Scenarios, Schenarios! Tiger (And Gore) Turning Back Clock

With Jason Gore vaulting into the Wydham Championship lead on the back of a Saturday 62, we've moved the retro vibe to circa 2005 from Friday's 1999 feel when Davis Love was hanging around (and still is).

With a final hole three putt Tiger Woods took him out of the final pairing with old SoCal buddy Gore, who gets the formidable Jonas Blixt instead.

Bob Harig at ESPN.com on Woods' Saturday 68 where the putting let him down, but the "stinger" made a high profile return to PGA Tour golf.

"It was a grind today,'' Woods said. "Like yesterday, kept leaving myself above the hole seemed like on every hole. I had to putt so defensively because of it. I couldn't get on the run that Jason and Jonas did. I just didn't put myself in the right spots.''

And that's where he looked like the old Tiger. Sweating profusely. Annoyed. Knowing an opportunity had been missed.

Woods at times appeared to be hurting, but never when taking a swing, which was powerful and forceful throughout. If there is an issue, Woods would only say that "I'm stiff,'' a day after joking that "I'm old.''

Gore talked after the round about his disdain for those who treated Woods like a 20-handicapper (though his Index was about 10 in February if he had completed rounds to turn in). And Woods talked about how he missed out on a Sunday pairing with Gore.

Brentley Romine at Golfweek.com writes:

A 2-under 68 leaves Woods at 13 under, just two back of Gore, against whom he used to play junior and amateur golf when the two were growing up in California.

"We go back 30 years," Woods said. "We're great friends and from junior golf into college and into the pro ranks. He's always been a great friend, and it's going to be fun for us to battle like this because we haven't done it basically since college."

Ryan Reiterman at GolfChannel.com focuses on Woods’ putter cooling off Saturday, with 31 putts and a three putt on 18.

And John Strege noted this comment from CBS announcer Peter Kostis.

“I think this golf course has a lot do with Tiger being in a good way this week,” CBS’ Peter Kostis said. “It’s a golf course that doesn’t require power, only drive it maybe five times. It allows him to keep his tension and rhythm under control.”

Yet when Woods pulled driver on Saturday, he quickly collected his tee, a sure sign that he was in control. “I feel like I'm swinging well enough right now that I want to hit driver more often, ironically enough,” he had said on Friday.

Oh yes, and there are FedExCup ramifications for both, in case you were wondering. There's a chart up above and Helen Ross hopefully gets double overtime pay for updating us on the scenarios.

Sparse Turnout For PGA Champions Dinner; Tiger Appears Dressed As A Faux Wood Pillar**

If you look closely there between Y.E. Yang and Phil Mickelson, the ghost of Tiger Woods is there at the 2015 PGA Championship Champions Dinner. 

Love how John Daly was enlisted to act as a floral backdrop for the Wannamaker. Nice touch. Wait, maybe Dan Pino had it right, Tiger's the photographer!

The photo Tweeted by the PGA Championship account:

Update on 2015-08-12 13:00 by Geoff

**In Tiger's defense, my understanding is that the dinner table is joined by past PGA Presidents, PGA Board members, officers, spouses, partners and heaven knows who else. I still think he should show, but I certainly understand why he would pass.

As for his game, Woods went out early today at Whistling Straits to get ready. As I noted here at GolfDigest.com, his press conference revealed a player who is sounding more realistic about chipping away at his bad habits and hangups, which is both refreshing and encouraging.

Bob Harig had a similar take at ESPN.com.

Poll: Spieth Wins PGA, Greatest Year In Modern Majors?

As noted in Golf World and debated on Morning Drive, Jordan Spieth has a chance to join Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as three-out-of-four major winners in one year. A win also gives Woods a strong run for the best single year in major play.

My question: would Spieth’s Win-Win-T4-Win match Tiger’s 2000 5th-Win-Win-Win? (This assumes no runaway win by Spieth, which seems unlikely given the form of so many players with good vibes at Whistling Straits.)

Damon Hack noted in our Morning Drive debate the size of Tiger’s winning scores as evidence of Woods-2000 remaining the greatest single season performance in majors. Call it the Secretariat factor.

Ben Hogan won the '53 Triple Crown, choosing to play The Open over the PGA. Got him a ticker-tape parade, so I'm including it too as an option for the non-millennials.

Even if Spieth just finishes in the top five, he becomes just the fourth player in history to finish fifth or better in the season's majors (Rickie in '14, Woods twice, Nicklaus twice). Pretty incredible.

What say you?

If Jordan Spieth wins the PGA, greatest year in the modern majors?

