Anyone watch Tiger yesterday?

[John]

I PVR'd the golf and watched it when I got home mostly following Tiger to see how he's doing. Wow does his game ever suck right now, not only on the technical side of things but he looks completely disinterested and bored. I don't think i saw Stevie give him any advice or help during the round and he was playing so quickly. I think he needs a new coach pronto!

[Colby]

Karma

[Timbuktu]

What he needs is to take a step back, get the divorce settled and get his off the course life in order. Even if it is a year or two, guys have proven to win Majors into the late 30's and 40's and Woods is better than any of them.

People can bash Tiger all they want for his off the course antics, at the end of the day a lot of us tune in to see him play and golf just isn't the same without him in the field.

Ratings when he is playing speak for themselves.

[Shivas Irons]

he looks completely disinterested and bored.

I thought the exact same thing when I was watching, in fact to me it looked like he was tanking it on purpose.

I also caught the press conference where he talked about his lack of practice because of all the time he is spending with his kids. It all seemed pretty disengenuous to me.

[sensfan63]

two words - Butch Harmon

[BC MIST]

People can bash Tiger all they want for his off the course antics, at the end of the day a lot of us tune in to see him play and golf just isn't the same without him in the field.

I agree. It's actually better. Without Tiger in the field, we get to see the play of a larger number of players, some actually in contention rather than 5 over, and we don't have to listen to the unrestrained outpouring of nonsense about Tiger, that spews out of the mouths of those over paid to do so.

Having said that, I do like what Tiger has done with his swing in the last couple of years, that beautiful dropping of the arms down on plane as he starts the downswing. If we all here did this, our golf scores would plummet. He just needs to slow down and marry the turning of the body with the dropping of the arms. 80% effort instead of 100%.

[Sakuraba]

Looks like we won't be watching him tomorrow. Wait, is there a cut at this event?

[jvincent]

It's a no cut event so we get to see highlights of him sulking around the golf course.

[Sakuraba]

I smell an injury and a withdrawal imminent.

[rezadue]

Tiger finished today three shots off the lead. Unfortunately for him it was the lead loser!

[Timbuktu]

I agree. It's actually better. Without Tiger in the field, we get to see the play of a larger number of players, some actually in contention rather than 5 over.

Sure that's a fair argument. I don't find telecasts to be near as exciting or intriguing when Tiger and/or Phil for that matter are not in contention. Case in point this years British Open.

It's their ability to pull the dramatic shots like Phil's 2nd from the pine straw at the Masters, or Tiger's 3rd Rd. at this year's US Open. When these guys pull the amazing shots off they make it look that much better, when Shrek goes and wins by 6 shots it's boring.

Say what you want about it being all about Tiger even when he's out of contention, he is the ratings, he is the big purses, he is the reason people of my generation are remotely interested in golf.

You would think after being on tour since '96 people would come to accept it.

[jvincent]

The British was boring this year because it wasn't a close tournament. If four or five guys had a shot at beating Oosthuizen then it would have been exciting.

Phil's shot at the Masters was exciting because there was a race for the lead. If he was in the first group out that morning and he hits that shot nobody cares.

That's the problem with the Tiger coverage. Even when he's twelve shots off the lead and playing like crap we get full round coverage of every stroke instead of the guys who are in contention.

No arguement that he's the reason that purses are so big but what the Tour will find out very quickly is that if their marquee player starts to stumble and there are no other players that people are interested in purses will drop equally quickly. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[Slicer&Dicer]

Too bad there's no cut.

These events really shouldn't count when considering cuts made.

[Travis]

Having said that, I do like what Tiger has done with his swing in the last couple of years, that beautiful dropping of the arms down on plane as he starts the downswing. If we all here did this, our golf scores would plummet. He just needs to slow down and marry the turning of the body with the dropping of the arms. 80% effort instead of 100%.

I don't understand how he is able to "lay the club off" so much at the top of his back swing and not leave himself vulnerable to inconsistencies. With that type of swing you rely so much on timing and your swing can really get away from you. I feel he needs to return to being more upright and on-plane throughout to get that consistency back. Particularly with the driver, where his slightest miscues become penalized drastically. A 120+ mph golf swing can do that to ya.

[sensfan63]

I don't understand how he is able to "lay the club off" so much at the top of his back swing and not leave himself vulnerable to inconsistencies. With that type of swing you rely so much on timing and your swing can really get away from you. I feel he needs to return to being more upright and on-plane throughout to get that consistency back. Particularly with the driver, where his slightest miscues become penalized drastically. A 120+ mph golf swing can do that to ya.

You answered your own question, so to speak. He IS extremely inconsistent as a result of "laying the club off." Watch video of Tiger circa 2000-2002 (not coincidentally, the Butch Harmon era), and you never see him hit these off the planet drives, three woods, etc. You also see much more control with his wedges.

While Tiger has more "shots" to draw from now, it's because of the bad positions he's been taught by the moron Hank Haney. Tiger has had to literally invent shots based on his awesome hand-eye coordination to compensate for the junk that Haney had him do for so many years.

