Posts tagged Tiger Woods
Woods Q&A: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
02 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
TigerWoods.com
Late last week, Tiger Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, announced that his star client would not being taking part in his customary pre-tournament press conference prior to the Wells Fargo Championship, opting instead to take fans’ (alleged) questions via Twitter and Facebook and answer them on a video which was posted on his website on Monday.
As the talking heads like to say, Tiger Woods is the “needle” when it comes to driving television ratings, gaining readership and improving page views, so when he decided to blow off his presser, the media wasn’t exactly thrilled and rightfully so.
Now, there are a few schools of thought being brought up in the aftermath of the Tiger video. They range from garnering the media’s disdain to fans who think that Tiger doing something different is a good thing.
As the top player in the world for more than a decade and still the most polarizing figure in the game, a Tiger press conference has become the norm for both Woods and the media during tournament weeks.
Just so everyone has this straight, 90 percent of the field doesn’t conduct a formal press conference prior to the start of the tournament. Usually, only the defending champion and a handful of big name members of the field are asked to meet with the press. They have the choice to either accept or deny that invitation to meet with the press.
Therein lies the first problem. Also, the bungling nature of Woods’ media relations team was brought to the surface.
Tiger has historically been good to the media. “Good” in the sense that he, without fail, gives a pre-tournament press conference for virtually every event he enters (not “good” in the sense that his answers are particularly candid or insightful).
Coming off of a T-40 finish at the Masters, Woods’ game clearly wasn’t in the form he would like as he begins a schedule that leads up to the US Open in mid-June.
Steinberg and his team could have simply declined the invitation to do the presser quietly, citing any reason resembling “Tiger wants to concentrate on his game.”
Instead, Steinberg made a mini spectacle out of his announcement that Tiger would do the Q&A video in lieu of a normal press conference, something that has been perceived as a middle finger to the golf scribes.
The problem with this tactic is that it brings up the conversation that Woods hates the media. He may or may not, but it truly doesn’t matter. He golfs, they write. End of transaction. But with the announcement of the fan video, we are led to believe that he doesn’t want to have to deal with the needling about his swing or his poor performance at Augusta.
Instead, Tiger put out the fan video of handpicked questions.
In all honestly, the 14½ minute video wasn’t all that bad. Sure, Tiger gets a bad rep for being robotic and guarded, but it even in that controlled environment, he seemed uncomfortable. That’s just the type of person he is.
Tiger answered 19 fan-submitted questions ranging from his toughest putt on tour to his drink of choice on the course.
The video seemed like Woods was giving a hint to the media, whom he knew would watch anyway, of what he would like a normal press conference to encompass: a few softball questions about what he’s been up to, a little insight into his game and of course, a little product placement. (Woods was able to plug Fuse Energy and Nike.)
The video would have been a positive as a whole if he didn’t cancel the pre-tourney press conference. We’ve seen other players, specifically Bubba Watson, Stewart Cink, Rickie Fowler and Ben Crane reach out to their fans (and gain new ones) with their use of social media.
Tiger’s a busy guy, we get that. He’s a single dad with two kids to take care of, an aging body, endless business ventures, his foundation and impossibly high expectations on his golf game, placed upon him by both the critics as well as himself. But you can’t tell me that he can’t do these kind of Q&A’s on a more regular basis.
Assuming he plays his full schedule, which consists of somewhere around 20 tournaments, why not do something like this video before each tournament (or even one out of every two)?
He gets Twitter, Facebook and e-mail questions by the boatload and he or his people can cherry pick the questions they want him to answer and he can give a 10 minute session while he flies on his private jet to the tournament. Just record it with an iPad or iPhone, upload it and he would seem to be infinitely more accessible and fan-friendly.
As for the first video, he and his team can chalk the outcome to a learning experience, although that’s not likely. The overall concept worked and got a good response from the fans, but as the most sought-after player in the game, he should be doing the pre-tournament press conference.
He connected with the little jab to the press at the Wells Fargo, but as Tiger Woods, it should be his responsibility to sit through a press conference when he’s in the field.
Foley Inserts Woods Back in News by Talking about Woods Always Being in the News
02 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
We haven’t seen Tiger Woods for nearly three weeks dating back to his disappointing T-40 finish at the Masters on April 8. Woods was finishing his final round on Easter Sunday around the same time the leaders were beginning theirs, out of the tournament proper and practically an afterthought.
