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Date: 21 Aug 2006 05:38:53
From: annika1980
Subject: "He's that good"
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Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
==================================
Woods Has Opponents Too Scared to Compete
As Tiger Advanced at PGA, Competitors Folded
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP
Sports Commentary
MEDINAH, Ill. (Aug. 20) - The practice green can be a lonely place,
even when it's surrounded by hundreds of people. Mike Weir and Geoff
Ogilvy were the only ones on it Sunday afternoon at Medinah Country
Club as they stroked their final putts in silence, looking like
condemned convicts hoping for a reprieve.
Their tee time was just minutes away. Their chances of winning the PGA
Championship must have seemed a million miles away.
Still, the starter was calling their names. And after all, second place
money of $734,400 is a good payday even for millionaire golfers.
And somebody had to make sure all the spike marks were tapped down for
Tiger Woods.
Not that it really mattered. The way these guys laid down for Woods, he
could have won with caddie Steve Williams putting for him.
Jack Nicklaus used to intimidate his opponents. Woods frightens his.
He hadn't even stepped up to the first tee on Sunday and they were
already falling apart. By the time his birdie on the first hole went up
on the scoreboards, this major championship was pretty much history.
Woods' challengers disappeared so quickly they could have stopped for
lunch after nine and nobody would have noticed. Not that they would
have been able to keep it down, the way they kept spitting it up all
day.
By the time it was over, it was hard to figure out who was more in awe
of Woods, the players who had just spent four hours helping crown him
champion or the schoolboys clamoring for his autograph.
"He's just better than us," a weary Ogilvy said. "Someone has to be the
best. Why not him?"
Why do they even try?
Woods, as has been well documented, has never lost a major when leading
going into the last round, and there was nothing in his game this week
to indicate he would back up on a golf course he found to his liking.
But try they did, even though there was nothing in the pedigree of
anyone chasing Woods to indicate that they would break this streak.
Weir had a Masters green jacket, but that seems so long ago. And
Ogilvy's U.S. Open trophy should have a picture next to his name of
Phil Mickelson collapsing.
Luke Donald probably had the best chance - or at least the best view of
Woods running over him. He was not only tied with Woods at 14-under
going into the final round, but was paired with him in the final group.
Donald was feeling so good about his chances that he even showed up on
the first tee in a red shirt - a fashion faux pas since anyone knows
red is Woods' color for the final round of a major.
Woods didn't seem too concerned about it, though he wasn't as sure
about Donald's sense of style.
"I thought it was kind of weird to have a blue belt with it," Woods
said.
Donald, a nice enough guy who probably didn't realize all that he was
getting into, was a shot down after one, two down after four and four
behind after six. Afterward, he tried to make something positive out of
it all.
"I'll learn from this," he vowed. "I'll be a better player."
Chris DiMarco felt some sympathy for Donald. He had been there himself
with Woods in a final round, only to leave empty-handed.
"You'd think - you'd think - going to the first tee, he'd be the one
feeling the pressure because everyone's expecting him to win, and it's
the exact opposite," DiMarco said. "He doesn't. The guy playing with
him feels the most pressure."
That's the way it was with Nicklaus in his prime, too, with one big
difference. Nicklaus had some challengers with majors credentials who
weren't afraid to get into a shootout with the greatest player of his
time.
Woods has challengers who seem to have trouble keeping themselves from
genuflecting in front of him.
Which begs the question: Is Woods that good or are the guys chasing him
that bad?
"He's that good," Nicklaus said Sunday. "The guy is playing just great
golf, terrific golf."
When it was over on this day, Woods came out of the scorer's trailer,
planted a big kiss on wife Elin's lips and walked hand-in-hand with her
to the 18th green to pick up the Wanamaker Trophy.
His opponents were left scattered around the grounds, muttering to
themselves and wondering who among them will some day finally rise to
the challenge.
One thing for sure: Whoever finally does won't be conceding before
getting to the first tee.
"I'm not sure anything ever bothers him," Shaun Micheel said. "I wish I
had that feeling just once."
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 15:12:20
From: laura bush - VEHICULAR HOMICIDE
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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On 21 Aug 2006 05:38:53 -0700, "annika1980" <annika1980@aol.com >
wrote:
>Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
>ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
>bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
>
>==================================
The article is just BS. The players say what the press wants to hear
but they don't really mean it. They know tiger can be beaten. It was
just a couple years ago tiger was in a bad slump and he'll get into
another one soon.