Win-Win-T4-Win=YES

Tiger was more dominant in 2000

Hogan going 3 for 3 in '53 is the best

 

pollcode.com free polls

Burrata! Tiger's New Restaurant Opens PGA Monday

We'll find out just how devoted Tiger is to his golf if he doesn't roll into Whistling Straits until Tuesday. That's because Monday the 10th, The Woods Jupiter is opening for business.

I'm assuming the purveyor will be hosting some weekend soft opening events before jetting off to lovely Kohler, though the image of Tiger working the kitchen or as a backup waiter on opening night is fun. Albeit, unlikely. Then again, considering the now hiring signs posted, they may need some assistance.

He announced the opening date on Twitter with an image of a burrata and heirloom tomato appetizer delivered on a light dousing of olive oil and vinegar. I'm sure there's a metaphor in there somewhere, I just don't know what it is.

Tiger: “Everything is kind of trending in the correct direction”

More than the numbers, Tiger actually looked like someone who knew where the ball was going and even threw in a recovery shot like the good old days during the Quicken Loans National.

That said, the numbers were telling (in a good way, for a change) and Brian Wacker has a run down of them.

Steve DiMeglio notes Troy Merritt's maiden win and the impressiveness of following up a 61 with 67, but also had this on Tiger's week.

He caught a bad break on the first hole when his approach caromed off the flagstick and wound up 50 feet from the hole.

Instead of a kick-in birdie, he settled for a two-putt par. Undeterred, he started putting up red numbers two holes later. Hitting fairways and greens, Woods made five birdies in an eight-hole stretch to reach 10 under.

Then things started to fall apart. There was a missed 3-footer for par on the 11th, a drive into the hazard on 12, an approach spun off the green on 14. But there were far more ups the last four days than downs.

Ryan Reiterman at GolfChannel.com notes this about the final day:

But perhaps more importantly, Woods said after four rounds at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club he feels like he's turned a corner with his new swing under instructor Chris Como.

"I'm getting some speed back, which is nice," he said. "I'm starting to pump the ball out there again, and I know the lofts on my irons are very weak compared to today's standards. I'm hitting the ball up there with some of the bigger guys again ... I was able to make some putts, and the short game's becoming good again like it used to be."

The recovery shot is a YouTube favorite tonight:

The PGA Tour's highlight reels from the round:

Jordan Spieth vs. Tiger Woods At 22

Stephen Hennessey at GolfDigest.com compares birthday boy Jordan Spieth with Tiger Woods at 22 and the numbers are fascinating (on top of the magazine covers and hair loss chase).

Spieth's five wins trail Woods by one, but Spieth has one more major.

Tiger won six times before he turned 22. (1996 Las Vegas Invitational, 1996 Walt Disney World Classic, 1997 Mercedes Championship, 1997 Masters, 1997 Byron Nelson, 1997 Colonial, 1997 Western Open.)

World ranking: No. 2. Spieth trails Rory McIlroy by one point after the British Open. Same as Tiger, who trailed Greg Norman by less than a point.

Golf.com weaves in Nicklaus and McIlroy for fun and it's shocking how many more PGA Tour starts Spieth has than those two at 22.

ESPN's Mitch Adams wonders if Spieth is the planet's best 22-year-old athlete and you'll see he in some pretty elite company (if you like baseball or basketball).

G.C. Digital posts this slideshow of Spieth "through the years" (all six of them). And Golf Central went through their top five moments in Spieth's career.

Tiger's Going To Check Up On His Spin Rates

There have been many awkward, empathy-inducing comments from Tiger Woods as he continues to struggle, but this might have been the saddest:

Q. Did you learn anything about your game this week?

TIGER WOODS: You know, it's kind of funny because I didn't -- we were talking about that the other day; I hit the ball solid. It's just that it wasn't getting through the wind. I don't know what was causing that, and it's something that we're going to have to take a look at, look at my numbers, see if the spin rates are on or not, but it was so frustrating because all my shots that I hit solid and flush into the wind, they just weren't carrying at all.

John Strege has this roundup of some takes on Tiger, including this from ESPN.com's Kevin Van Falkenburg who says we're seeing something unprecedented.

But after watching him trudge around the Old Course for three days, and seeing the melancholy look on the man's face when it was finally over, I no longer feel even a hint of schadenfreude. I feel only empathy.

When he took off his hat on the 18th green to shake hands with Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen, he looked as close to broken as I've ever seen a truly great athlete look. He entered this event thinking he had a real chance to contend. He wasn't even close to making the cut.

John Huggan builds a case for Tiger being done.

Right this minute, Tiger is not capable of winning major championships. Nor is he capable of winning a regular tour event. He is, in reality, a well-below average PGA Tour player.