However, being Tiger Woods, his name, his game and his poor finish kept him in the news throughout Masters Sunday as an easy talking point for the CBS and Golf Channel analysts in between the action taking place on the course.
But then it was Bubba Time.
After Bubba Watson hit his miraculous recovery shot from the right-hand trees on No. 10, the second playoff hole, to 15 feet, Watson became the story. Woods’ people were probably thrilled to see someone as likable, marketable and spotlight-stealing as Watson donning the Green Jacket because it made their guy take a backseat to this story of Americana.
And so Watson made all the media stops, talking about his small-town upbringing, his love for his family and his faith, winning over fans across the country, while a certain 14-time major champion headed back to his Jupiter Island, Fla. home to “take some time off and not look at the clubs for a while and then get back after it” before the Wells Fargo.
That was three weeks ago.
Since then, most of the Hank Haney book hype had died down. In fact, pretty much everything golf-related has died down as the golf world took a few weeks to recover from the first major of the season.
Woods was back in Florida presumably working on his game no doubt happy to not have everyone talking about the state of his game. That is until his swing coach Sean Foley got on the phone with Sirius/XM Radio’s “Fairways of Life with Matt Adams” and talked for 20 minutes about his likes, dislikes, philosophies, interests and his family; a nice kind of get-to-know-you segment for people who didn’t know Foley.
Then, as Adams asked his last question about his top client, Foley had this to say about the media’s treatment of Woods:
“I know everyone has a job to do, and I get it. But if it is about the game of golf, Tiger Woods is an extremely important part of the game, and I think everyone understands that. It has just gotten to the point where the tearing down of Tiger as a person and a golfer has become just too much. I think it is just out of hand.
“I realize it is 2012, and we have dotcoms, and you have to write five articles a day, and you run out of things to write about, but we should be in a position where we are trying to help and lift up and support a player like Tiger Woods, instead of tearing him down, because everyone in the golf industry is better off because of his existence.
“That is basically one thing I want to get out. Tiger is a wonderful person, and he is a good dude, and he lives a complex life. I think things have got to slow down, it has got to stop, the daily referendums and the criticism.”
With that three paragraph quote, Foley placed Woods firmly back on the front page of every golf website on the internet. And honestly, the point of his argument really doesn’t resonate with the media types who cover golf.
While it may not be unfair to say Woods gets a hard time in the media, that kind of speculation and attention comes with being one of the most gifted athletes on the planet.
If one guy can dominate a sport the way that Woods has over the past decade or so, they’re going to be the needle-mover on television shows and the page view jumper on websites.
Plain and simple, people are fascinated with greatness, so when we see greatness, we’re drawn to it and want to know as much as possible about it.
It’s simple supply and demand. The demand for Tiger news is there, so it’s up to websites, magazines, television shows, etc. to bring that to the people.
And now that Woods’ game has fallen upon hard times (comparatively speaking), his struggles and short-comings become the driving force behind his name. People want to know why. Why is he not doing well? Is it his swing? His coach? His putter? His mental game?
Those questions are attempting to be answered by the people who cover the sport and will be made readily available to those who put out the Tiger-centric information on their websites and in their magazines.
On a similar note, Woods has never really helped himself in the press room. Woods has become the cover child for answering questions by saying a lot of words while really not revealing any information.
That’s his prerogative and that’s fine, but as Foley said, these people have a job to do. And when they can’t get anything from the player himself, they’re forced to observe and make arguments and articles out of that.
Finally, the point that really makes no sense is Foley saying that “we should be in a position where we are trying to help and lift up and support a player like Tiger Woods.”
Uh, what?
Foley should be helping, supporting and lifting up Woods because Woods pays him to do that. No one else, certainly not any of the people writing these articles that Foley is referring to, is on Tiger’s payroll. They have editors and producers to answer to, not Sean Foley.
In this day and age, you’d be hard-pressed to find a prolific athlete who feels like he’s treated well by the media. Woods should know this better than anyone by now.
His job is to play golf to the best of his ability and journalists’ jobs are to bring the information people want to them.
It would be easy to say if Woods would just win more, the praise will come, but frankly, that’s a cop out. There are always going to be the people who are going to want to break down Woods, and that’s a shame, but the fact of the matter is that both sides in this scenario have jobs to do and so long as Tiger struggles, Foley is not going to like what people have to say.
