Wake Me Up When You Win Something Important

It has been a few months (my last entry was in June) since I have written anything here, mostly because I haven't been playing too much golf, but also because nothing has inspired me enough to write anything until now.  Sure, the President's Cup was nice, but odd television coverage and a rather easy win by the United States team made for a pretty "uneventful event" so to speak. Darren Clarke's win at the British Open was gutsy and surprising. Although the PGA Championship was exciting, the match up of Keegan Bradley and Jason Dufner down the stretch was far from historic.  I'm guessing that in five years you will be hard pressed to remember either of their names.

Last year around this time, I wrote my first blog entry after watching the 2010 Chevron World Challenge.  Tiger Woods battled Graeme McDowell down the stretch and eventually lost in extra holes to the reigning U.S. Open champ.  On Sunday, after my Broncos dispatched of the Vikings in overtime (Tebow! Tebow!) I tuned in to the 2011 version of the event to catch Tiger and Zach Johnson battling it out on the last few holes.  Zach, who is almost a polar opposite of Tiger in terms of how they play the game, looked to have the advantage when both players laid up on the par-5 16th. Many people forget that Johnson got the better of Woods at the 2007 Masters when they were both in contention on Sunday during the pre-surgery, pre-scandal, pre-fallen idol years of Tiger history.  Johnson is thought to be the only player who has ever won the Masters after laying up on every par-5 for all four rounds.  His strong wedge game and putting skills allowed him to play those 16 holes in an astounding 11 under par that year.  Fast forward to Sunday at the Chevron. Both players had wedge in their hand for the third shot on 16. Advantage Johnson, who wedged on and drained a birdie putt to move one ahead of Tiger, whose birdie chance narrowly slid by the hole.

It appeared as if this was going to be another near miss for Tiger.  Johnson has proven to be reliable and unflappable in situations like this.  But Tiger pulled even by making a clutch deuce on the par-3 17th. On the final hole, Johnson answered by putting the pressure back on Tiger, sending his approach within 15 feet of the flag.  Tiger responded by putting his own shot to a cozy 6 feet.  After Johnson weakly missed his birdie try, Woods sank the short putt to win and broke out his familiar fist pump to the roars of the biased gallery.  Another major win for Tiger! Wait, did you say the Chevron World Challenge? Judging by the celebration, you would think he had just won another green jacket.

Someone tell Tiger this isn't the Masters. And aren't you supposed to wear black shoes with black pants?

What a great win! Tiger is back! - Wrong and Wrong.  Tiger beat a field of 17 other players at his own tournament.  On the very same day, Rory McIlroy won in Hong Kong over a field of 130 players and Lee Westwood won in South Africa, besting a small field of 12 that included Luke Donald (Ranked #1 in the world), Martin Kaymer (#4) and three recent major winners in Charl Schwartzel, Darren Clarke, and Graeme McDowell.   Tiger's win is certainly not any more impressive than either of those, yet they received little to no fanfare.  One tournament win in an unofficial event over a small and mediocre field does not mean that the comeback is complete.  One win in 749 days and 26 tournaments is unacceptable by the standards of any great player.

Tiger himself has always placed a special importance on majors. Until he shows that he can win another one of those, he can never be considered the same player he once was.  It has been well over three years since his last major win at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.  Since then, he was beaten late in the 2009 PGA Championship by Y.E. Yang after blowing a two shot lead and shooting 75 on the final day.  He was a non-factor in the 2010 and 2011 Masters despite being near the lead and finishing tied for fourth in both tournaments.

Ah, but the golfing public has an obsession with Tiger Woods.  After all, how can I complain when I am guilty of writing this blog only when I want to complain about Tiger and Tiger lovers everywhere?  Despite the fact that I am openly critical of Woods, he does seem to make things more interesting, even if it does mean rooting against him. 

Golf fans need to step it up.  Can we try showing more interest in other parts of the game in 2012?  There should be some great majors, including the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco and the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, home to the famous "War on the Shore" Ryder Cup in 1991.  In fact, the Ryder Cup itself returns to the United States in September at Medinah Country Club in Illinois.  As of this post, American golfers only hold four of the top 10 places in the World Golf Ranking - will that change in 2012?  How will Rory McIlroy defend his record setting U.S. Open win?  Will Lee Westwood, Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker or Dustin Johnson finally win a major?  I'm looking forward to the 2012 season, whether Tiger is dominant or not.