The numbers are instructive. So far in 2015, Tiger has hit 52.86 per cent of the fairways he has aimed at. That would make him the 194th most accurate driver (out of 199) on the PGA Tour. In ‘greens in regulation’, his percentage is 61.11, “good” enough for 190th spot. But the most egregious figure is his stroke average of 72.796. Only former Masters champion Mike Weir is worse. Little wonder then, that Woods is ranked the 241st best golfer on the planet.

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com adds this and more about the spin rates comment:

“We're going to have to take a look at my numbers, see if the spin rates are on or not,” he said.

What happened to just hitting golf shots?

Now fully healthy, Woods has been working through this most recent  swing change with Chris Como for about nine months. It's unclear if he's made any progress at all. His good swings are very good. He pures it at home, and on the tournament range, and in practice rounds – or, in other words, when it doesn’t matter.

Doug Ferguson noted that Woods' preparation was strange, too

He looked lost on the Old Course.

"I felt like I was playing well enough to win this event," Woods said.

He arrived on Saturday to do a junior clinic for Nike - Woods typically is all about preparations at the majors - and then after practice rounds on Sunday and Monday, he didn't play another practice round on the Old Course until the championship started. Woods said he knew the course, practiced in both wind directions and wanted to conserve energy for what usually is a long week.

Tiger Would Love To Play The Old Course In Reverse

Tiger revealed in his 144th Open Championship press conference he's still "right here in front of you" and insisted he's not done.

But more fun for golf junkies, he revealed that he would love to play the Old Course in reverse, as they do every April 1st.

Ewan Murray of the Guardian with the Tiger news from St. Andrews:

Of St Andrews, Woods added: “Obviously it’s the home of golf, we all know that. But to me it’s brilliant, how you can play it so many different ways. I’ve always wanted to play it backwards, one time before I die. I want to play from 1 to 17, 2 to 16, so forth and so on. I  think that would be just a blast because I can see how certain bunkers – why would they put that there? And then if you play it backwards, you see it. It’s very apparent. That’s totally in play. That one day would be a lot of fun to be able to do.”

Jeremy Glenn filed this excellent look at the reverse Old Course for GolfClubAtlas.com

Stinks Getting Old: Tiger And Rory Texting Over Their Injuries

Not too far removed from two old fogies discussing their hemorroid remedies, it seems Tiger the chiropractor is getting texts from Rory McIlroy asking for rehab advice.

From Steve DiMeglio in USA Today, reporting from St. Andrews where Tiger showed up early to do a clinic...for aspiring golfers.

"He sent me a photo the day he did it. We talked about it for a little bit," Woods told reporters from USA TODAY Sports and ESPN.com on Saturday after spending much of his day with junior golfers to kick off his preparation for the third major of the season. "He said, 'You've been through a lot of injuries over the years,' so he picked my brain a little bit. We had a good talk. He's doing the right thing, taking care of his body first before he gets back out here.”

The doctor has spoken!

Tiger Shocked To Find Old Course Soft And Slow

Bob Harig of ESPN.com on Tiger's first practice round at the 2015 Open Championship, his first appearance there since 2010.

From Harig's story:

"I was shocked," Woods said. "I had seen photos of it a month ago. It was bone dry. It looked like it was going to be one of those dust bowls again; hard, fast, like the years I've played St. Andrews. It's changed. They got big rain and a lot of sun. It's totally changed.

"I'm going to have to do a little bit of feel around the greens, my putting. I wasn't expecting the firmness to be that soft. We made ball marks on the greens. I don't ever remember making ball marks around this place."

66: Tiger's Back! He Wasn't "Far Away" After All (Or So He Says)

His feels did not feel far off, or so Tiger claimed after a shocking 66 in the Greenbrier Classic opener that had the former World No. 1 sounding pretty confident in the state of his game.

Karen Crouse in the New York Times reports.

Woods returned this week with a head of steam too weak to move a ball off the tee, and opened with a 66 on Thursday. Go figure. It was his best first-round score in 22 months, and, at four-under, it equaled his lowest score relative to par this year.

“I know people think I’m crazy for saying that, but I just felt like I wasn’t that far away,” said Woods, who dismissed the notion that he had proved anything to anybody with the good start.

All that mattered to him was that he was four strokes behind the pacesetter, Scott Langley.

“Forget you guys and everybody else out there,” Woods said, laughing. “It’s about winning golf tournaments and putting myself up there consistently.”

He's back! Until he's not.

Steve DiMeglio's report implies that Tiger actually cleared his head instead of trying to get more technical.

“ … I didn’t touch a club for a while (after the U.S. Open). Took my kids down to Albany, and we were down diving in the water every day all day pretty much. It was nice to have a summer break with them like that, especially after the way I played.”