Pink Sunday: Watson’s Win Inspires New Generation of Golf Fans
01 month ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Bubba Watson captured his first major championship at the Masters late Easter Sunday evening in a win that will extend well beyond the realm of traditional golf fans.
The “boy named Bubba” storyline was alive and well in the national press in the aftermath of Watson’s victory, as were the “hook” puns and the General Lee and Dukes of Hazard references. Also central to national columnists prose was the fact that Watson had never had a lesson, a swing coach or even seen his swing on video.
In the age of Hank Haney, David Ledbetter, Sean Foley and Butch Harmon, Gerry Watson isn’t a name that jumps to mind as one of the premier teachers in the game, but it was his guidance that gave Bubba all the instruction he would ever receive.
“My dad taught me everything I know,” Watson would say after his win. “It’s not very much, but that’s all I know.
“You know, I’ve never had a lesson. My dad, he took me to the golf course when I was six years old and just told me he was going to be in the woods looking for his ball, so he just told me to take this 9-iron and beat it down the fairway. And now look at me after beating a 9-iron on the fairway coming from Bagdad, Florida. I never dreamed this.”
Bubba’s dreams, or lackthereof, also may have given way to the best quote of the week when in Butler Cabin, after receiving his green jacket from the 2011 champion, Charl Schwartzel, Watson told CBS’ Jim Nantz that even his dreams hadn’t ever captured what he just accomplished.
“I’ve never got this far in my dreams,” Watson said.
Watson’s win goes beyond the man himself. The win was for the common guy out there hacking it around his local municipal course. Even more than that guy, it was a win for a younger generation of players who don’t have the country club memberships or top-of-the-line equipment.
Watson came from humble beginnings about which we usually don’t see from the players we see on Tour. Every player out there, it seems, was pegged for greatness from the time they could hold a club. Prodigies were failures, not if they didn’t simply make the Tour, but if they didn’t go on to become a major champion.
Then, you have Bubba. An accomplished junior golfer in his own right, sure, but not cut from the usual mold.
Watson learned to play the way he does by whacking wiffle balls around his backyard, shaping the ball from left-to-right and right-to-left, far away from the watchful and sometimes overbearing eyes of a swing coach.
Ben Hogan famously said of perfecting the game that “the secret is in the dirt.”
No one takes more dirt than Bubba Watson.
From the days of beating a 9-iron down the fairway and shaping wiffle balls, Bubba found ways to hit the shots he wanted by practicing, tweaking his swing and practicing some more.
“Bubba Golf,” as it’s now known, is just an extension of the man for which it’s named. Living by the credo of “if I got a swing, I got a shot” and playing golf in order “to pull off the amazing shot,” Watson has inspired an entire new way to swing a golf club.
Looking as if he’s trying to take the head off of a snake or drill for oil with a wedge, Watson goes after the ball with such vigor that it’s amazing he doesn’t have any recurring wrist injuries.
Of course, it’s the mixture of sawed-off or flipped-over follow-throughs, which appear as if maybe he did break his wrist or elbow at impact that will become the norm among young impersonators.
Similar to the way Jack Nicklaus made famous putting your putter in air before the ball goes in the hole a la the 1986 Masters and a Tiger Woods fist pump, don’t be surprised to see someone holding their club parallel to ground after trying to shape a shot.
Winning at Augusta brings up the irony of the man who will host next year’s Champions Dinner.
A guy that relates more with the people peering through the green wall that blocks Augusta National from view on Washington Avenue, than the green jackets who are members inside, Bubba’s win gives more fuel to the fire of those who aren’t able to use the finest facilities and privy to the newest technology.
Watson’s victory proves that don’t need to be a titan of industry or a Wall Street maven with more money than God to play around the Cathedral in the Pines for the rest of your life.
You can be a kid from Bagdad, Fla. with a homemade swing, a goofy personality, a terrible singing voice and a Twitter account. You simply need to be dedicated enough to your craft, confident enough in your swing and bold enough to never look back.
Bubba Watson proved that to us last week. And by doing that, he has inspired a new generation of golf fans.
Sean Foley is En Fuego Coming into Augusta
01 month ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Foley with Woods after Bay Hill
With most of the sporting world having at least one eye on the quaint town in eastern Georgia, Sean Foley came onto the grounds of Augusta National with his feet barely touching the ground and with good reason.
