By Smitty
This isn’t to be confused with Lois Lane’s ” Why the World needs Superman”. I am not going to start suggesting that Tiger Woods and Superman should be in the same sentence. But tomorrow, the Golf world converges on the Royal St. Georges Golf Course for the 2011 British Open and most of the talk has been about a golfer who is missing – Tiger Woods.
This is the fourth time the British Open has been at the Royal St. Georges – the second time in the last decade. The 2003 British Open featured American Ben Curtis holding off a field that included Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh. The 2011 Open Championship has the potential for the PGA to crown its new superstar – Rory McIlroy. Among the golfers looking for their first major includes Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Matt Kuchar all ranked in the Top 10 in the world.
The PGA however, has a huge void missing this weekend – Tiger Woods. Due to leg injuries, Woods has been forced to sit out his second straight major and raise questions about his health for the rest of 2011. PGA commissioner Tim Finchem has a perfect opportunity. For years, the PGA has tried to create a rivalry that included Tiger Woods. Before it was Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer. They tried with Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els. That rivalry has never materialized and that is part to Tiger Woods’ dominance.
But now Finchem and the PGA has seen the emergence of a new star – Rory McIlroy. McIlroy’s dominance of the U.S. Open at Congressional, has golf experts comparing the young Irishman to who else – Tiger Woods. Here is the PGA’s chance and Tiger Woods is nowhere to be seen.
Let’s not forget the obvious – the longer Woods is out, TV ratings will continue to plummet. In fact TV ratings for golf have been known to shift by almost 50% when Woods is either in a tournament or is in contention to win. With Woods’ continued absence, attendance at tournaments is starting to decline and eventually – tournament purses will follow suit.
This week should be about the emergence of a rivalry between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. This week should be about whether Tom Watson can re-create and make a run at one more Claret Jug. It should be about what the British will think about Ricky Fowler’s all orange outfit come Sunday. It should be about the wind and its influence on the tournament. Instead is about the absence of Tiger Woods.
I am not sure if the world needs Superman. What I do know is that the PGA needs Tiger Woods – a healthy Tiger Woods.
Tiger needs to conquer his own issues before he can establish a rivalry with anyone. Personally, I think he’s possible done winning majors. He’s past his prime and there’s a whole lot of good “young” talent out there now. Phil has also been quite “absent” with his poor play in the majors. Also past his prime.
Let’s focus on McIlroy and the new guys. Let’s look forward and quit waiting for Tiger. Or we’ll all be waiting a long time.
Smitty … care to make any predictions? Or we can keep it simple … what country will the winner be from? I highly suspect it won’t be a U.S. player, although I hope I’m wrong … but we seem to be the underdogs consistently now, even on our own soil.
Wally define past your prime in golf? Nicklaus won a major at 46, Steve Stricker has been one of the top players in the world – in his 40s.
With today’s technology and the golfers’ attention to training – I think a lot of golfers will be winning majors into their 40s. Now if you are saying it because of recent injuries to Woods and Mickelson – well I agree with you that it is going to slow them down. I think we are done with seeing Woods dominating the field like he once did.
But I don’t think Woods is done winning majors. I think we see a major from him in 2012.
I think the new crop of golfers are exciting and are going to be fun to watch. But for the heights the game of golf has grown to – it needs Tiger Woods to return. Maybe not to the dominant golfer that he was, but PGA needs Tiger Woods.
As for a prediction – don’t discount the Americans in the British Open. An American has won the British Open 9 of the last 13 years.
Right now a couple of guys are at -5 and that score isn’t going to get any better. The wind is a major factor, so I think the golfer is going to have to be pretty imaginative with his shots. This isn’t going to be the type of tournament that the golfers will be able to aim at the pin and spin it close. There is going to be a lot of bump and run, playing the terrain type of shots.
A guy that most people aren’t giving a chance after a poor showing in Paris a couple of weeks ago, but has the imagination and ability to shape shots is Bubba Watson. Look out for him.
