Take that, biatches!
Last year at Congressional Country Club, it was Rory McIlroy capturing the U.S. Open in record-breaking fashion. This time around it was Tiger Woods winning the 2012 AT&T National to record his 74th PGA Tour victory and passing Jack Nicklaus’ all-time career win list.
I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting week. It was actually mostly eerie, but I swear, I said on Thursday or Friday that Tiger would snag his third win of the season — that’s 3 in his last 7 starts, no less. I’m mostly just thrilled that I started him in my Fantasy Golf lineup. Bonus points!
Joking aside.
In what was a thrilling duel on Sunday between Tiger and Bo Van Pelt, the 14-time champion ended up atop the leaderboard. Tiger tapped-in for par on No. 18 at Congressional Country Club to seal the victory. Compared to the dramatic way things unfolded at Memorial, this was a little anti-climactic. But, it was a compelling back nine, which had been so exciting and then Bo faded away, bogeying the last three holes, but it was still witnessing history in the making.
The key to his win? His putting — which he credited to a tip that former Stanford teammate Notah Begay gave him earlier in the week.
Many more thoughts on Tiger’s win to come, but what’s your instant reaction? Tiger made sure to bring up that some media folks were saying four months ago that he’d never win again. Who were those idiots again, anyway?
OK, is he player of the year in your mind? Or is his season not complete without a major? Will he win either the Open Championship or the PGA?
By the way, this is kind of like 2009, with Tiger winning the same three tournaments so far (Bay Hill, Memorial and AT&T). He ended the season with six victories — can’t really complain, but there was an asterisk since none of them were majors. It was also the PGA Championship where Y.E. Yang took down Tiger in the final round at Hazeltine.
Alright, let’s hear your thoughts. I’ve got a ride to catch to somewhere with power.
(Getty Images/Rob Carr)
Tiger has won at Jack’s Place, Arnie’s house and his tourney… not too bad. Tiger is clearly the favorite for the last 2 majors and he is playing like the best in the world — again.
The PGA notes that Tiger has won over 27% of his professional events — he is the GOAT
Tiger’s the only three-time PGA winner this year; all credit deserved. But as a fan, would like to see him battle with the young guns at their best. List: K. Bradley, W. Simpson, M. Kuchar, D.Johnson, B. Watson. R. Fowler, H. Mahan. Seems like either they or Tiger wilt when it could get interesting. This is not to take anything away from the solid ballstriker BVP. Just . . .
YOu do know that most of those young guns you mentioned played at Bay Hill and Jack’s place.
A little surprised not to see more of reaction from the pro & anti Tiger camps. Is he genuinely back?
The ratings for the AT&T were up 188% over last year. So as far as the networks are concerned — Tiger is back.
I feel like Tiger’s having a “Kobe Bryant” season — some games Kobe would go for 50 and was simply unstoppable. But he couldn’t carry his team to the finals. It’s not a perfect metaphor but — overall, TW is still the best golfer playing now. For most anyone else three wins is a career year… nobody, for instance, is asking whether Dufner is “back” or not.
Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at where everyone else is going… where is Bradley, what happened to people like Martin Kaymer… I would say right now your MVP contestants are Tiger, Bubba, Dufner, in that order.
MVP is always Tiger but I would not have Bubba in that list. Yes he won a major but you could just as easily put Simpson instead. The official Randy Watson rankings are as follows:
- Tiger
- Dufner
- Mahan
- Crane
- Simpson
- Bubba
- Kuchar
I think the only thing that really matters to Tiger and most everybody else is the major’s.
These “little” or non-major wins are starting to feel like a pre-season win in the NFL.
-Tiger is definitely back. He is playing like the Tiger of old, nothing can stop him now!
-Tiger is not back, and won’t be back until he wins a major.
There, that should accurately predict the two types of responses that will be in the 40 posts that follow this one. .
Tiger is back major or not. He is the best in the world again and the number 1 ranking will come soon too. He will hold every relevant record by age 40 or 41. Game over. Just feel lucky you were alive to witness it.
Again.. Tiger hater and trolls..go pound sand!! Tiger+Military+Foundation+ Hot Sticky Step Wei = WIN!!
Tiger is clearly the best player on the planet and passing Jacks total wins at 36 yrs old makes a valid argument that he is and will end up the greatest golfer of all time.
The Back argument is pointless and meaningless. Everyone changes over time. Beyond that if your definition is a major, does that mean TW was gone in ’09, ’04 etc?