The swing coach from Ontario, Canada is on fire. Or as on fire as a swing coach can be.
As we were reminded last year at the WGC-Bridgestone at Firestone Country Club in Akron, OH, the players make the swings and hit the shots. Not the sports psychologists, not the sponsors, not the swing coaches and as Steve Williams was reminded, definitely not the caddies.
However, for as much flack as the swing coaches take during their players’ struggles, it is only fair that when they have some success, that they receive some credit.
In the last seven weeks, Foley’s stable of players, which includes Justin Rose, Hunter Mahan and Tiger Woods, have won four times, including two World Golf Championships.
Foley’s streak began at the World Golf Championships Accenture Match Play Championship when Hunter Mahan went berserk with a new putter, knocking in seemingly every putt he looked at to run through his bracket and take down Mark Wilson and Rory McIlroy in the semifinals and finals, respectively.
The next week at the Honda Classic, Woods made a charge at the previously mentioned McIlroy, but came up a few shots short of the eventual top-ranked golfer in the world.
No matter, for Foley. The following week at the WGC-Caddilac Championship, Rose came through with an impressive victory over a top-class field.
Following that win, Luke Donald took home the Transitions Championship the following week. With Rose as the only student of Foley’s in the field, he finished in a tie for 29th.
Perhaps the flagship win of the year for Foley came the next week at the Bay Hill Invitational. His most famous student, Woods, seemed to be rounding into shape, but couldn’t get over the final barrier of getting a win.
That changed on Sunday outside of Orlando when Woods took home his first official victory in over two years.
As if getting each of his clients a win heading into the first major of the year, Mahan doubled up in the week before the Masters at the Shell Houston Open, winning the warm-up event by one over Carl Pettersson.
“He’s good at what he does,” Woods said in his Masters press conference on Tuesday. “You know, I think if you look at the guys he works with, and we all are pretty good ball strikers, that’s basically what Sean focuses on.”
Now with the Masters under way, it looks as if it would be as good a time as any for Rose or Mahan to break through and win a major. As for Woods, he’s already been put into a two-man race with Rory McIlroy.
Regardless of which storyline you will be following this week at Augusta, one thing is for sure, Sean Foley is en fuego.
When It Comes to Tiger Woods’ Injuries, We Should Know Something in a Few Years
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Tiger Woods withdrew from the WGC Championship on Sunday amid rumors about why he dropped out as we saw blimp shots of the former World No. 1 driving down the highway.
Woods was vague with the PGA Tour media officials as he left Doral, telling Chris Reimer, the PGA Tour Communications Manager, “Tell them it’s my leg.” [Which leg?] “It’s my left leg.”
Of course, we know now thanks to Woods’ Twitter page that it was his left Achilles that was bothering him and his doctor diagnosed him with a mild strain of said tendon.
It would appear as if Woods withdrew as a precautionary measure to ensure that he would be able to play in the Masters, the year’s first major, in three weeks in East Georgia. He was given the go-ahead from his doctor that he could resume hitting balls later in the week and that he would be hopeful for next week’s Bay Hill Invitational (as well as the Tavistock Cup, which takes place on Monday and Tuesday).
Now, there is no reason to rehash Tiger’s injury timeline, other people have done that ad nauseum. What’s most important to understand is something that we probably won’t know for a few months or even years.
As with everything circling around Eldrick, there is a cloud of doubt or unknowing curiosity.
After his one-legged US Open victory in the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines, we came to find out that Woods had ruptured his Achilles while rehabbing his knee, something, we were told, carries a direct correlation with his rehab.
The only problem with that was, Woods and Co. didn’t let us know that he had suffered that rather significant injury until the 2010 Masters.
More than likely, Woods decided to drop that bomb at that time because it would give the media something other than his “transgressions” to talk about beings that it was his first tournament post-hydrant.
What is really concerning is the not knowing. Woods showed his latest, and arguably, closest return to form last week at the Honda Classic, highlighted by his final-round 62 on Sunday that put brought him just short of Rory McIlroy.
Now, a week and a half later, we sit scratching our heads, wondering, prognosticating and generally, guessing what Woods’ latest WD means.
He has withdrawn three times in the last three years (2010 Players, 2011 Players and 2012 Cadillac Championship) and each time was shrouded with confusion.
