Golf with Shanks - Latest Comments on Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 06:44:09 +0000

Scott

Read your account - makes sense.

I think he does uses a similar strategy in normal tour events -

Thursday and Friday he plays safe... He'll take birdies if available, but won't chase them. Goal - Make the cut! Hopefully within five shots (or so) of the lead.

Saturday - Shoot for the flags. If he can grab the lead one out of four tourneys, and hold it on Sunday, he's got the best PGA winning average in the history of the game - 25%.

Sunday - If leading, let the pack shoot for flags to go low - Tiger can usually win playing "damage control". If he's behind on Sunday - he shoots for flags with the rest of the field - he'll pick up a few extra wins living dangerously on day four.

However, most wins are safely in the bag on day three.

Marvin [Visitor] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Marvin [Visitor] — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 06:18:43 +0000

It's quite difficult to come from behind when you are in front - way in front in Tiger's case. Never has a single individual done so much for a sport.

Golf is a totally different game now to that of the Palmer-Nicklaus era. The number of potential pro golfers in every part of the world has increased enourmously. It is now much more difficult to dominate golf now than it was 30 years ago when it was still a somewhat elitist sport.

I believe that today's also-rans would have been more than competive in the Niclaus era. I also believe that most people think that Tiger is the greatest golfer of all time, even though the polite thing to do is to wait until the records are actually broken.

Scott Walker [Visitor] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Scott Walker [Visitor] — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:51:06 +0000

Let me retort (and correct my spelling!):

I do think it is surprising that Woods has never come from behind in a major, especially considering he made his legend coming from behind as both an amateur and a pro. I detail my reasons for his lack of a major comeback here, but to summarize, the difficulty of a major course setup makes it difficult to force the issue. Tiger makes that work for him when he leads, and he can't overcome it when he trails (2005 U.S. Open is a perfect example). It is the reason Nicklaus thought no one could beat him if he played from the fairway all day.

Tiger's "holes", just like his "A" game, are relative. We have seen greatness, and when the master is not at his best sometimes we snicker.

But, the fact that we are debating the small chinks in the armor should show how great the armor is.

Shanks [Member] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Shanks [Member] — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:45:59 +0000

Nope. When Tiger has his A game the result a mere formality. With his B-game he has to sweat it out.

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 03:32:50 +0000

Maybe Tiger had his A-game after all...

"Here's a startling checkup on the rest of the "Big Five" from the start of the year: Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els were a combined 25-over par at the Bridgestone Invitational."
[from press release]

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:44:08 +0000

Have read the Bobby Jones site. I'll dig a little deeper on the 1920's British Open fields. I realize the stat you quote is widely reported, but I've never seen a source for it. It is too important a stat to leave to Rice's questionable research methods.

Shanks [Member] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Shanks [Member] — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:51:53 +0000

You can google Bobby Jones for his record. One detailed site I found that way was put out by his estate - bobbyjones.com.

Cink getting that bounce was a cosmic make-up for the fan that did the Wilt Chamberlain save on Tiger's teeball in the PGA. That was the most enthusiastic rebound from the gallery since Arnie's heyday .....

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] in response to: Tiger Woods has Holes in His Golf Resume

Ghet Rheel [Visitor] — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:43:34 +0000

Is Keeler's book the only source for Jones' entering the British Open only four times from '21 to '30?

Voodoo? If so, Woods must have also had his B-mojo working as Cink's drive deep into the left-side timber on the second playoff hole careened 30 yards right and miraculously into a perfect fairway lie.

By the way, Keeler's book wasn't Keeler's book at all. Keeler died in '50. Grantland Rice acquired Keeler's note and "compiled" the book That was published in '53.