Jan 30

Tiger Woods' Buick Invite win shows why he's the greatest of all time

Tiger Woods’ mug is plastered on the top front corner of USA Today’s front page Friday with the headline “Woods looks rusty at Buick.” A few days later, he’s collecting another trophy and first-place check.

This is why Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time.

Phil Mickelson told TravelGolf.com how it’s “nice to work some rust off” after a Bob Hope Chrysler Classic season debut in which he never even challenged on Sunday. Tiger throws the cobwebs off his game by collecting his 47th career PGA Tour win.

And it’s not like that’s unusual. Tiger always seems to win his first event of the season (four out of 10 times actually, a .400 average that Ted Williams would gawk at).

I love these yahoos we have blogging here who chalk it up to Tiger’s opposition folding or some cosmic intervention.

Maybe, it’s just because Tiger is that good. The greatest ever in fact. Everyone makes mistakes over four rounds of golf at some point. I think I remember one Old Man Yokel writing this at some point (not that he could recall). Tiger makes fewer mistakes than all the rest. He makes the shots he needs to win.

It’s no coincidence he’s 12-1 in career playoffs worldwide. Maybe, the yahoos might want to argue he’s just an alien. It would make more sense than what they’re going with now.

Can we stop trying to discount Tiger’s greatness? Just enjoy it while you can. Which looks like another good 10 years now.

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8 comments

§ Ron Mon® said on : 2006-01-30 @ 16:16
I blame Tiger's victory on Michelle Wie's absence.
§ David Meyers® said on : 2006-01-30 @ 16:19
I agree. If you read my article and are refering to it, I am definitely not questioning his greatness. Quite the opposite actually, I, and I think everyone else, knew he had it. It is a bizaar feeling. Something similar to when Jordan ran the Bulls. You didn't know how it was going to go down, you just knew they would win.
§ John said on : 2006-01-30 @ 18:03
I agree that to compare golfers across different eras is a futile cause. It is like making an argument that a bottle of Dom Perignon 1995 consumed in 2006 tasted superior to a bottle from 1795 consumed in 1806. No one's taste buds have survived the interval intact and unimpaired.

Let us savor each golfer in his own context. If we must speculate lets imagine the fine high-camp humor you could generate if a magical time machine could swoop Old Tom Morris (or his son) into the present, set them down on a tee beside Tiger, make them switch bags and howl with laughter as each tried to make anything with the other's equipment.

Doubtless either could learn to suceed with the others equipment, but it wouldn't happen in just one round.

So I say. Savor the wines and the golfers of our day and don't worry about whether our grandfathers had better at their disposal.
§ Steven said on : 2006-01-31 @ 09:55
Something is seriously wrong. Baldwin just wrote an article that other people could actually agree on.
Where's the catch?
§ Scott said on : 2006-01-31 @ 14:05
I love how one win makes Tiger suddenly (and yet once again) the greatest in the world ever. The real winner was Torrey Pines, which has one of the most difficult courses in the world according to Phil Mickelson. Only a really great golfer has the judgement and wisdom to play the smart shots and manage to pull out a win under such difficult putting conditions, especially against so many other golfers. That it happens to be the #1 golfer is no surprise, but that doesn't make him the best ever.

A friend of mine and I were noticing that Tiger looks a great deal older in the last year than ever before. I think he's going to be more prone to injury and weight problems than many players. I don't expect to see him playing competitive golf for more than another 5 or 10 years. He often seems rather bored, too, which is going to be a serious problem once he has beaten the Golden Bear's records.

Most golfers are streaky, but Tiger isn't. In the short run, I tend to agree that Tiger's going to have a great year or two ahead of him, almost certainly winning one or two majors in the next year. To say he's going to win the grand slam is just silly. That would be mostly luck, even for the #1 player.

Let's step back and get a little perspective, eh?
§ Andrew said on : 2006-01-31 @ 14:27
Well, whilst I'm not dipusting Tiger's greatness, its not like Phil hasn't 'worked out the cobwebs' by winning on his first week back either.
§ trip said on : 2006-01-31 @ 14:58
Scott--Tiger's in better physical shape then anyone on the tour, has been for a number of years. His level of physical fitness has long been a benchmark for other pros and has been cited as a major reason why other PGA players have strived to get into better condition. I see no weight problems in Tiger's future. Tiger only looks older when he removes his hat and shows his ever receding hairline and growing baldspot. His fitness level is as good as ever. If you want weight problems look no further than Phil and his man boobs. He looks like he spent the off-season at Krispy-Creme.
§ David said on : 2006-02-01 @ 12:41
Actually, I don't think that is baldness you're seeing.

Black people tend to have high hairlines if their hair is cut short. If Tiger just let his hair grow, it'd probably widen out into an afro, and the high hairline would be gone.

Afros are not in fashion though, so he cuts his hair really short, and has a hat on much of the time, anyway.