Capelle On Golf

I predicted that there was no way Tiger Woods would not win the PGA after both the second and third rounds – and that Y.E. Yang would be Tiger’s latest Sunday victim. But then again, I was not alone in this assessment.

Yang, however, was not about to roll over and play dead.  From his opening tee shot he played a solid round tee to green while Tiger couldn’t get anything going on the front nine. So, after nine holes to play, Yang had erased a two shot deficit with a 36 while Tiger carded a birdie-less 38 on the front. On to the back nine where majors start on Sunday.

It looked like the momentum might turn in Tiger’s favor after he got a huge break on 10 when his drive into the trees bounded back into the fairway. But his 12 foot birdie putt missed badly to the left. Yang matched his par.

On the par 5 11th Tiger asserted himself with a long drive and 280 yard second shot that set up a two putt birdie, giving him a one shot advantage. But on 12 he pulled his drive into the left rough, overshot the green, and made bogey. So, with 66 played and 6 to go, Yang and Woods were deadlocked at -6. Game on.

The next two holes went a long way towards deciding the outcome according to Woods. On the long par 3 13th, Tiger would certainly retake the lead after he stuffed his tee shot to within 10 feet while Yang bunkered his. But Tiger missed and Yang saved par with an eight footer and they remained tied at -6.

Then, on to the driveable par 4 14th, Woods bunkered his tee shot, but blasted to 10 feet. At this point, there were numerous possibilities, but no one guessed what came next: in what will go down as one of the biggest and most memorable shots in major championship history, Yang chipped in from 60+ feet for an eagle two! Tiger, grinding hard, did well to hole his birdie putt and stay within a shot.

At the long par 5 15th, both made pars after Tiger’s 12’ birdie putt singed the left edge. At the water happy par 4 16th, both made two putt pars, so Tiger still trailed by a shot with a two to go. At the 182 yard 17th, Yang’s tee shot stopped 30 feet short, an excellent shot considering the pressure. Woods striped his iron but a gust of wind sent it into the deep grass over the green. According to David Feherty, Tiger’s chip, which stopped 15’ short, was “Just a rotten shot.”

Yang, who had a chance to put this away, seized up at impact and his putt stopped 8 feet short. If Tiger made and Yang missed, they would be tied with one to play. They both missed, so Yang clung to a one shot lead on the 18th tee.

Surely this would be the time Yang the upstart would pull his version of a Van de Velde and self destruct. No way, not for the man who says he works hard to ensure that his mental game matches his shotmaking.

Instead, Yang hit his tee shot six inches off the left side of the fairway. Meanwhile Tiger bombed his to perfect position down the left right side of the fairway. A Yang bogey and/or a Woods birdie looked like distinct possibilities. But then Yang dropped a bomb for the second time by hitting a 3 hybrid that landed within a foot and rolled about 8 feet past the cup. Like his chip on 14, we’ll be seeing this one for years to come.

Tiger’s approach stopped in the greenside rough, and he gouged it out to about seven feet. Yang, who had two putts to win, calmly rolled it home to claim his first major.

All week long the TV audience has been bombarded with replays of Tiger’s awesome second shot from the bunker on 18 in 2002. This was not lost on Feherty, who uttered the line of the week when he said, “It’s ironic that the greatest shot Tiger Woods ever hit was over that same tree (as Yang’s second).”

Tiger Woods Makes History
Whenever Tiger plays in a major, a ton of historical significance goes with his finish. In this case, he had a chance to tie Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus for the most PGA titles at five, but he did not. He had a chance to exceed Nicklaus’ best annual majors streak by extending his to five straight, but he did not. He had a chance to pull to within three majors of the big one, but he did not. He had a chance to stay perfect at holding 36 hole leads in majors, but he is now 8 for 9. And he had the opportunity to keep his third round leading batting average in majors at 1.000, but it dropped to .933. (For the record, Nicklaus was a perfect 8 for 8 with third round leads.)

But what Tiger did do was finish second for the sixth time in a major, pulling to within 13 of Nicklaus, who owns the record with 19 runner-up finishes. While “second sucks”, Rocco Mediate and Tom Watson have reminded us in the last 14 months that a hard fought loss is nothing to be ashamed of, and that it does indeed count on the scales of greatness. If it didn’t, Tiger might as well have missed the cut as he did at the British Open.

Tiger in the Future
Looking ahead, Tiger’s got eight months to work on his game and to ponder what it’s going to take to start making putts again in the majors. At the British Open, wayward shots were his demise. At the other three majors, however, deficiencies with the short stick were, according to Tiger, the primary reason why he did not win.

It is too soon to say that Tiger’s major winning days are behind him, that Tiger has lost the magic on the greens in the clutch. But his putting, always his biggest strength, is looking like a weakness.

Some awful big names, including Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Ben Hogan saw their winning days come to an end because of the putter. And now we have Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson, who have all looked miserable on the short grass in recent seasons in the big ones.

And who knows? Maybe Yang has taught this generation of weak closers that it is possible to beat Tiger on Sunday, and maybe Tiger also knows now that he can be beaten as well.