Why do people do it? Why question Tiger Woods? All you do is give him even more motivation to come out and beat you next time. So what was Retief Goosen thinking on Tuesday morning?!
In the aftermath of Tiger Woods' dramatic US Open play-off win the usually friendly and sensible South African announced that he thought Tiger was, to all intents and purposes, 'faking it'. That his knee was not as bad as he was making out and that the world number one was searching for sympathy and excuses.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, how wrong could he be? Well, actually, an absolute mile off!
Just a matter of hours later Tiger Woods tells his website that he is having to go under the knife again to repair a badly damaged knee ligament and also that he had not only won the US Open with a dodgy knee, but he had a double stress fracture of his left leg too.
How's that for 'milking it' Retief?
It is sad that a talented and clever man such as Goosen should fall into such a trap of criticising and questioning Woods.
The bad news for the rest of the golfing world, apart from the lack of interest that will now ensue as a result of Woods' absence, is that Goosen has provided Tiger with all the ammunition he needs to add to his major tally upon his return.
Saturday 21 June 2008
ANYONE FANCY THE RUSSIANS?
Holland are now second favourites to win Euro 2008, behind the Germans, but must get past the Russians tonight in order to progress to the semi-finals. Personally, I feel this will be their greatest test to date!
Guus Hiddink’s side 'turned it on' in their final group game against Sweden and looked a class act. In fact, if Pavluychenko had been able to finish then it could well have been five or six. The Zenit playmaker Andrei Arshavin also looked like a truly world class player, scoring and making chances at will. Should these two perform tonight, I don’t know if the Dutch defence will be able to deal with them.
So far, Holland have played both France and Italy, and destroyed them both. Sure, a team of trained chimps could have beaten France, and Italy were far from their best but they still scored 9 goals in the group stages. Defensively they have looked comfortable to date but the Russian's roaming full backs and clever front men could carve them apart.
So tonight, I expect lots of goals, lots of excitement and plenty of fast, flowing and entertaining football. The Dutch have looked strong but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Russians cause an upset!
Guus Hiddink’s side 'turned it on' in their final group game against Sweden and looked a class act. In fact, if Pavluychenko had been able to finish then it could well have been five or six. The Zenit playmaker Andrei Arshavin also looked like a truly world class player, scoring and making chances at will. Should these two perform tonight, I don’t know if the Dutch defence will be able to deal with them.
So far, Holland have played both France and Italy, and destroyed them both. Sure, a team of trained chimps could have beaten France, and Italy were far from their best but they still scored 9 goals in the group stages. Defensively they have looked comfortable to date but the Russian's roaming full backs and clever front men could carve them apart.
So tonight, I expect lots of goals, lots of excitement and plenty of fast, flowing and entertaining football. The Dutch have looked strong but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Russians cause an upset!
Monday 16 June 2008
THE BEST MAJOR OF ALL TIME?
Exactly what it says on the tin, was the US Open the best major championship that the golfing world has ever seen?
Personally...yes, an enequivocal and definitive yes at that.
Torrey Pines gave us everything we wanted this week, and more on top of that for good measure.
For the first two days the USGA decided to make the world's top three players - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson and Adam Scott - go head-to-head by grouping them together. Woods and Mickleson do not get on, as we all well know, and on day two in particular the drama and excitement surrounding the trio was immense.
Elsewhere, there were qualifiers and unknown quantities firing themselves to the top of the leaderboard, before falling away dramatically moments later...all except the new household name, Rocco Mediate.
The weekend arrived with great anticipation adn a billion questions to be answered, most of which surrounded Tiger Woods. How was the knee? Will the knee hold up any longer? Will he have to pull out? Is what he is doing really possible? Oh, and an Englishman - Lee Westwood - was in contention and looking strong.
Naturally Tiger took all the headlines away from the man from Worksop on Saturday evening by treating the 50,000-plus spectators to a collection of trademark 'Tiger Moments'.