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 12:56:06
From: Bert Robbins
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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laura bush - VEHICULAR HOMICIDE wrote:
> On 21 Aug 2006 05:38:53 -0700, "annika1980" <annika1980@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
>> ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
>> bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
>>
>> ==================================
>
> The article is just BS. The players say what the press wants to hear
> but they don't really mean it. They know tiger can be beaten. It was
> just a couple years ago tiger was in a bad slump and he'll get into
> another one soon.
Yeah, but when he comes out of a slump he wins 50% of the majors, so far.
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 08:54:21
From: multi
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:12:20 GMT, laura bush - VEHICULAR HOMICIDE
<xeton2001@yahoo.com > wrote:
>It was
>just a couple years ago tiger was in a bad slump and he'll get into
>another one soon.
Interesting that at the very bottom of that bad slump, Tiger's World
Golf Ranking was still over 11 points. Today's WGR has Phil in second
place with less than nine points. In other words, Tiger at his worst
was better than everybody else today, by quite a bit.
Vijay, who was number one then, is now fourth, after missing the cut
in the last two majors. He was pretty lucky that he had his best year
when Tiger had his worst year. His very highest in 2004, which was
about six points higher than he is now, wasn't within seven points of
Tiger's current average.
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 07:30:56
From: annika1980
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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bungalow_steve@yahoo.com wrote:
> annika1980 wrote:
> > Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
> > ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
> > bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
> >
> > ==================================
>
> what part of it was crap? the writer made a statement about the field
> and backed it up with quotes from them....
When Jack Nicklaus won the '86 Masters nobody suggested that he won
because the other golfers lacked backbone. Even though Norman bombed
it way right on #18 and Seve threw up on himself on #15, everyone
simply remembers that Jack shot 65 that day.
When Jack won the 1980 PGA by 7 shots over Andy Bean or the 1963
Masters by 8 shots over Arnie did any hack writer suggest that Arnold
Palmer and the rest of those guys sucked? What about the 1975 PGA
where Jack's fellow competitor Bruce Crampton (who shot a course record
63 in the second round) ballooned to a 75 on Sunday? Here's what
Crampton had to say about that day: "Just call it human inefficiency.
I'm not a machine. Jack's the closest we have to a machine, and even he
makes some mistakes. Not very many, though."
Sound familiar?
The golf history books are filled with similar instances of one man
rising to the occasion to win. That it always seems to be Tiger doing
it is just a testament ot his greatness, just as it was a testament to
Jack's greatness back in his day. But even Jack didn't dominate the
way Tiger is now. Tiger has now won 30% of his Majors. Nobody else
even comes close.
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 07:02:23
From: cja
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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annika1980 wrote:
> Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
> ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
> bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
>
> ==================================
>
> Woods Has Opponents Too Scared to Compete
> As Tiger Advanced at PGA, Competitors Folded
> By TIM DAHLBERG
> AP
> ...
> That's the way it was with Nicklaus in his prime, too, with one big
> difference. Nicklaus had some challengers with majors credentials who
> weren't afraid to get into a shootout with the greatest player of his
> time.
> Woods has challengers who seem to have trouble keeping themselves from
> genuflecting in front of him.
>
Agree on the 'load of crap' sentiment. Dahlberg has nothing new to
offer here, and he even pulls out the old one about Jack's better
competition. All the other guys in the top 10 right now are great
golfers and great competitors. I think they are past the point of
being intimidated or afraid of Tiger. Someone like Nathan Green may
feel a little of that, but Phil, Vijay, Ernie, Sergio, Furyk, Toms? No
way. It's just that their A Game can't compete with Tiger when he's at
his best. Tiger is just that much better, especially when it comes to
concentration, focus, and the desire to crush the competition.
- cja
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 05:45:49
From:
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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annika1980 wrote:
> Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
> ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
> bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
>
> ==================================
what part of it was crap? the writer made a statement about the field
and backed it up with quotes from them....
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Date: 21 Aug 2006 18:12:09
From: jeffc
Subject: Re: "He's that good"
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"annika1980" <annika1980@aol.com > wrote in message
news:1156163933.306750.236530@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
> Read this load of crap. One wonders if some of these golf writers have
> ever played the game or watched it at it's highest level. It's pretty
> bad when the statement that makes the most sense is said by Nicklaus.
>
> ==================================
>
> Woods Has Opponents Too Scared to Compete
> As Tiger Advanced at PGA, Competitors Folded
> By TIM DAHLBERG
Tim Dahlberg sounds like a total douce bag.
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