit a pair of wedge shots without bothering to take a practice swing.

"How many pairs of jeans do you own?"

I'm not sure what's more disturbing, this revelation about today's PGA Tour players from the annual SI Golf Plus players poll, or that someone knew to include the more than 10 option.

How many pairs of jeans do you own?

1-3: 25%
4-6: 31%
7-10: 23%
More than 10: 21%

"Letting in a few breathless, bleach-blond TV reporters to report the sideshow might not be such a bad thing, given golf's apparently graying viewer demographics."

Regarding this week at Quail Hollow, Steve Elling notes this in his Up & Down column the decision to keep certain media outlets away from the press tent.

When saucy celebrity TV shows such as Inside Edition and Extra applied for credentials after Woods committed last week, they were told they had missed the application deadline. Yet when traditional print outlets and sports magazines asked for more credentials, they were green-lighted for admittance. We're all for maintaining some semblance of dignity and decorum here, but is there any more damage that the tabloids and celeb shows can do? The Woods scandal seems to have mostly played out -- a few loose ends about how he will be received by his peers and the public notwithstanding -- and golf probably can use the exposure. At this stage, the sport has already been tainted. Letting in a few breathless, bleach-blond TV reporters to report the sideshow might not be such a bad thing, given golf's apparently graying viewer demographics. I guess sex sells -- everywhere but in golf.

"We've settled down now to a glacier pace here on the 10th hole."

Thanks to John Strege for documenting Gary McCord's comment on the last group's slow play Sunday at Harbour Town. I heard it and swore I must have been wishfully thinking that an announcer just called out the leaders of a PGA Tour event!

When Davis and Furyk appeared to be dawdling on the 10th green on Sunday, CBS' Gary McCord said, "We've settled down now to a glacier pace here on the 10th hole."

They were playing twosomes on Sunday at the Verizon Heritage and it still took more than four hours to complete play.

Do you think that just maybe the networks are tired of the slow play and extended finishes caused by slow play? Finally?

Well Wasn't That A Strange Way To End A Golf Tournament...**

I'm not sure what was more bizarre about the conclusion to the final Verizon-sponsored Heritage Classic...

• That Brian Davis seemingly explained to Slugger White that he might have violated the rules because Slugger didn't see it happen, even though it was a playoff and there was nothing else to be watching

• That fans were booing the time it took to check with the replay booth whether a rule had been broken

• That CBS was showing its credits over a compelling playoff situation prior to Davis hitting his shot.
• That Davis actually violated the loose impediment rule when the item in question appeared rooted in the ground, but clearly someone thought it wasn't
• That CBS didn't have time for a quick post round interview (you go affiliates!)

Anyway, odd but as Jim Nantz noted, quite admirable of Davis to have immediately questioned what happened and to have called this on himself.

If you saw it, thoughts?

Update on 2010-04-19 07:27 by Geoff

**John Vander Borght explains what went wrong during the Heritage playoff and why it was indeed a penalty.

Slugger White explained what happened after the round and it sounds like he issued a gentle warning prior to Davis entering the hazard, which might explain why Davis called out his mistake so quickly. Davis doesn't mention that in his comments.

Well, when he hit the ball in the hazard, I cautioned him not to touch anything loose. When I went down in there, he said fine. And it's really strange, all these reeds that were loose, most of them were going this way, and this one reed was sticking out just outside his ball, I guess. And he looked and looked and looked, and when he took the club away he ticked it. And he immediately came to me -- I couldn't see it. The wind was blowing, so I couldn't see it against the sand. And he assured me that he ticked it when he took the club away. He called it on himself immediately.

The SI/golf.com Confidential team, in between debating Jim Furyk's place in golf history and what's wrong with Sergio--those hot button issues--were not very positive about CBS's coverage of the situation.

Van Sickle: TV did a lousy job of explaining the penalty. Viewers had to be confused. I was.
Herre: Faldo wouldn't shut up! You could make out the conversation Slugger White was having on his handheld — whenever Faldo wasn't talking over what was being said. Poor job by CBS.

Herre: For a journeyman who has never won on the PGA Tour, Davis was impressive. I don't think even the armchair rules officials would've picked up on his error.

Morfit: In the end it was much ado about nothing, right? Doesn't Furyk win the playoff on that hole even if Davis doesn't touch a loose impediment? Weird scene down on the beach, though. I thought I'd clicked on the Clamming Channel.

Evans: Not sure what to make of Davis not finishing the hole after all that overly officious professionalism and honesty. It was funny to see Slugger White tell Furyk that he still had to putt out after Davis shook his hand.

2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational Final Round Comments

It's looking like an Ernie Els run-away victory and an impressive second straight win as we inch closer to the Masters. And since just about everyone on the planet would like to see him win that, it's exciting stuff. Nonetheless, I won't be watching live. Then again, neither will you be since the round is tape delayed to get in before possible inclement weather.

But feel free to post your various thoughts here on any and all things Arnold Palmer Invitational.