A winding eagle putt the length of the 13th green brought him back into contention after a sloppy opening nine, the cheer that greetedthe sight of the ball dropping into the hole was almost deafening. Then, having wasted the momentum he gained there, the world number one slam dunked a chip shot at the 17th into the cup on its second bounce.
That moment clearly embarassed Tiger, not that he was going to request it not be counted, but the eagle he followed with on the 18th was vintage Woods. Clearly in tremendous pain he somehow smashed a driver and a 5-wood to the middle of the green. The stage was set, the grandstands full of anticipation and Woods duly guided the ball into the cup - it was almost as if he sent it in by radar.
Suddenly Woods was in the lead and, as we all know, he does not lose majors when he leads after three rounds.
It was by no means plain sailing on Sunday though, and everyone had forgotten about Mediate. As Woods and Westwood matched each other birdie for birdie, bogey for bogey the 45-year-old American cruised into the lead.
In fact, Woods and Westwood needed to birdie the final hole in order to force a play-off on Monday. Somehow you knew only one of them was going to do it, and you also knew it would be Tiger. Again he sent the crowd wild as his 12-footer for birdie dropped into the side of the hole.
So it was Woods v Mediate in an 18-hole Monday playoff...many believed it was to be a huge anti-climax to a superb tournament. Would it?
Yeah right! No chance!
For a start, Woods finally managed to NOT double-bogey the first hole. Actually it was rather ominous as Mediate missed short putt for par and Woods lead.
However, Mediate came within inches of a hole-in-one at the par-three 3rd hole and, as Woods bogied, he suddenly lead.
Back came Woods, for two holes Tiger played like we all know he can as he birdied two of the toughest par-4's on the course to storm ahead. Could it be all over? Not a bit of it!
Mediate completed a devastating hat-trick that put him in pole-position as the final furlong approached. Birdies at the 13th, 14th and 15th gave him a one shot lead. Woods gave himself opportunities at 16 and 17 but both birdie putts came up just an inch short of the hole, could the Woods record in majors be coming to an end?
Unfortunately for Mediate, the 18th plays right into Woods' hands. The world number 158 does not have the length required to get to the green in two...Woods does.
Of course Tiger made the birdie he needed to force a sudden death playoff hole and suddenly a sense of destiny arrived.
The first extra hole, the 91st of the week, was to be the long par-4 7th - that would be the one Tiger birdied earlier in the day then.
Woods had the honour and blasted his drive 307 yards down the centre of the fairway. The pressure was on Mediate, and for the first time it actually proved too much. The likeable American pulled his tee-shot into a fairway bunker and did the same with his second to find the grandstand left of the green.
Tiger floated an 8-iron onto the front edge of the green - the only thing wrong with the finish was that Woods left the winning putt a fraction short, so Mediate had a 15-footer to force another extra hole.
However, it was not to be for Mediate as his putt rolled past the right edge of the cup. It was over. Woods was the champion. Did we expect a different result? Really?
Woods' fourteenth major may well turn out to be his best. He had not played in the two months since the Masters. He was still carrying a knee injury. This is not good preparation for any tournament, let alone the US Open. What those writing him off forgot is...this is Tiger Woods, he is not like the rest of us, he is - as Butch Harmon describes - Superman!
The next question we want answered is will he be at the Open? You have to think he will try, but whether he physically can is another matter. What we do know now though is that even if he is so much better than everyone else that not only does he not need to play well to win anymore - he does not have to even have two legs.
Scary isn't it!
Personally...yes, an enequivocal and definitive yes at that.
Torrey Pines gave us everything we wanted this week, and more on top of that for good measure.
For the first two days the USGA decided to make the world's top three players - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson and Adam Scott - go head-to-head by grouping them together. Woods and Mickleson do not get on, as we all well know, and on day two in particular the drama and excitement surrounding the trio was immense.
Elsewhere, there were qualifiers and unknown quantities firing themselves to the top of the leaderboard, before falling away dramatically moments later...all except the new household name, Rocco Mediate.