Woods’ people released a statement on TigerWoods.com that read in part, “He had tightness in the left Achilles warming up and it got progressively worse as the round went on.”
Then Woods’ explanation:
“After hitting my tee shot on 12, I felt it was necessary to withdraw,” Woods said. “In the past, I would have continued to play, but this time I decided to do what I thought was necessary.”
Optomists will say that Woods WD’d in favor of keeping himself healthy for the long run. That he played three weeks in a row and it’s not uncommon to feel a little worn down. That for the best chance at the Masters, he should take every precaution.
The only down side is that others point out the how the injury bug has firmly inserted itself into Tiger’s game. And despite being 36, it’s an “old 36” with “a lot of mileage on that body.”
So, what do we know for sure? In short: nothing, and Woods will likely keep it that way. If it was a mild strain, we likely won’t hear any more about it, but if it’s something worse, then we may find out that, too.
Except it might not be for a few years.
Rose Wins Fourth Tournament in Two Years with Victory at Doral
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Reuters
Justin Rose banked on the experience he had gained from his win at the 2010 Memorial to win his fourth PGA Tour event and first World Golf Championship at the Cadillac Championship held at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral.
Talking to NBC after Bubba Watson missed his birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would have forced a playoff, Rose said he thought back to coming from behind to defeat Rickie Fowler at the Memorial a few days earlier.
“I just kind of having learned the hard way a little bit, I’ve certainly had my chances in the past, as well,” Rose said after his round. “It’s kind of nice to get a little bit of momentum and confidence going. I think it’s probably a confidence thing. When I do get into contention now, I believe I can go ahead and close it out.”
Rose was able to overtake the 54-hole leader, Watson, after Bubba shot a 3-over 39 on the front nine. Rose stayed steady with an even-par outgoing nine to put himself in position.
Also making a move up the leaderboard was new world No. 1 Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman, who had made an early move on Saturday, made a similar run over the first 12 holes on Sunday.
At 6-under for his round through 12 holes and 15-under for the tournament, McIlroy was right at the top of the board with some tough holes coming in. He finished the last six holes 1-over to post at 67 and 14-under par to have the lead in the club house.
However, starting the day 10 shots back of the leader, McIlroy was well ahead of Watson and Rose, giving Rose in particular time to put himself in position to win the tournament.
I didn’t know Rory got within one of the lead,” Rose said. I’m glad I didn’t know that.”
Rose talked about how he tried to keep his head down and concentrate on his game, but the crowds and amount of leader boards on the course make it difficult for him not to know.
“I said on the range this morning that it was going to take a great round, obviously 70 is a great round in relative terms now,” Rose said. “It was all about controlling what I could control. I knew I got into the lead around 14 when I made that birdie, and from there I knew it was just a matter of closing it out.”
With McIlroy backing up, not that Rose knew that and Tiger Woods withdrawing, not that he knew that, either (“Oh, really? That’s not good news. Hopefully holding himself back for the Masters and doesn’t want to do anymore damage.”), Rose made birdies on 10 and 14 to get him to 17-under par.
Watson was unable to get anything going on the back nine as he backed up two birdies with a bogey to sit at 15-under through 13 holes.
Rose was aware on the 18th tee that he had a two-shot lead with the Blue Monster staring him down.
“This 18th hole is tough, no doubt about it. It’s the hardest thing in the world to play for five. You almost always make six everytime you do it,” Rose told the SIriusXM PGA Network after the round. “But I got the job done.”
Rose may have prematurely celebrated that five on the 72nd hole. Watson was just one-shot back with Rose’s bogey, but Rose thought Bubba had driven it in the water.
“I kind of celebrated like I had won it because I heard the crowd and the people from the grandstands shouting, Bubba has hit in the water on 18 and so I’m like, okay, all good,” Rose explained. “From that perspective, when I tapped in, I figured it was to win. Then I hear he wasn’t in the water when I got to the scorer’s hut and he hits it to nine feet and I’m kind of thinking, that was all a bit premature.”
Watson hit two great shots to give himself a look at birdie and a playoff from nine feet, but he couldn’t find the bottom of the hole.
“Tiger talks about fixing it on the course, back when he was dominating; he just talked about fixing it on the course, so that’s what I was doing,” Watson said of his sluggish start. “I was just trying to talk to myself and figure it out and knowing that I came into a stretch where a birdie putt, just over nine feet to go in a playoff, so I felt good.
