Tiger Woods is a big draw at any tournament. Last year, while Tiger was taking time off to grieve the death of his father Earl, the media room at The Memorial was rather bare. Half the number of photographers were present. This year, with Tiger Woods in the field, photographers flooded the course.
We managed to get a few snaps of Tiger in action, and we present them here with a little commentary.
Pro-Am Day (Wednesday)
Tiger played his practice round on Wednesday as part of the Memorial’s annual pro-am competition. Because he was dealing with the tail end of a case of strep throat, Tiger wasn’t as sociable as some might have expected.
Hank Haney walked all 18 holes with Tiger on Wednesday. Seen here, Woods hits his approach shot on the short par-four 14th under Haney’s watchful eye.
Tiger Woods stuck his approach at the 14th close and curled a six-footer in for a birdie. I believe, having started on the tenth, that got him back to +1. He would later eagle the 18th hole to the delight of thousands, and the roar was audible across the entire course.
The Tiger Braintrust. It may lack the eccentricity of Phil Mickelson’s merry band of brothers, but it tends to get better results.
Tiger and Stevie discuss the impending birth of Tiger’s offspring. It’s all the guy talks about with close friends these days, I’ve heard.
Tiger Woods always draws a crowd. Seen here, Tiger gives his thoughts after his pro-am round to a gathering of reporters. Phil Mickelson was just to the right.
Friday’s Round
After shooting a fairly boring round of 70 (-2) on Thursday, Tiger Woods failed to move into contention with an even-par 72 on Friday. Here are some shots from that round.
Driving off the first tee, Tiger would push his tee shot into the rough around the right-hand bunkers.
Tiger lines up his par putt on the first hole after blasting from the bunker. He would miss and bogey.
Tiger’s drive on the second hole found the fairway. He again used a three-wood, and spent a lot of time in competitive rounds playing shots that weren’t especially suited for Muirfield Village, but which he expects to play at Oakmont. There are some things you can’t quite do on the practice range, I suppose, and testing yourself in under competitive situations is one of them.
Looking at his approach shot to the second hole. Tiger would put the ball on the green and two-putt for par.
Tiger drove through the fairway at the par-five fifth hole. He’s a man of the people (or galleries beside fairways, anyway), that Tiger Woods fellow is.
The ninth hole was one of the few Tiger would birdie on Friday.
Charley Hoffman is well loved for his sense of humor. Here, a joke cracks up Tiger crossing a bridge to the ninth green.
Despite making his birdie at the ninth, this week was simply not to be for Tiger Woods.
Special Thanks
The Sand Trap would like to give a special thanks to lensrentals.com. Several of the pictures above would not have been possible without the lenses loaned to us by the fine folks at lensrentals.com. For one-, two-, or long-term lens rentals, visit lensrentals.com.
All pictures © 2007 The Sand Trap .com. All rights reserved..
Erik:
How were the tournament round pictures taken, i.e. I thought the PGA had banned cameras for the four competitive rounds? Did someone sneak one in?
Members of the media (such as myself) get credentials and passes to get inside the ropes with photography equipment. There was no “sneaking” necessary. 🙂
D’oh! I keep forgetting TST is a legitimate outlet for news and information 😀
Well, considering you escaped Stevie’s hawk-like vision, I’d say the pictures were a success!
One question:
In that braintrust picture from the pro-am round that has hank haney, Tiger, and Stevie standing there.
WHY the heck is Hank Haney standing so odd. Does he have to go to the bathroom or something. He looks like he’s in the middle of some form of chicken dance or something.
Great Pictures, again great stuff as always on TST. Checking in to look for new stuff almost every day, thanks for the great site!