As BC MIST said, 80% instead of 100% would be wise. We just disagree on how to get there. The arms don't drop, they follow the hip and chest rotation ideally.

[sensfan63]

I agree. It's actually better. Without Tiger in the field, we get to see the play of a larger number of players, some actually in contention rather than 5 over, and we don't have to listen to the unrestrained outpouring of nonsense about Tiger, that spews out of the mouths of those over paid to do so.
.

maybe for certain viewers who can't get past the hate...

However, to generalize and say that "golf is better" is patently ridiculous. Tiger has been the #1 player in the world for the last 10 years (save for a few months). When he is in the field, the game prospers. Period.

I daresay that nobody would have thought the same about Nicklaus. I genuinely wonder why? Can't you just get past what the TV shows you?

[mjf]

two words - Butch Harmon

To fix his game? I can think of a few other two word combinations that would help him get in the right state of mind, but I believe there are rules against posting those words here.

[btasse]

maybe for certain viewers who can't get past the hate...

However, to generalize and say that "golf is better" is patently ridiculous. Tiger has been the #1 player in the world for the last 10 years (save for a few months). When he is in the field, the game prospers. Period.

I daresay that nobody would have thought the same about Nicklaus. I genuinely wonder why? Can't you just get past what the TV shows you?

Hard to compare how Nicklaus would have fared in a world ranking system since the world ranking did not start until 1986 and has been changed 3-4 times since that time to tweak it. Even today people question the validity of that ranking when the #1 ranked player does not win any majors within a year.

I'd wish there was a system that was more current that would determine who the best player in the world is the last year of golf than some averaging on performance that happened 2-3 years ago.

[BC MIST]

maybe for certain viewers who can't get past the hate...

However, to generalize and say that "golf is better" is patently ridiculous. Tiger has been the #1 player in the world for the last 10 years (save for a few months). When he is in the field, the game prospers. Period.

I daresay that nobody would have thought the same about Nicklaus. I genuinely wonder why? Can't you just get past what the TV shows you?

I don't hate Tiger, but I do hate the excessive coverage of him. Case in point: Golf Channel's early coverage today of the BI started with 10 minutes of Tiger screwing up. Each moment of him playing badly steals the same moment from our being able to watch someone in contention or playing well and deserving of the coverage. When he's up there, show him, when he's not, don't.

But I guess that there are some who enjoy watching pompous, sullen, club throwing, and foul mouthed golfers. I don't, and I am not alone.

[sensfan63]

I don't hate Tiger, but I do hate the excessive coverage of him. Case in point: Golf Channel's early coverage today of the BI started with 10 minutes of Tiger screwing up. Each moment of him playing badly steals the same moment from our being able to watch someone in contention or playing well and deserving of the coverage. When he's up there, show him, when he's not, don't.

But I guess that there are some who enjoy watching pompous, sullen, club throwing, and foul mouthed golfers. I don't, and I am not alone.

Well, not to nitpick, but at the beginning of the coverage, the leaders hadn't teed off yet. They were showing players in the middle of the pack.

The "pompous, sullen, club throwing, foul mouthed" arguments are so old and so tired. He is who he is (that would be, the best player in the world and knocking on the door of greatest ever). His actions define him, true, but they also make him the player that he is. I see no reason to change.

By the way, this comes from someone that will cheer for Phil Mickelson every day of the week before Tiger. I just think the hatred, nay, the dislike is irrational.

[Kilroy]

As BC said, he's not alone.

[fundonny]

He's not the best in the world anymore.

[BC MIST]

His actions define him, true, but they also make him the player that he is. I see no reason to change.

I'm sure Elin would agree.

[sensfan63]

I'm sure Elin would agree.

I'm sure you have this sympathy for adultery victims the world over, right? Arnold Palmer was just as bad, and I've never seen a thread about how bad a person he was...

[sensfan63]

He's not the best in the world anymore.

His play of late indicates that for sure.

However, do you think it unreasonable to see Woods getting back to his dominant self. I don't. It may take awhile, maybe a year or two, but he'll get there I'm sure.

[sensfan63]

As BC said, he's not alone.

Sure. But you're massively outnumbered, I guarantee you that.

[Kilroy]

So the majority of people who watch golf want to see Tiger eat a banana rather than see the leaders play golf?

The golf coverage is definately better these days. Too bad the Tiger loving masses don't get it.

[btasse]

Tiger Woods is the next David Duval.......

[fundonny]

There's a few different types of golf fans. I watched golf before Tiger, and I'll watch after Tiger. Tiger did nothing to increase my viewership. Then there's those that got into golf and watch it because of Tiger. My Dad and I often call each other during the TV coverage and if Tiger's in the field he asks me to look at the PGATOUR.COM site to see how some other golfers are doing, because we simply don't get any information on them. THAT, is annoying.

[sensfan63]

So the majority of people who watch golf want to see Tiger eat a banana rather than see the leaders play golf?

The golf coverage is definately better these days. Too bad the Tiger loving masses don't get it.

Damn those people who love watching (possibly) the greatest who ever lived!