Tiger Is Back For At Least The Fourth Time

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And maybe the most impressive, as he faced withering heat, a stubborn Bo Van Pelt and a difficult test,  pulling off only-Tiger-can-hit-that-shots at 12 and 18 to win the AT&T National.

Brian Wacker on Tiger's third win of the year, and number 74 to put him second on the all time list, with this from Bo Van Pelt:

That's what Woods is in the eyes of Van Pelt.

 
"No offense to any of those other guys, but he's the only guy to win three tournaments on TOUR this year;" said Van Pelt, who assisted Woods by bogeying his final three holes. "On three different golf courses, and he was leading the U.S. Open after two days. So I'd say that he's playing the best golf in the world right now."

Can anyone really argue otherwise?

Doug Ferguson on what a worthy adversary Van Pelt turned out to be as the rest of the field wilted.

Three times, Woods took the outright lead in the final round. Each time, Van Pelt made a birdie of his own to catch him. The tournament was decided on the last three holes, and it featured a surprising turn of events.
Van Pelt had Woods on the ropes on the par-5 16th by ripping a 345-yard tee shot and having only a 6-iron into the green. Woods hit a spectator in the left rough with his tee shot, laid up, and then attacked a back flag only to see the ball tumble over the green and down an 8-foot slope. It looked as if it might be a two-shot swing for Van Pelt, or at least the lead going to the 17th.

That's when Van Pelt answered with unforced errors of his own. His 6-iron was slightly heavy and didn't quite reach the bunker, meaning he had to plant his feet in the sand and grip the wedge on the shaft for his third shot. He moved it only a few yards, still in the collar of the rough, and chipped about 12 feet by the hole. Woods' chip up the slope rolled 15 feet by, and he missed the par putt.

From the SI/golf.com crowd on where this puts Woods heading into the final two majors:

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: What meant the most to Tiger, I'd guess, is that he won at a Congo that played more like a major course than the Congo of June 2011, when that other "next Tiger" won. (What was his name again?) Maybe the next Tiger is ... Tiger.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: He's certainly POY so far, but even for Tiger 3.0, a year without a major is not a success. The British and PGA will determine how we (and he) view this season.

John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: Declaring Tiger "back" or "not back" may be a pointless exercise, but it's been a full-time job for most of us. My Tour Tempo co-author, John Novosel, declared Tiger "back" at the U.S. Open because Tiger was swinging with consistent tempo again. Same thing this week. So I say the Cat is Back and yeah, he's POY.

Farrell Evans with Tiger's post-round comments:

"I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again," Woods said. "Here we are.

"A lot of media people didn't think I could win again, and I had to deal with those questions for a quite a bit. It was just a matter of time."

Yet many of his doubters were also average golf fans. Since I joined ESPN.com in August, I have received an avalanche of mail from readers who have grown impatient with Tiger. Nearly every day for the past three years, people from all walks of life have drilled me with questions about Tiger's future.

Many of the fans or commenters generally fall into three camps. The first group abhors any mention of Tiger unless he's winning the tournament. On Saturday night, when Brendon De Jonge held a 1-shot lead over Tiger and Van Pelt, a reader pelted me for barely mentioning the 31-year-old Zimbabwe native in my column.

CBSSports.com includes this Feherty post-round interview with the usual sucking up from one EA Sports colleague to another, and also has Tiger talking about that incredible approach to 18.


The PGA Tour highlight package includes that 9-iron from 190 on 18 that, while not flashy, will go down with serious golf fans as an epic clincher.

AT&T National To Be Played Without Fans, Volunteers; More Violent Storms Possible

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Rex Hoggard with the update, including split tees at 1 p.m. ET and the decision to keep fans and volunteers away.

According to the Tour’s meteorologist the storm, which began on Friday near Chicago, produced “derecho” winds that gusted to 70 mph around Congressional and had the potential to do tornado-like damage.

The storm arrived at about 10:30 p.m. and lasted just 45 minutes and produced 3/10ths of an inch of rain but the damage to Congressional and the surrounding area was substantial with more than 40 fallen trees at the course. Much of the area, including Congressional’s clubhouse, remained without power.

Russell said the Tour plans to evaluate whether it would be safe to allow fans to attend Sunday’s final round and he still had not determined if any “local rules” would be used on Saturday.