“So over the putt, all I thought about was my line and I hit my line, and we just didn’t read it right.”
The win was Rose’s fourth in the last two years, having won the Memorial in June 2010, the AT&T Natioal in July 2010, the BMW in September 2011. Rose led the field in birdies with 23, but wasn’t inside the top-5 in anything other than putts per green in regulation.
The Englishman took home a $1.4 winners check and moved up 15 places in the World Golf Rankings to No. 7. He also moved to No. 8 in the FedEx Cup race.
The WGC Cadillac Championship Television Schedule and Info
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The first round of the World Golf Championship Cadillac Championship is underway at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral in Doral, Fla. The second World Golf Championship of the year has every player ranked in the top 50 in the world in the field this week for the first time in any tournament since last year’s Masters. New World No. 1 Rory McIlroy will make his first start as the world’s best player alongside Luke Donald and Lee Westwood as a resurgent Tiger Woods tries to continue the momentum he built with his final-round 62 last week at the Honda Classic.
This year’s purse: $8.4 million
Winner’s share: $1.4 million
FedEx Cup points to the winner: 550
Last year’s winner was: Nick Watney
Television Schedule:
Thursday: 1-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Friday: 1-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Saturday: 12-2 p.m. on Golf Channel // 2-6 p.m. on NBC
Sunday: 1-3 p.m. on Golf Channel // 3-7 p.m. on NBC
SiriusXM Radio Schedule:
Thursday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Friday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Saturday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Sunday: 1-7 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Leaderboard:
2012 WGC Cadillac Championship Leaderboard
(h/t Armchair Golfer for the idea and PGA Tour for the image)
‘Down the Stretch’ joins ‘Feherty’ and ‘The Haney Project’ as Golf Channel Successes
12 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The Golf Channel has long been looking to break into the primetime television game and it seemed that there first big hit came when Charles Barkley teamed up with Hank Haney to try and fix his notoriously bad golf game on The Haney Project.
At the time, Haney was still working with Tiger Woods, who at the time was still friends with Barkley.
Since the show premiered in 2008, a couple things have changed for Haney, Barkley and Woods.
Of course, it all started with that little fire hydrant in Isleworth and the ensuing scandal. From that scandal came Woods’ clearing house, both professionally and personally; Haney on the professional end and Barkley on the personal end.
However, the popularity of The Haney Project wasn’t affected. The Golf Channel had found a reasonably successful show to latch on to and signed up for new seasons with Ray Romano, Ray Romano and various NFL legends.
Taking the next step, the Golf Channel knocked one out of the park prior to the 2011 US Open when they debuted Feherty. The one-on-one interview program featured the show’s namesake, David Feherty and wide arrange of golf-related guests. The show premiered as the most-watched original series in the station’s history.
Now a few years into each series, the Golf Channel debuted Down the Stretch earlier this week to compliment their Monday night lineup.
Down the Stretch is billed as four 30-minute documentaries that follow four players down the stretch in each of the four Florida Swing events.
The PGA Tour picks four guys on Saturday of each week’s tournament based on “the leader board and compelling storylines” and follows them from their hotel room to the course to the press room and even into the locker room after the final round.
The show sounds like a good concept with some behind-the-scenes footage that should appeal to the rabid Golf Channel fan base, because let’s be honest, the people watching the Golf Channel are usually golf nuts and love any look inside the ropes and behind the curtain that they can get. Besides this week’s Honda Classic final round, PGA Entertainment will also air the show following this week’s WGC Cadillac Championship, Bay Hill and the Players Championship.
With its premier episode following Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Harris English and Justin Rose’s final round at the Honda Classic, PGA Tour Entertainment was able to get lucky and unlucky at the same time.
They were lucky in that they were able to chronicle Woods and McIlroy, who will more than likely be involved in the other three broadcasts. Woods made an incredible run that everyone has seen by now, but it worked out perfectly to set up the McIlroy victory and rise to world No. 1.
The only unlucky thing about the debut episode was that the live golf was better theatre than the edited version, but that is something the PGA Tour can live with given their ratings on Sunday at the Honda Classic.
The show is well-done and interesting enough that the people who watch The Haney Project and Feherty would be more likely to stick around for another 30-minute show.
