Capelle On Golf

On paper it looked like a total mismatch. The 5’,7” 165 pound Tim Clark (0 PGA Tour wins) would be out driven and outplayed by the 6’,1” 185 pound Tiger Woods (65 tour wins) in what would surely be a repeat of the 5&4 drubbing Tiger handed him the last time they competed at match play in the 2007 WGC.

But Tim Clark had other ideas. Drawing on his memories of outplaying Tiger in the final holes of the 2006 Masters, Clark sent Tiger home to Elin and the kids in Florida. Clark’s surgically precise display of golf was what the experts were expecting from Tiger after his warm up round against Brenda (never had a chance) Jones.

By the time Woods conceded Clark’s four foot birdie putt on the 16th green, the diminutive South African was six deep into red figures. Meanwhile Tiger, at -1, was anything but back – on his game that is.

Minutes after the match the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman tossed a few nerf balls Tiger’s way. In response to her query about his game, Tiger said, “I played really well today.”

This came just minutes after Tiger played his last six holes, which include two par fives and a driveable par four, in one over par.

11 – Drove into the fairway bunker to the right, third is short of the green, makes bogey on a par 5. One down.
12 – His tee shot is short and right on this par 3. He scrambles for par, but falls two down.
13 – Tiger pushes his second into the right rough behind the green and makes par to go three down.
14 – Dives right into a fairway bunker, bunkers his approach shot, then holes it to win the hole. Two down.
15 – Drives way right into the desert, OB. Loses hole. Three down.
16 – Misses the green to the right on this short par 3. Chips close but his par loses to Clarke’s conceded 4’ birdie. Four down – game over.

Notice a trend here? On every one of Tiger’s final six holes he missed a shot to the right. Evidently Tiger is in denial because he added that, “I had one bad 8-iron today and one bad drive in two days.”

Finally this: “So from the standpoint of ball striking I’m very pleased with the way I hit the ball.” If he is, his opponents can breathe a collective sigh of relief because Tiger’s new standard is well below what they’ve grown accustomed to his first dozen years on tour.

Kelly continued with a question about his schedule, mentioning the Doral in two weeks, Tiger’s preserve. But Tiger was non committal.
“I’m going to go home and relax a bit,” was his reply. He needs to go home all right, but not to relax. The Masters is in six short weeks and his swing is in need of major repairs.

But maybe relaxation is what he needs. Despite his insistence that he feels fine, he did say yesterday that he would be icing his knee after the round. And Tiger is known for being less than totally candid about his health.

So maybe his knee is bothering him more than he lets on, which is why he won’t say when he’s playing next. And for his sponsors sake and golf’s perhaps he wants everyone to believe that golf’s superman of old is back. Maybe so, but we won’t know for sure until he starts racking up those trademark Ws.