Woods vs Baddeley at the WGC

[mgolfer]

I thought Baddeley played fantastically. Woods managed to get 12 birdies throughout that round and kudos to Baddeley for keeping up with him. If only he had holed those putts towards the end!

Do you think Tiger deserved to win? He seemed quite lucky that Baddeley wasn't holing putts towards the end of the round, but I think that in the next few years, Baddeley could climb up the ladder from his 18th place in the world rankings.

[neudi]

Great Match, I felt like they both had plenty of chances to win it but Tiger just grinded just a little bit harder.

[Ben]

Do you think Tiger deserved to win? He seemed quite lucky that Baddeley wasn't holing putts towards the end of the round, but I think that in the next few years, Baddeley could climb up the ladder from his 18th place in the world rankings.

Baddeley was certainly holing putts in the beginning. I think its my fault Baddeley didn't pull out the win. I was watching early when he was drilling putts from everywhere. But, wasn't really watching the end of the match. I guess I threw his putting off.

In all seriousness, having a putter hot like that is a great thing. To be able to keep it hot for an entire round, that's something spectacular. A hard thing to do.

[golfchief]

Yep Ben it's your fault Badd lost and I'm going to start blaming you when I miss a 12 footer with a three foot break.

[mikelz]

I thought Baddeley played fantastically. Woods managed to get 12 birdies throughout that round and kudos to Baddeley for keeping up with him. If only he had holed those putts towards the end!

I follow a lot of sports and have concluded that nobody "deserves" a win.

Like my main man Neudi said, you have to grind. I didn't watch the entire match. I think the 15th was telling. Their drives were about 2 feet apart. Baddely hits first and is 30-40 feet left of the hole. Tiger hits it 12 feet right under the hole. That's about all I needed to see.

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

I didn't start watching until part way through the back nine but that was a fun match to watch. Of course Tiger deserved to win. He won afterall. Baddeley had chance after chance but as most others who have had a chance to beat Tiger head to head he couldn't hole the putt when it mattered most. Hats off to Badds for playing so well though. Once Badds missed on the first playoff hole, after the 17th and 18th misses you kind of knew Tiger was going to find a way.

[hawkeye]

he had 13 birdies! the kick in on 16 was conceded

he birdied 65% of the holes - wow

[mray183]

Baddeley is one of the best putters on tour. He lost it for himself by missing some towards the end.

Did anyone else notice Tiger removing his hat before the putt even sank? Kind of like him approaching the hole before it sunk against Holmes - a little cocky? I call it confident.

[themasteroncbs]

Baddeley is one of the best putters on tour. He lost it for himself by missing some towards the end.

I call it very cocky and certainly shows a lack of class on Tiger's part. I think Tiger is making a very strong case for being considered the greatest of all-time, but I just have never been a fan of the way he conducts himself on the course. I think his temper tantrums, and what not, set a bad example for young kids who idolize him. I also didn't like what Holmes did the other week either.

[erova]

i can't fault Tiger for taking off his cap a few days ago...on all the local munis every weekend people know when they jack a pure driver or the putt is going in the hole.

i think we can look to baseball when the batter knows the ball is out of the park before he's stepped out of the box as a pretty common occurrence...as long as you don't stare down the pitcher or do the slow trot around the bags you'll be fine...

if tiger just flipped his putter to stevie and walked to the nearest Golf Channel tv camera or off the green, I could see some people interpreting that as rude, but he took off his cap and walked forward to shake hands...

move along kids, nothing to see here...

[Shindig]

I call it very cocky and certainly shows a lack of class on Tiger's part. I think Tiger is making a very strong case for being considered the greatest of all-time, but I just have never been a fan of the way he conducts himself on the course. I think his temper tantrums, and what not, set a bad example for young kids who idolize him. I also didn't like what Holmes did the other week either.

Other than the swearing - which I see no way someone with his passion can avoid - what temper tantrums are these? Am I somehow missing this?