The weekend arrived with great anticipation adn a billion questions to be answered, most of which surrounded Tiger Woods. How was the knee? Will the knee hold up any longer? Will he have to pull out? Is what he is doing really possible? Oh, and an Englishman - Lee Westwood - was in contention and looking strong.
Naturally Tiger took all the headlines away from the man from Worksop on Saturday evening by treating the 50,000-plus spectators to a collection of trademark 'Tiger Moments'.
A winding eagle putt the length of the 13th green brought him back into contention after a sloppy opening nine, the cheer that greetedthe sight of the ball dropping into the hole was almost deafening. Then, having wasted the momentum he gained there, the world number one slam dunked a chip shot at the 17th into the cup on its second bounce.
That moment clearly embarassed Tiger, not that he was going to request it not be counted, but the eagle he followed with on the 18th was vintage Woods. Clearly in tremendous pain he somehow smashed a driver and a 5-wood to the middle of the green. The stage was set, the grandstands full of anticipation and Woods duly guided the ball into the cup - it was almost as if he sent it in by radar.
Suddenly Woods was in the lead and, as we all know, he does not lose majors when he leads after three rounds.
It was by no means plain sailing on Sunday though, and everyone had forgotten about Mediate. As Woods and Westwood matched each other birdie for birdie, bogey for bogey the 45-year-old American cruised into the lead.
In fact, Woods and Westwood needed to birdie the final hole in order to force a play-off on Monday. Somehow you knew only one of them was going to do it, and you also knew it would be Tiger. Again he sent the crowd wild as his 12-footer for birdie dropped into the side of the hole.
So it was Woods v Mediate in an 18-hole Monday playoff...many believed it was to be a huge anti-climax to a superb tournament. Would it?
Yeah right! No chance!
For a start, Woods finally managed to NOT double-bogey the first hole. Actually it was rather ominous as Mediate missed short putt for par and Woods lead.
However, Mediate came within inches of a hole-in-one at the par-three 3rd hole and, as Woods bogied, he suddenly lead.
Back came Woods, for two holes Tiger played like we all know he can as he birdied two of the toughest par-4's on the course to storm ahead. Could it be all over? Not a bit of it!
Mediate completed a devastating hat-trick that put him in pole-position as the final furlong approached. Birdies at the 13th, 14th and 15th gave him a one shot lead. Woods gave himself opportunities at 16 and 17 but both birdie putts came up just an inch short of the hole, could the Woods record in majors be coming to an end?
Unfortunately for Mediate, the 18th plays right into Woods' hands. The world number 158 does not have the length required to get to the green in two...Woods does.
Of course Tiger made the birdie he needed to force a sudden death playoff hole and suddenly a sense of destiny arrived.
The first extra hole, the 91st of the week, was to be the long par-4 7th - that would be the one Tiger birdied earlier in the day then.
Woods had the honour and blasted his drive 307 yards down the centre of the fairway. The pressure was on Mediate, and for the first time it actually proved too much. The likeable American pulled his tee-shot into a fairway bunker and did the same with his second to find the grandstand left of the green.
Tiger floated an 8-iron onto the front edge of the green - the only thing wrong with the finish was that Woods left the winning putt a fraction short, so Mediate had a 15-footer to force another extra hole.
However, it was not to be for Mediate as his putt rolled past the right edge of the cup. It was over. Woods was the champion. Did we expect a different result? Really?
Woods' fourteenth major may well turn out to be his best. He had not played in the two months since the Masters. He was still carrying a knee injury. This is not good preparation for any tournament, let alone the US Open. What those writing him off forgot is...this is Tiger Woods, he is not like the rest of us, he is - as Butch Harmon describes - Superman!
The next question we want answered is will he be at the Open? You have to think he will try, but whether he physically can is another matter. What we do know now though is that even if he is so much better than everyone else that not only does he not need to play well to win anymore - he does not have to even have two legs.
Scary isn't it!
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