2008 U.S. Open

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frayne Phil needs to take a HARD look at his game and try and figure out why a half crippled Tiger ate his lunch at his home course.

It's pretty straightforward, when it counts Tiger steps up like few can and Phil folds like most of us would. The greats always have a mental edge that no amount of technical ability (by others) can overcome very often. Watching Tiger finish on Sat, Sun and Mon was more history in the making. The eagles and chip on Sat and having to make a 15 footer on Sun to stay in - it's unbelievable that Tiger is even able to do it so often. It seems clear he will hold all the records if he stays healthy for at least 10 more years...and I hope he does.

[laurence]

Greatest tournament I ever watched, we all took a long lunch Monday to hit the local pub here in San Diego to watch the playoff. Had a coworker who volunteers as a PGA official, and was there in person, lucky #$%! I wished they could have both won.

I think it's true they lavish the praise a little heavy on Tiger, and give him a lot of the coverage, but hey, as long as he's winning and is what the viewer wants to see, it's the right move. You don't hear the other golfers grumble too much because he is raising the total purse size every year as viewership and sponsorship keeps going up and up and up...what was Rocco's take, $800k?

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurencewill You don't hear the other golfers grumble too much because he is raising the total purse size every year as viewership and sponsorship keeps going up and up and up...what was Rocco's take, $800k?

When Tiger first became a pro, some of the players resented the large contracts he signed. Phil was one. But things certainly have changed. The purses have sky rocketed and all the players have benefited by Tiger's stardom. Phil has even said as much. I read not long ago that Phil made around 40 mil a year on endorsements. Way behind Tiger, but he can't be too unhappy with that.

[frayne]

From The NY Times
Op-Ed Columnist
The Frozen Gaze
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: June 17, 2008
Rocco Mediate's head swiveled about as he walked up the fairway of the sudden-death hole of the U.S. Open on Monday. Somebody would catch his attention, and his eyes would dart over and he'd wave or make a crack. Tiger Woods's gaze, on the other hand, remained fixed on the ground, a few feet ahead of his steps. He was, as always, locked in, focused and self-contained.
The fans greeted Mediate with fraternal affection and Woods with reverence. Most were probably rooting for Rocco, but only because Woods, the inevitable victor, has risen above mere human status and become an embodiment of immortal excellence. That frozen gaze of his looks out from airport billboards, TV commercials and the ad pages. And its ubiquity is proof that every age finds the heroes it needs.
In a period that has brought us instant messaging, multitasking, wireless distractions and attention deficit disorder, Woods has become the exemplar of mental discipline. After watching Woods walk stone-faced through a roaring crowd, the science writer Steven Johnson, in a typical comment, wrote: "I have never in my life seen a wider chasm between the look in someone's eye and the surrounding environment."
The coverage of him often centers upon this question: How did this creature come about? The articles inevitably mention his precocity (at age 3, he shot a 48 on the front nine of a regulation course) and provide examples of his athletic prowess: Once Woods tried out four drivers that Nike was experimenting with and told the lab guys that he preferred the heavier one. The researchers thought the clubs were the same weight, but they measured and Woods was right. The club he'd selected was heavier by the equivalent of two cotton balls.
But inevitably, it is his ability to enter the cocoon of concentration that is written about and admired most. Writers describe the way Earl Woods, his lieutenant colonel father, dropped his golf bag while Tiger was swinging to toughen his mind. They describe his mother's iron discipline at home. "Old man is soft," Kultida Woods once said of her husband. "?He cry. He forgive people. Not me. I don't forgive anybody."
Tiger was the one dragging them out on the course to practice. At age 6 months, he was put in a baby chair and had the ability, his father claimed, to watch golf for two hours without losing focus.
As an adult, he is famously self-controlled. His press conferences are a string of carefully modulated banalities. His lifestyle is meticulously tidy. His style of play is actuarial. He calculates odds and avoids unnecessary risks like the accounting major he once planned on being. "I am, by nature, a control freak" he once told John Garrity of Sports Illustrated, as Garrity resisted the temptation to reply, "You think?"
And for that, in this day and age, he stands out. As I've been trying to write this column, I've toggled over to check my e-mail a few times. I've looked out the window. I've jotted down random thoughts for the paragraphs ahead. But Woods seems able to mute the chatter that normal people have in their heads and build a tunnel of focused attention.
Writers get rhapsodic over this facility."Woods's concentration often seems to be made of the same stuff as the liquid-metal cyborg in Terminator 2: If you break it, it reforms," David Owen wrote in Men's Vogue.
Then they get spiritual. In Slate, Robert Wright only semi-facetiously compared Woods to Gandhi, for his ability to live in the present and achieve transcendent awareness. Analysts inevitably bring up his mother's Buddhism, his experiments in meditation. They describe his match-mentality in the phrases one might use to describe a guru achieving nirvana. He achieves, they say, perfect clarity, tranquility and flow. We're talking about somebody who is the primary spokesman for Buick, and much of the commentary about him is on the subject of his elevated spiritual capacities.
And here we're getting to the nub of what's so remarkable about the "Be A Tiger" phenomenon: He's become the beau ideal for golf-loving corporate America, the personification of mental fortitude.
The ancients were familiar with physical courage and the priests with moral courage, but in this over-communicated age when mortals feel perpetually addled, Woods is the symbol of mental willpower. He is, in addition, competitive, ruthless, unsatisfied by success and honest about his own failings. (Twice, he risked his career to retool his swing.)
During the broadcast of Monday's playoff round, Nike ran an ad that had Earl Woods's voice running over images of his son: 'I'd say, "Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life. And he hasn't. And he never will."
You can like this model or not. Either way, the legend grows.