This is starting to get very interesting, Smitty. After 2 rounds, 15 or so golfers within 3 strokes of the lead. Even Mickelson is in the hunt and Tom Lehman (I always liked him … maybe it was the Dockers commercials) is trying to do his best Tom Watson impersonation. He’s doing a better Watson than Watson at the moment:
T1 T6 Darren Clarke -4 F -2 68 68 — — 136
T1 T3 Lucas Glover -4 F E 66 70 — — 136
T3 T18 Chad Campbell -3 F -2 69 68 — — 137
T3 T6 Martin Kaymer -3 F -1 68 69 — — 137
T3 T1 Thomas Bjorn -3 F +2 65 72 — — 137
T3 T3 Miguel Angel Jimenez -3 F +1 66 71 — — 137
T7 T6 Pablo Larrazabal -2 F E 68 70 — — 138
T7 T51 Charl Schwartzel – 2 F -3 71 67 — — 138
T7 T36 Davis Love III -2 F -2 70 68 — — 138
T7 T51 Tom Lehman -2 F -3 71 67 — — 138
T7 T18 George Coetzee -2 F -1 69 69 — — 138
T7 T36 Dustin Johnson -2 F -2 70 68 — — 138
T7 T18 Anders Hansen -2 F -1 69 69 — — 138
T14 T18 Adam Scott -1 F E 69 70 — — 139
T14 T36 Phil Mickelson -1 F -1 70 69 — — 139
Wally this weekend is going to be very interesting as it is a wide open Championship. Add in that the weather is not going to cooperate at all – and these scores will be climbing.
Just watched Tom Watson on the Par 5, 15th hole hit driver on his first shot, driver on his second shot and STILL had a 175 yards to the hole. His third was short and he then putted from 35 yards off the green for a tap in par. Unbelievable!
Should be a very interesting day of golf
Whoa! Is that the sun making an appearance at the Open?
By the time Darren Clarke made it down the 18th fairway, it was hard to believe that it was the same day. It was absolutely miserable this morning!!
Dustin Johnson and Ricky Fowler had great rounds of golf today, but Darren Clarke was absolutely masterful today. It will be interesting to see if he can keep it up for another round.
How much do you think the change in weather helped Clarke?
Casey, I think it was huge. The average round earlier in the day was a 76. That is 6 over par. Clarke is a great shot maker, but it is not known for a guy that can hit the ball with a lot of power. Guys that survived early on, were the players that had good length
I think Clarke was helped exceptionally. If the weather breaks again for him tomorrow, you have to wonder if the heavens are shining down on Northern Ireland right now. 🙂
So timing is everything.
Welcome to the party, Mr. Mickelson. We haven’t seen you in awhile.
So long, Mr. Mickelson. I guess you couldn’t stay very long.
Typical Phil … an absolutely brilliant stretch of 5-6 holes to pull into a tie for the lead and then his trademark screwup … miss a 3 ft EASY par putt and then totally unravel. Meteoric rise, followed by the crash and burn. How often has Phil taken himself out of contention during the final rounds of majors by 3 putting or worse in rather pedestrian situations?
Dustin Johnson …. what the @!%#%$* were YOU thinking??? That looked like one of my shots out of bounds. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! Gagmeister.
Today (Northern) Irish eyes are smiling.
This win begs the question of whether the Open will ever return to Northern Ireland. Would be nice.
Indeed!
Despite the Americans’ struggles down the stretch, it is very nice to see a guy like Darren Clarke win the Open. He deserved to win and it clearly means so much to him. Great ending to a tragic story.
Wally – agree with you that one. From everything I have ever read or heard about Darren Clarke – he is nothing but a class act. It says a lot when other golfers are quick to congratulate him. I saw tweets from about 5 or 6 golfers almost immediately congratulating him.
Northern Ireland has been on a roll lately – Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy with back to back U.S. Opens and now Clarke with the British Open.
As for Mickelson – every British Open has shown that being aggressive in the tournament doesn’t pay off in the end. With the weather being such a good factor – patience and good shot making win out. It is why Tom Watson nearly won 2 years ago and Darren Clarke won this year.
Hopefully Mickelson will learn that the aggressive style may work on Augusta – doesn’t work in the British Open.