Royal Lytham brings Tiger to his knees
Tiger Woods had a well-thought-out game plan going into the Open Championship. Come hell (Royal Lytham’s 206 bunkers) or high water (standard Open conditions), he was going to stick to it. In the end, arguably, it wasn’t his strategy that caused him to come up short of breaking his major-less streak, it was his execution (though I think he could have been less obstinate given the changing conditions).
The image of Woods kneeling down in an extremely awkward stance to hit his second shot out of a greenside bunker on No. 6 — after his first attempt caught the lip — will be the one we’re left with when we think of the 14-time major champion and the 142nd Open Championship. He coaxed the ball out onto the front of the green and three-putted for a triple bogey. Then, his three consecutive bogeys on the back nine killed any momentum he had left to make a charge.
Tiger shot a three-over 73 on Sunday at Royal Lytham and finished tied for third, four shots off the pace of Ernie Els’ winning total of seven-under.
Golf is a game of imperfection and millimeters. In Tiger’s case on No. 6, it was the difference of one yard. Tuned out he thought through the execution of the first bunker shot and explained (in detail) why he didn’t play it sideways.
Bunker'd!
“The problem is if I played left I wasn’t assured I could get it to the gallery and get it out of that slope because if it rolls back in the bunker and I’m on the downslope, then I’ve got no backswing,” Woods told reporters after the round. “So I had to be able to blast it into the gallery, and I didn’t think I could get it into the gallery because of the sand — how it piled up on the right side of the ball.
“So the game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it. Unfortunately it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me. Then I tried to play an interesting shot after that and ended up three-putting.”
The triple bogey was costly, but so were the three back-to-back bogeys. Explain the game plan more, please.
“I was right there, the game plan was to shoot under par going out,” said Tiger. “And with the wind the way it was blowing, I was right there in position. I was even par through 5. And 7 was reachable (Sunday). Obviously 9 is playing easy, so I was in position to do what I wanted to do and then turn home and shoot maybe 1- or 2- under par on the back nine and I would have posted an 8- or 9-under par.
“I thought that was going to be the number to win the golf tournament. I thought 8 was a playoff, 9 was to win outright. Unfortunately I just didn’t do it.”
As you heard a gazillion times last week, fairways were premium at Royal Lytham. To ensure he positioned himself well off the tee, Woods left driver in his bag for the most part — and finished second in driving accuracy for the championship (and 74th out of 83 in driving distance) — and he stubbornly didn’t adjust his plan. Arguably, he played the course too defensively. Maybe he should have attacked more coming down the stretch to give himself a shot at catching Adam Scott — or ultimately, Els.
That’s up for debate, but one thing’s for sure: Tiger’s mediocre wedge game cost him. He hit several poor shots from inside 150 yards each day.
Weird, huh?
“Overall I’m pleased with the way I played, unfortunately just a couple here and there ended up costing me some momentum, especially (Sunday) at No. 6,” he said. “Again, I left a lot of putts short out there. The greens were a little bit slow and I tried to put some more hit in my stroke, but they were dying off the front of the lip.”
Woods has won three PGA Tour events this season, which is super impressive and shouldn’t be discounted. We’re hypercritical of him because he is Tiger Woods and set incredibly high standards with what he accomplished in the pre-scandal era. He’s also hypercritical of himself. Though he seemed upbeat (relatively speaking) after his round in his interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, he was definitely pissed (or disappointed).
To Tiger’s credit, he stopped to thank R&A chief Peter Dawson, who was tightly clutching onto the Claret Jug, before he briskly walked off, with bodyguards flanking him on each side.
Another lost opportunity at a major championship. He’s got one shot left in 2012 to capture the elusive No. 15. This year is feeling more and more like 2009 — when he won six regular events but came up short at the four tournaments that matter most.
Predictions?
(Getty Images/Stuart Franklin)
He’s going to win the PGA – write it down.
He has played 18 tournaments on Pete Dye courses and has only won once. And, most of those appearance were when he was at his peak.
If you are writing down a W for Tiggly Wiggly, keep your eraser handy.
Was he ever asked, or did he offer, as to why he didn’t see playing backwards as an option? I know he was close to the front of the bunker, but it seemed to me that backwards was a shot he could have executed, but never seemed to consider.
He won the “non-cheating putter” division! Can we count that as 14 1/2?
Snedeker used a conventional putter too. Plus, it’s perfectly legal to use a long putter or belly putter, Tiger just chooses not to.
I hate the Long Putters…and yes Tiger would have one it. Sorry at the Pro Level.. it’s cheating plain in simple in my mind..
he may never win another major he is so gagging
I’m not a Tiger fan, but I think he’s 90% of the way back, and he’ll close the gap soon.
Tiger switched to Foley to learn a swing that would save his knee. The Foley method changed everything, from driver to putter. The driver, long irons, short game, and even putting have returned almost to pre-Foley levels. The only thing which he hasn’t mastered is distance control on short irons, and I also don’t think he’s completely confident in the full package.
Between now and the Masters he’ll figure out the post-Foley wedge, regain his confidence, , and end up with a major or two in 2013.
The Butch method and Haney method already had major victories before Tiger went to them. The Foley method has never had one despite having a stable full of guys now for five years.
Also, the Foley method is built on the Stack & Tilt foundation (although he argues that he did not borrow many of the ideas despite studying them in detail) and S&T also has zero major championship victories.
The Foley method might help his left knee, but it is unproving at the major championship level.
Non of the students of the Foley method are great mid- to short-iron players. Distance control is a problem for Rose, Mahan, Ames, and was for O’Hair before he left Foley. They also all have suspect short games. However, they all look great of the tee, for what that’s worth.
3 PGA Tour wins in 2012 for a guy mid way through a major swing change….? Finishing as high as he did at the Open is extraordinary given the circumstances.
I think in private, he will question why he didn’t hit the 3-wood stinger off the tee, instead of the iron. Left himself in a position to be defensive on too many approach shots and it finally got him on No. 7 Sunday. But he’ll never admit to the public that his strategy could have been flawed. That’s not how he does things. I think he’ll figure it out but do not think he will win at Kiawah.