Tiger Woods keeps saying how proud he is of his majorless season and how wonderful it was to be so consistent. But we know he’s blowing smoke because it is no secret that being shut out in the majors is, quite frankly, a disaster. The other night on the good old Golf Channel John Feinstein concurred, saying that Tiger would gladly trade his 6 wins for the PGA he lost to Y.E. Yang.
If Woods had been hobbling all season and showing more signs that his rehab was troubling him, then it’s possible we might buy into his double talk. But Tiger started winning in March and didn’t stop all year. Which is to say that the knee had nothing to do with his majorless campaign.
So how impressive really was Tiger’s season?
Majors – 0 for 4 is a Disaster
Masters – Woods was mad all week and was a non-factor despite a final round of 68 that pulled him to within four.
U.S. Open – was again a non-factor, charging to a final four shot deficit with a closing 69.
British Open – missed a cut? In a major?
PGA – let’s face it, he blew this one, shooting a 75 in the final round.
Two More Big Ones Blown
The PLAYERS – Woods entered the final round tied with eventual winner Henrik Stenson. He fumbled his way to a front nine 38 that was worse than the card showed, and signed for a 73, seven higher than Stenson.
The TOUR Championship – Kenny Perry, Woods’ playing partner, self-destructed as expected, but Tiger shot a ho-hum 70 as Phil Mickelson raced by him with a 65 to win by three.
That adds up to six poor performances in the six most important tournaments of the year. A perfect 6 for 6. Next up, those awe inspiring PGA Tour victories.
Arnold Palmer Invitational – Gift Wrapped
This one was a gift from Sean O’Hair, who Johnny Miller claims has the best swing in the universe. O’Hair shot a 73, which tied him for the high round among anyone in the top 39. Woods, his playing partner, shot 67 to beat him by a shot thanks to a 16 foot putt on the 18th on a day when eight of the top 10 broke 70.
The Memorial – Well Played, with Two Assists
Woods closed strong with a 65 and played great golf all week (except for the second round), especially off the tee on the generous fairways of Muirfield Village. Still, he had help. Mark Wilson, who he beat in the 1992 USGA Junior, held a four shot lead over Woods going into the final round, as did Matt Bettencourt. Both conveniently stepped aside for Woods as Wilson shot 73 and Bettencourt a 75. Jonathon Byrd, who led Woods by three, shot a lackluster 72.
AT&T – Solid Closing Round
Tiger’s own tournament awarded him a robust 50 World Golf Ranking points for his W, a total that was boosted by his presence. In short, the field was weak! Anthony Kim and Tiger were paired together in the final group, and were tied for the lead. Maybe the much touted Kim would break through and show Tiger Gen W (for whatever) has some firepower. Not. Tiger shot a solid 67 while Kim “closed” with a poorly managed 71. In second was Hunter Mahan, who scorched Congressional with a closing 62.
Buick Open –A Win on the Nationwide Tour
Tiger should be embarrassed for taking credit for a TV on this one. He earned 36 WGR points, but only because he played. Call it the Tiger bonus. Only four other members of the top 50 were in attendance, and none was a factor leaving Woods to do battle with Michael Letzig, who closed with a 73 to Woods’ 69.
WGC – Bridgestone – With Some Help from a Friend
Tiger always wins this one (7 times), so it’s just a matter of how. This time the answer was provided by triple major winner Padraig Harrington, who made a triple bogey 8 to Tiger’s birdie 4 on the sixteenth, a four shot difference which happened to be the final margin. Tiger did close with a 65 to Paddy’s 72. Oh, Harrington was also paired with Tiger and began the final round with a three stroke lead.
BMW Championship – Tiger Dominates
Woods showed up with his A game and a hot putter on greens to his liking on a course he’s won at four times previously. Stew this together and you have vintage Tiger, dominating the field by eight shot.
Woods had a horrible year by his standards in the majors, the only tournaments that really count. He had a chance to win the next two biggest, but played poorly in the final rounds. As for his six wins, he did close strongly in all of them, averaging 66.8. Still, he could have easily lost all but the BMW if his opponent’s hadn’t folded. And, as I said, the super weak fielded Buick Open should be stricken from the record.
Tiger’s knee couldn’t have been that big a problem or else he would have had a rebuilding year like 2004 when he won only once. I consider every year Tiger won at least one major to be better than 2009. Of his four majorless years, this one is the best, ranking ahead of 1998, 2003, and his dreadful 2004. So, all things considered, Tiger’s 2009 ranks tenth out of 13.
RSS
8 responses so far ↓
1 BD // Sep 29, 2009 at 7:47 am
Once again, I think you’re being unduly harsh on Tiger. Tiger’s not winning a major made it a down year for him; it wasn’t a “disaster.” He won 6 times, won the Fedex Cup, will probably win POTY, topped the money list, expanded his lead in the world rankings, etc. That’s not a disaster, even for Tiger.