As golf fans, Down the Stretch gives us a better idea of some of the prep work that goes into the final round as well as the aftermath of a victory or defeat. Hopefully, the Golf Channel locks DTS in for a couple more episodes.
Tiger’s Greatest Asset is His Memory
12 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Orlando Senitnel
When you’ve been playing golf for as long as you’ve been able to stand, winning at every level prodigiously and then going out and beating the best players in the world handily from 1997 on, you tend to have a pretty good memory bank of golf shots to fall back on.
Tiger Woods has one of the fullest memories in modern golf history. Winning more than 100 golf tournaments over his 36 years on earth, which include 14 major championships, Woods has a plethora of shot types stored away.
It shouldn’t be unreasonable, then, to assume that Woods’ memory is his greatest asset.
Take this past week’s Honda Classic, for example. Woods shot rounds of 71-68-69-62 to come up two shots shy of eventual winner Rory McIlroy.
Of course, the number that jumps out at you from the above series would be Woods’ Sunday 62, an 8-under par round that featured two eagles, four birdies and no bogeys.
So, what happened during Sunday’s round that was so different from the previous three? It could have been the clear goal that he set for himself.
“I thought starting out the day that 6‑under was, for the day, and 8‑under for the tournament, was going to be the number to shoot to at least put myself where I had a chance,” Woods said. “But that changed quite a bit when the wind died down.
“When I turned at 4(-under), I had to change that game plan because the wind was not blowing as hard, and I knew the guys were not going to back up as much.”
However, Woods has long said that he always thinks about the conditions and tries to put a firm number that he believes will be enough to give him a chance to win before he tees off.
It could have been that his swing finally came around and he was making putts. But then again, Woods has been adamant in his defense of his new swing, saying that it’s a process and a work in progress.
Perhaps the most telling sign of Woods’ ability to get the most out of his game on Sunday was thinking back to shots he had already hit.
“I felt today, starting out when the wind was really howling, I just kept telling myself, I played great in Australia and they are the same kind of conditions,” Woods said after his final round. “There’s no reason why I can’t do it today. I took some pretty good comfort in that.”
With thoughts of Oz, as Woods calls it, Tiger had a peace of mind and good thoughts to fall back on. With golf being such a mental game, it’s nice to have good memories going through your head as you play a shot. It breeds confidence in knowing he’s been there before.
Similarly, when Tiger needed a good shot on No. 18 to really put some pressure on McIlroy, he tracked back into his memory bank to remember a similar shot.
What he came up with was one of his most famous approaches, his shot from the fairway bunker at Glen Abbey Golf Course during the 2000 Canadian Open.
“For some reason, I kept thinking, this is very similar to what I had at Glen Abbey,” Woods said. “But at Glen Abbey, I wasn’t firing at the flag, either. I was firing at Grant Waite’s ball and was just going to move it to the right, and this was the same thing: Aim at the tunnel, I’m going to lean the shaft to try to take some loft off of it and it’s going to start a little further right, but just rip it.”
His memory might be just what Woods needs to bring himself back up to prominence once again.
Tiger has already hit all the shots, so why not lean on those positive memories going forward. After all, committing to a golf shot is half the battle and when you have a memory bank full of some of the greatest golf shots ever hit, why not use them to propel yourself forward?
McIlroy Holds of Charging Woods, Westwood to Win the Honda Classic, Gain World’s Top Ranking
02 months ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
In the past, Tiger Woods’ name on the leader board could send his competitors into bogey-making frenzies. On Sunday, we saw the exact opposite from the newly christened No. 1 player in the world, Rory McIlroy, as the Northern Irishman held off Woods, Lee Westwood and Tom Gillis to win the Honda Classic by two strokes.
Coming into the final round with a two-shot advantage, McIlroy had a game plan to keep his round around even par and make the other players come and get him.
On his eighth hole, McIlroy saw the first leader board of the day and Woods’ name was just four shots back, standing at 7-under par through 12 holes.
“I made birdie on the 8th hole, so might have been a good thing,” McIlroy said of seeing Woods’ name in contention. “It’s different. Having him playing with me, it’s completely different, because you’re watching him and you can see what he’s doing. But I couldn’t really think about it too much. I just had to concentrate on what I was doing.”
A good third of the course behind Woods, McIlroy didn’t pay much attention to what the former World No. 1 was doing because he had his eyes set on becoming the new World No. 1 himself.