Ryan Ballengee posted some photos of the tree damage on his Facebook page.

Many of the same areas affected on Friday may have to endure yet another round of gusty thunderstorms later today, perhaps even another "derecho" event, according to this Accuweather forecaster.

Congressional Assaulted By Violent Storm

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From the sounds of tournament director Greg McLaughlin's Tweet along with chatter from many others staying near the course and reporting power outages, AT&T National host site Congressional has been hit by a storm of Biblical proportions.

McLaughlin wrote:

Wind blew down countless trees at Congo. Came back at 10p and 3 trees uprooted block main drive. Had to climb over to get to club.

Reuters is reporting a gust at 79 mph.

The Washington Post reports power outages for a million customers, which will not help in coping with Saturday's forecasted heat where some forecasters are suggesting a heat index of up to 110.

Quail Hollow Under The Knife Again

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Ron Green Jr. with the list of changes, many of which are in response to player criticism or with the 2017 PGA in mind.

The move allows the club to expand its practice tees and create a new short-game area with three greens. The existing short-game area, located to the right of the practice range, will be converted into a tournament parking area.

Among the features of the new short game area will be a sod-faced bunker, reminiscent of those on the famous links courses in Scotland and Ireland.

The short par-4 eighth hole is also being revamped with a new green being built to the left of the existing green, which was among the most controversial on the course. The tees will be shifted slightly and the hole will play between 325 and 340 yards with an opening at the front of the green to allow long hitters to attempt to fit their tee shots between two bunkers.

PGA Tour Video Onslaught: Tiger Was Great, Is Great And Will Be Great, But Never As Great As He Was

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You see a lot of things in the blogging business that make you scratch your head, but I have to say the onslaught of videos posted on YouTube today by the PGA Tour celebrating Tiger's place in the game, made me double check to see if he had announced his retirement. The videos speak of him as if he's left the game, or, God Forbid, left the planet.

Not once, not twice, not three times, but four different videos are dedicated to the same basic theme: Tiger was great, is great, may never be great again because the competition is tougher, and has been a great player in the game. It's revelatory stuff.

Almost like Commissioner Sure, Use-Our-Clubhouse-But-Bring-Your-Own-Blue-Drapes randomly called down to PGA Tour Productions and said, "order me up some the nostalgia, heavy on the Tiger."

Woods did appear in the AT&T National press center (transcript here, Golf Channel video below) for a Q&A and admitted his short game has been lacking. Steve DiMeglio reports:

"I finally have a swing that doesn't hurt, and I am still generating power, but it doesn't hurt anymore," said Woods, who overhauled his swing previously with Butch Harmon and Hank Haney and is now working with Sean Foley. "I would say certainly my short game has been something that has taken a hit, and it did the same thing when I was working with Butch and the same thing when I was working with Hank.

"During that period of time, my short game went down, and it's because I was working on my full game. Eventually I get to a point where the full game becomes very natural and I can repeat it day after day, and I can dedicate most of my time to my short game again."

More interesting, Woods endorsed the notion put forward by some that younger players will be turning pro earlier than they might have in the past

Ryan Ballengee covers that part of the presser:

Woods, whose agent Mark Steinberg also represents Cantlay, endorsed the approach of the 2011 U.S. Amateur runner-up.

"I think that gives you the best chance," he said. "You play the Masters. You get the U.S. Open. You get a couple majors under your belt. You get to play with your team in college, play your entire collegiate schedule. And now you've got a lot of tournaments under your belt, and then go ahead and turn pro and try and get your card."

You can watch the entire press conference here:

Leishman Reportedly Wins Travelers Even Though He Shot 62 Long Before Cameras Were Rolling

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John Strege explains the peculiar Travelers finale where Marc Leishman fired a 62 and the leaders playing two hours later all folded down the stretch, handing the win to the 28-year-old Australian.

Leishman, it should be noted, counts another Aussie, Greg Norman, as his idol. Norman won here, too, in 1995. But Norman is known as much for his pratfalls as for the otherwise stellar record that landed him in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and he'd have been at home among those kindred spirits littering the course on the back nine.

"It's a funny game," Leishman said. But a comedy of errors doesn't make it a comedy, nor does a one-stroke victory make it a drama. That leaves horror among the available genres.

If you look closely during the highlight package, you'll see Leishman make one putt during his round.