Yes, I am a fan of Tiger just like -seemingly- everybody else. When I looked at the starting times for Friday's first round, whose name did I search out first? That's right, Mr. Eldrick T. Woods. Because I happen to follow the game so closely I recognize most of the players in the field and can tell you a little bit about each one. (Although Michael Letzig, James Nitties and Scott Piercy - not so sure.) So the very casual fan, of which there are many, is even more about Tiger. I ducked out of my office to watch Tiger play a hole in Thursday's pro-am and I went out of my way to watch him tee off on his first hole (#10) on Friday and then I made my way to the grandstands behind 9 green to watch him finish his round.
He finished his round with a par and a pedestrian one-under round, but it was on this final hole that Tiger subtley displayed his genious. After his fellow competitors Steve Stricker and Heath Slocum had hit their seconds -to the middle of the green and a short, right flair to the gallery respectively- Tiger was third to play. He was standing in the middle of the fairway maybe 165 out. The hole was cut front right not more than four paces from the nearest edge, not readily accessible. At first blush it looks like the shot calls for a right-handed player to hit some sort of little cut shot in order to get it close.
Tiger launched some type of short iron that - from my perspective sitting in the grandstands behind the green - first looked like some crazy little block shot. I lost sight of it and others were oohing and ahhing that it was off-line, too, until a couple of people said, 'here it comes', and the ball landed just short and right of the green and began to trickle left, coming to rest just off the green about 12 feet right of the hole.
It wasn't until hours later that I realized exactly what Tiger had done. Because the end of the fairway just short and right of the green in the approach area slopes right to left towards the green, Tiger was actually trying to draw the ball into a right flag, land the ball on that pitched area of ground and use both the slope and the hook spin that he imparted on the ball to feed the ball to the hole. Even though he just missed the putt for an uneventful day, it was an amazing shot, but one that didn't fully sink in for me until hours later.
Shots like the one I describe are what separates Tiger. Like Wayne Gretzky in hockey who could 'see the ice' better than anyone - that is, envision where the puck would be 2, 3 or even 4 plays ahead and get himself or the puck in the perfect position, Tiger has the uncanny ability to see golf shots and the golf course better than anyone else.
The tag line goes, 'These Guys Are Good', and they are. They're the best players in the world. They're all operating in the stratosphere of golf skill level. But when Tiger is firing on all his cylinders he's operating in outer space and the other guys can't get there. When he's on, he is the best. He knows it and the other players know it. He knows they know it, and they know that he knows they know it.
Tiger has appeared mortal this year, missing putts on the 72nd hole at both the PGA Championship and The Barclays that would have forced play-offs. But five wins and rarely a finish out of the top-10 after major knee reconstruction is pretty good. He was still rehabbing when the rest of the guys were coming out of the gate in Hawaii. It will be interesting to see how 2010 will play out for Tiger.
I love wathcing all the guys play. Even when Tiger isn't in the field I enjoy sitting down on a Sunday afternoon and watching some guys have a good battle down the stretch. But when Tiger is in the mix it's even more fun. Phil The Thrill is great to watch because he is like watching a drag racer. The peddle-to-the-metal mentality yields a lot of excitement when everything works out perfectly and unfortunately a lot of morbid curiosity when he gets in a wreck. When Tiger is in full command he is like a maestro, conducting beautiful music, always in control, ready to take a bow when the masterpiece has been flawlessly executed.
Here's to a weekend of beautiful music at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
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