“With what could happen after today, with being able to go to the top of the World Rankings, it meant a lot to go out there and produce the golf that I needed to do to get the job done,” McIlroy said. “It was always a dream of mine to become the world No. 1 and the best player in the world.”
Knowing that Woods was making a run didn’t change how the Ulsterman played, he kept making pars, causing his opponents to force the issue, which was no small task given the conditions. The wind became such a factor that play needed to be suspended early Sunday morning, although it admittedly laid down as the day went on.
Playing with Harris English and Gillis in the final threesome, McIlroy never was in jeopardy of losing his lead. English got off to a rough start that took him out of contention completely and Gillis went backwards to start the day before finishing strong.
McIlroy’s biggest competition came from Ryder Cup teammate Lee Westwood and Woods. Westwood appeared to be having the round of the day, shot a 7-under par 63 to get to 8-under for the tournament. And Woods, who had set the 8-under mark as his number to aim for to start the day, had to change up his game plan.
“I thought starting out the day that 6‑under was, for the day, and 8‑under for the tournament, was going to be the number to shoot to at least put myself where I had a chance,” Woods said. “But that changed quite a bit when the wind died down.
“When I turned at 4(-under), I had to change that game plan because the wind was not blowing as hard, and I knew the guys were not going to back up as much.”
Of course, everyone knew where the tournament would be decided: the Bear Trap, a set of holes that were surrounded by water that had given players fits over the years.
Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear said that holes 15-17 would be where a tournament was won or lost.
Still needing to make up some ground, Woods entered the Bear Trap, which, in his words, had played a “little bit easier” because the wind was helping.
With Woods stalling at 7-under, unable to pick up a stroke over the previous five holes, Tiger knew he needed something to happen at 17 to get to his 8-under number and a tie with Westwood in the clubhouse.
Woods put himself just under 25 feet from the hole and calmly rolled in his birdie putt to get himself to 6-under for the day and 8-under for the tournament with the reachable par-5 18th hole still ahead of him.
Woods then smacked a driver 325 yards on 18 to cut the corner, giving himself 205 yards to the flag.
“There’s a tunnel that we walk off and it was on the left edge of the green, probably about three steps into the green,” Woods explained. “And I was just aiming it in, and off that downhill lie, I knew it was going to cut.”
Woods put his approach to eight feet and drained the putt to post 10-under par. Just about that time, McIlroy was lining up a birdie putt of his own on the 13th hole, coming off a bogey on the 12th.
That’s what sets McIlroy apart from the rest of the golfers out there now, he heard the roar and then knocked in his birdie to put him back up two strokes with five holes left.
“I wasn’t really paying much attention until he made that eagle on 18,” McIlroy said. “I heard the huge roar and it definitely wasn’t a birdie roar. That’s when I knew that he probably got to 10. You know, it was nice to have that two‑shot cushion going into the last five holes after holing that birdie putt.”
McIlroy showed why he is a special player coming down the stretch. Even with some nervous swings, McIlroy was able to get up-and-down for par on 14, 15 and 17 to hold on to his two-shot lead through the Bear Trap.
Coming down 18, McIlroy smoked a driver, laid up and put his approach on the green in regulation with 40 feet to navigate over three strokes.
McIlroy needed just two to clinch his fifth career win and third on the PGA Tour. Perhaps most importantly of all, McIlroy rose to the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, supplanting Luke Donald.
Woods finished in a tie for second with Gillis, who birdied the 18th hole to match him at 10-under. Westwood finished in solo fourth at 8-under par.
McIlroy is the second-youngest player to reach World No. 1, behind Woods, the 16th player to reach the top spot since the rankings began in 1986 and the fourth consecutive Euro to hold the ranking.
“It was a lot more meaningful,” McIlroy said of holding of Tiger and garnering the top ranking. “I think the way I won today, as well, was great. I missed a few greens coming in, but I was able to get up‑and‑down. I made a couple big par saves early as well which kept my momentum. It was just one of those days. There was a 62 and a 63 out there, which, I mean, is unbelievable playing. I just needed to focus on my game and do what I needed to do, and thankfully that’s what happened.”
McIlroy took home a $1.026 million winner’s check. He planned to fly up to New York City to spend a few days with his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, and then it was back down to Florida for the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral this week.
Following Doral, McIlroy will take off three weeks to prepare for the year’s first major, the Masters at Augusta National on April 5-8.