My other problem with your analysis is that you’re implicitly criticizing Tiger for publicly taking the position that regular, non-major Tour events matter to him. This is simply wrongheaded for a couple of reasons. First, I can’t even tell you what kind of ass Tiger would sound like if he “honestly” came out and declared that winning a regular Tour event was so easy or boring for him that he didn’t really care about those events. Second, while everyone understands Tiger’s principal goal is to break Jack’s record, it doesn’t follow that he doesn’t care about his career win totals. He obviously wants to get Snead’s record too, and possibly win 100 times for his career. For that matter, it’s safe to assume that any time Tiger tees it up, he wants to win. The idea that his sole objective in golf is to win majors — and non-major events mean nothing to him — is just silly.
I agree that Tiger’s year was disappointing to both him and his fans. However, it doesn’t represent a backward step in his career. He accomplished a lot even if he didn’t win the expected 1-2 majors.
2 MikeZ // Sep 29, 2009 at 1:50 pm
BD, I don’t think meant that Tiger’s whole year was a “disaster,” just one aspect of it, his performance in the majors. But anyway …
To me the most interesting aspect of Tiger’s year is that he has shown signs of cracking in the final rounds, as Phil pointed out. Most obviously and shockingly in the PGA, but in a couple of “lesser” tournaments, as well. And his temperament at the Masters, to me, showed signs of stress and strain. I think the pursuit may be getting to him — not to mention the stresses and strains of trying to couple professional golf with fatherhood.
I can’t wait for next year! With a refreshed and confident Phil (as of Sunday anyway) and a resurgent Paddy, I think we’re in for some historic battles in the majors. Maybe O’Hair and (dare I say?) Stricker and a few others (Glover? McIlroy? Garcia? Bueller?) will step it up, as well. It would not shock me to see Tiger go major-less again in 2010.
Not an official prediction, mind you. I’m just sayin’ …
3 BD // Sep 29, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I agree the pressure of it all may be getting to Tiger. At the very least, I think that’s a reasonable inference (none of us can know for sure what’s going on in his mind).
4 Phil // Sep 30, 2009 at 9:29 am
BD
I focus mostly on what Woods does in the majors because they are really what count to him and Nicklaus. Some make a big deal about his tour victories, but other than the majors, nobody remembers them, except that he won tons of them on a select roster of pet courses. I have about 10 good (no, excellent) reasons why TVs are a poor metric which I will talk about at length at a future date.
Last year, Tiger said Harrington got his vote for POY because “he’s got two.” Majors. This year TVs and not majors are what counts because he wants POY and is making his case.
Mike
The evidence is showing that Tiger is not performing as well in the bigger event and may be feeling the pressure - I may write more on this.
Good roster of names that should make us excited for 2010! 7+ months and counting till Augusta!!
5 BD // Sep 30, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I don’t think Tiger is changing his tune because he wants the POY. If he were that unprincipled, he would have lobbied for it last year, rather than publicly declare that it should go to Harrington.
Clearly majors are more important than TVs. Tiger is not alone in thinking so. That’s why they call them “majors,” after all.
That said, I can’t abide by the notion that ANY major win is better than ANY NUMBER of TVs. To take an extreme case, let’s say a player won 25 TVs in a single year, but no majors (all 4 of which were won by a different player). Would anyone seriously argue the player WASN’T the most dominant golfer that year, and deserving of every imaginable accolade?
The question then becomes deciding what number of TVs in a given year are as impressive as a single major? Obviously, adjustments to the scale may be appropriate depending on the major in question — I rank PGA a notch or two below the U.S. Open, for example — the tour events in question, and the player’s other accomplishments for the year (like winning the FedEx Cup, for example).
Even though there are a lot of regular tour events during the season, the fact remains that most players DON’T win any events and very few win more than two in a year. Winning 6 is a very big deal. Without looking it up, I would imagine at least 50 different players have won at least 1 professional major in the last 50 years. How many different players have won 6 times on Tour in a year? Five? (Is it EVEN five???) The point is, winning that many events a year is a much rarer accomplishment for the simple reason that SOMEBODY has to win each of the 4 majors but nobody has to win 6 events (or even 2).
6 Phil // Sep 30, 2009 at 6:31 pm
BD
I think last year Tiger, with one major and a short season, scored PR points by conceding the obvious to Harrington. Four players have a major with no much else, he has none, but he’s politicking hard for his big TV season, I believe, in an effort to be voted POY. I think there is a lot more of the politican in Woods than most realize.
Feinstein said basically 6 TVs are worth less than a major. It’s all hypothetical unless some weighting scheme were created for TVs and majors other than FedExCup points and WGR points. Even 10 is, I suppose, too many to trade for one major. Interesting concept.
Six minus the Buick (minor league field) = five - O’Hair & Harrington = Three. That’s the number of TVs he would have won if today’s player’s weren’t such choke artists
7 Jade // Oct 21, 2009 at 5:25 am
Can someone explain to me why Tiger can attract so many new golf enthusiasts & viewers who otherwise never watched golf?
8 Phil Capelle // Oct 22, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Jade,
I think our culture goes nuts over those who win, and never stops to think about the person they are rooting for. Marketing is also part of the answer - he’s been a one man show from day one, so most of the attention is focused on him.
Leave a Comment