Tiger Woods & The US Open

As I type, Tiger Woods is currently six over par through the first seven holes of the final round of the US Open. He is currently 11-over par for his last 30 holes, in which run he has had exactly one birdie. The Tiger Nay-Sayers are out in force, blowing their who-honkers and ringing their chimes. “Ding-Dong, He’s Dead” they yodel. This week, he is.

Let’s take a look at the record of Tiger Woods, though, and determine exactly how much of a factor he could ever have been at Olympic Club. Tiger has started 16 Opens to date (he withdrew in 1995, was cut in 206 and did not play in 2011) and has won three of them. His wins came at 3 courses built for both public and private play. All three have or will have hosted non-major PGA Tour events by the end of 2012. This is important information, as I will explain later.

Olympic Club is an old-style course that would fit the mold of Winged Foot, a course where Tiger missed the cut in 2006. It is similar to Merion, near Philadelphia, where I predict that Tiger will again struggle.  The six-year run from 2014 to 2019, when the event will visit Pinehurst (Tiger T3 in 1999), Chambers Bay (Fairly wide, fairly fun, known to no one), Oakmont (Tiger T6 in 2009), Erin Hills (see Chambers Bay), Shinnecock Hills (Tiger T17 in 2004) and Pebble Beach (Tiger 1 and T4).

Tiger’s game is powerful. It is not gentle enough to navigate the corridors of an Olympic or a Merion. More worrisome would be continued struggles at Augusta and the British Open. For me, Saturday and Sunday were expected and not much cause for concern.