[iacas]

Other than the swearing - which I see no way someone with his passion can avoid - what temper tantrums are these? Am I somehow missing this?

No, he means the swearing and the occasional club flipping and/or slamming.

Things virtually every pro golfer (and every non-pro golfer) does at some point or another. The difference, in fact, between Tiger and most everyone else is that Tiger's back to normal after 10 steps. Most other people are still fuming minutes later.

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Did anyone else notice Tiger removing his hat before the putt even sank? Kind of like him approaching the hole before it sunk against Holmes - a little cocky? I call it confident.

I say both. Obviously he's very confident and I think he's a bit cocky too. But hell, can you really blame him? Seriously, if I had that much ability I'd be cocky too.

Things virtually every pro golfer (and every non-pro golfer) does at some point or another.

Great point! I think it was Craig Stadler who said he gets so mad out there because he wants to get it all out of his system before he has to hit the next shot.

[lordnazgul]

I thought this match was absolutely brilliant, was really great to see pretty much my two favourite golfers battling it out!

One thing that i did find annoying however was the commentary by Butch Harmon and Ewan Murray (UK Sky Sports)

Ewan Murray as always has to pick out ffaults and criticise anything that is done, and started saying how thought Baddely's swing was very poor and that stack and tilt was rubbish and merely a fad. I don't use stack and tilt but can understand the appeal and it is definitely not a fad.

Butch Harmon then came along and jumped on the band wagon saying how it was rubbish and was all wrong etc. However he appeared the get the fundamentals wrong! Claiming that weight moves forward then backwards upon the strike! he obviously doesn't understand that in fact the point is to stay forwards the whole time!

I really wish that they could just admit that Aaron Baddely is a fantastic player and a potential for multiple major wins, somewhere they could only dream of accomplishing!

[geezer]

I thought this match was absolutely brilliant, was really great to see pretty much my two favourite golfers battling it out!

You obviously weren't listening to the broadcast then. Either that or you are colouring your recollections, I watched it and nobody said S+T was 'rubbish', nor did they say Baddeley wasnt a great player.

[BDE]

Great match, very exciting. It was great to see Baddeley matching Tiger, but in the end Tiger obviously proved how good he is.

When Tiger took off his cap, I did not think he was cocky at all. When you hit the putt just right, you just know it's going in. Sure, Tiger would have looked stupid if it missed, but that's how confident he is.

[lordnazgul]

I'm sorry, but that is a little rude,

If you had read my post correctly, at no point did i say that they had said that Aaron Baddely wasn't a great player, i said that rather than criticising his swing they compliment it and talk about all the positives of it and him.

And yes at one pint both commentators did say that stack and tilt was fundamentally a poor swing, Butch Harmon said that the pinciples were wrong (although he had got the principles wrong) and that it would cause back problems, even though there are numerous reports of indivduals with bad backs moving to this swing to ease their pain so they can continue playing golf.

Ewan Murray also said outright "I really don't like this stack and tilt swing at all" and then proceeded to explain why he thought it wasn't a good way to swing.

My point was merely that, although they may not approve of the style of swing, they failed to ennunciate any of it's benefits at all, such as the potential for crisper ball striking and more consistency, i felt that since they are both coaches who have spent their whole lives teaching and making a lot of money on transfer of weight style swing they were not prepared to see the merits of a new type of swing, perhaps having seen the large amounts of tour players who have moved to this style.

And on a further point, i also clearly recollect Ewan Murray stating that he coudln;t understand why Steve Elkington had moved to this style as he "has one of the most natural swings".

I was listening to the broadcast intently!

[geezer]

But there is quite a difference between what you said this time and what you posted the first time.

Just because somebody says 'I don't like this type of swing' doesn't mean 'this type of swing is rubbish'.

I don't really like Furyks' swing, doesn't mean I think it is rubbish.

Also these men are commentators , therefore, it is their job to comment on things. Particularly when there is a tournament going on where there might only be 16 people on the course (ie: alot of time to fill), so they waffle.