[Boxkicker]

I worked as a volunteer Thursday thru Sunday in the Merchandise tent. One of the benefits was watching golf when I wasn't working. I had alot of fun watching and following certain groups. I met quite a few parents of the "no-name" golfers (including Justin Hicks..the 1st round leader). Very down to earth parents!

Also, I got to meet Phil Mickelson's dad, when I was working, who patented a gadget called "Sportscope" basically a telescopect machine to look over a crowd and see the golfers. It also helped that he was a Navy pilot, so I struck up a conversation about the Navy. Very nice guy!

Today was 50% off ALL merchandise in the tent, so I went and spent a couple hundred buying some tee shirts and golf shirts and got some good deals.

I won't go into the fact that I learned to play golf in 1992 at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, CA when I was stationed in Long Beach. Can you guess who else learned to play on that course? Can you guess who I used to see playing on the course working on his game with his dad back then? Can you guess who I met on the range and chatted with before he became famous. I won't give you any clues....but he has won 14 majors.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxkicker I won't go into the fact that I learned to play golf in 1992 at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, CA when I was stationed in Long Beach. Can you guess who else learned to play on that course? Can you guess who I used to see playing on the course working on his game with his dad back then? Can you guess who I met on the range and chatted with before he became famous. I won't give you any clues....but he has won 14 majors.

Pretty cool. Just curious......when he played there, did he play with other kids or was he always with his Dad? The old clips we see of him makes it look like he never played with other guys his age except for maybe in tournaments.

[Boxkicker]

Everytime I saw him (which was almost daily...because I was at a command that was decommissioning and it was slooooow), he was either with his dad or his caddie, who was also a Navy Captain who was his sports psychologist. Same guy who helped him win all those US Am's.

Him and his dad would take a cart and his dad would sit in the cart and Tiger would just hit shots around the course.

Most of the early shots you see in that commercial are filmed at the Navy Golf Course. It even starts the commercial there.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxkicker Everytime I saw him (which was almost daily...because I was at a command that was decommissioning and it was slooooow), he was either with his dad or his caddie, who was also a Navy Captain who was his sports psychologist. Same guy who helped him win all those US Am's. Him and his dad would take a cart and his dad would sit in the cart and Tiger would just hit shots around the course. Most of the early shots you see in that commercial are filmed at the Navy Golf Course. It even starts the commercial there.

Kinda of sad in a way. Sounds like he didn't have much interaction with other kids but obviously everything worked out well. He's close to being a billionaire and has a family so all is good.

I wonder if I would have been a successful pro golfer if I could have had a sports psychologist as a kid?

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 Kinda of sad in a way. Sounds like he didn't have much interaction with other kids but obviously everything worked out well. He's close to being a billionaire and has a family so all is good. I wonder if I would have been a successful pro golfer if I could have had a sports psychologist as a kid?

It would not have hurt. Plus,having oodles of talent never hurts either...........

Nice avatar..........

[CitricAcid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frayne Phil needs to take a HARD look at his game and try and figure out why a half crippled Tiger ate his lunch at his home course.

BIG If, but IF you take out that quadruple bogie for Phil on Saturday's 13th, he only finished three back from the lead. By the way, Nick Faldo in the booth is just a match made in heaven. Harrison Ford and he should cohost a Golf special.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CitricAcid BIG If, but IF you take out that quadruple bogie for Phil on Saturday's 13th, he only finished three back from the lead. By the way, Nick Faldo in the booth is just a match made in heaven. Harrison Ford and he should cohost a Golf special.

Take out the 3 double bogeys Tiger had on Hole 1, and he wins in a cakewalk........just pointing that out.........

[REWahoo]

Ooops...

Woods to have knee surgery, miss rest of golf season

[CitricAcid]

Just saying, even with his "horrific" showing, Mickelson actually didn't finish that poorly. Sunday 68!

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Ooops... Woods to have knee surgery, miss rest of golf season

I figured something was up........that explains it.........

So, Tiger won the US Open with a torn ACL and a double stress fracture of the tibia? I got a whole new level of respect for that dude now.................

[laurence]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude I figured something was up........that explains it......... So, Tiger won the US Open with a torn ACL and a double stress fracture of the tibia? I got a whole new level of respect for that dude now.................

Amen to that.

Of course, Nike, NBC, USGA, PGA, etc. are all crying their eyes out over the ratings plummet for every event from now on.

NASCAR is probably happy though.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurencewill Of course, Nike, NBC, USGA, PGA, etc. are all crying their eyes out over the ratings plummet for every event from now on.

I think Tiger's caddy would be the most unhappy of the bunch... is he still on the list of the tour's top moneywinners?

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurencewill Amen to that. Of course, Nike, NBC, USGA, PGA, etc. are all crying their eyes out over the ratings plummet for every event from now on. NASCAR is probably happy though.

I'm sure Paul Azinger, US Ryder Cup captain, is crying his eyes out too. Of course we haven't been able to beat the Europeans the last few tries with Tiger and he has not played well in those matches for some reason. Oh well, I guess this explains why he has been so hush mouth about his injury. If he had told the world about it last year, the press would have been hounding him day and night wanting interviews to discuss the matter. He can't fart without the press asking....'What caused that?'.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude Nice avatar..........

Thanks. Not sure where I stumbled across it.

[mickeyd]

Even a severely damaged Tiger Woods is better than the rest of the golf world. Televised events will suffer the most IMHO.

[Texas Proud]

Everybody keep talking about how 'focused' Tiger is when playing....

But I have seen many a time where he steps back and stares down someone who took a picture to soon.... you can't be that focused if you are disturbed by a camera click...

He is the best... no question... and sorry to see he will be out the rest of the season...