PGA tour wins do have meaning (majors just mean more). This yr Tiger has been the best player in the world. The key for him will be finding more consistency, rather than yo-yoing between win and t40.
Nice win by T-dub.
Too bad I had to go to a Canada Day BBQ and missed the last 1.5 hours.
While I agree that major’s are what TW gets up for, he is also the only player that shows up to so few events ready to win. He doesn’t commit to an event unless he is all in and focused to win, and that is something the other guys just do not do and it shows. You look at the sheer #’s of repeat tournament wins he’s had, and its just ridiculous. Firestone, AP, Memorial, Torrey pines, Doral, Cog Hill, and now Congressional.
Marky Mark is avoiding this thread like the plague!
[...] After an $85 million renovation, a guy can do just about anything he likes: golf with his buds, eat steak till it comes out his ears, or even play some Blackjack with "The King."Weekend Golfers Present 'play Golf: Between The Ears'After an $85 million renovation, a guy can do just about anything he likes: golf with his buds, eat …//colson53.GOLFMENTAL.hop.clickbank.net/")'> [...]
Anytime you win 3 times in a season on the most competitive tour in the world is a good year. Yes he obviously wants to win a major but 3 wins none the less is an awesome effort.
I can see him winning at least another 2 / 3 before the year is out.
I like TW’s renewed interest in “Less than Majors”. It just appeared to me that he became at best ambivalent at these type events since his troubles, and even when he played he was simply preparing for the Majors.
His interest in winning these lesser events can only benefit his competitiveness when those 4 events pop on the calendar.
I think he’s back but beating Nicklaus’ 18 majors is still a 50/50 bet.
To me the question is, which is the real New Tiger: the one who choked on 16 or the one who clinched on 18?
On 16, with the tournament in the balance, he hit a bad drive, laid up, then overcooked the wedge approach. He was lucky that BVP played it worse, really.
On 18, he closed the door.
The approach shot Tiger hit on 16 was not bad — he just didn’t get the bite he expected on the green. It definitely was not a choke job. You can tell from his reaction after stiking the ball that he thought it was good.
And the sawed off 9 iron from 188 yards was one of his best shots of the day. If Tiger was a choker he could have easily hooked that ball into the water.
Tiger told us what the standard was when he turned professional. The standard was 18. The standard bearer is Jack Nicklaus.
Nothing else matters.
Does winning non-majors bode well for his chances of winning majors ? Sure. If he’s playing well and confident, that increases his chances in majors.
Tiger only cares about majors. And since that’s all he cares about, that’s all we should care about.
Don’t think he’ll win the Open Championship, as I don’t think he’s had much success or likes the course, and weather is always a factor, a little rain and a little win and Tiger is fine, but TONS of WIND, or TONS of COLD does not bode well for large cats.
Again I think he’ll win PGA. And POY, and Money List, and the Golf World will be set back on its correct axis again.
If the weather is bad (especially wind) I like Tiger’s chances of winning the open. Tiger has always stood out when the conditions are less than perfect.
One of the reasons Tiger won this weekend was that the course was playing tougher than it did during the US Open last year.
@ 3Foot1
I agree, his play on 16 was pretty poor. Kostis thought the drive was fine, but just aimed too far left and went straight and didn’t cut over the bunkers. The layup was perfect, but Joey shouldn’t have let him hit that wedge – they should have played short for a two-putt. That shot in particular was the worst decision I saw him make in the round, they knew the greens were firm, the pin was tucked in the back – why fire at it and spin? Why not play a two hop check to 20-30 feet instead?
Great win by Tiger. Thankfully he got the right SW’s in his bag after Thursday…or maybe he just stopped hitting it in the bunkers. I think he’ll definitely pass Snead for all time wins, not sure about Jack and majors though.
On another note, Golf.com needs a lot more Wei and a lot less Van Sickle/Bamberger…
I agree with you on your Golf.com comments. The entire golf media needs more Wei and a lot less Feinstein/Miceli (no pun intended). But just think of how much the tour could save on donuts.
Why exactly is Feinstein employed? At least Miceli works at it, even if he is a clown.
As for a balance, how about 10 parts Wei, 3 Miceli, and 0 Feinstein?
Should Tiger be a candidate for comeback player of the year? Would he consider that an insult because he believes he never went away?
Well well… it looks like Tiger isn’t he worn out golfer that Conor Nagle tried to convince us he is…
Congrat’s to Tiger for this win – btw, didn’t look like he squeaked out the win to me…