Tiger is Back and that is a fact

[pjsnyc]

Yeah, it was totally O'Hair choking..... I totally don't get the logic-- the other guys didn't even have the excuse of being distracted by playing with Tiger. Tiger won, plain and simple.

Don't forget - Zach Johnson was one of those 'other' guys and he played pretty well too (in the same group as Tiger). I tend not to think of any win/loss as choke or not - play the course, not the playing partner. How O'Hair plays each shot enters the psyche of Tiger's and vice versa. Tiger's will was the deciding factor (bogey save on the 18th on Saturday was probably the biggest IMHO).

Plain and simple? - he's amazing.

[iacas]

Tiger made some great putts, but O'Hair lost it, Tiger didn't win it.

Oh, bullpucky. He shot the second lowest round of the day, and only Kevin Na bettered Tiger's 67 - by one shot.

And no, I don't give full credit to Tiger, but I don't give full credit (or discredit) to O'Hair either. O'Hair lost it and Tiger won it.

[neudi]

Oh, bullpucky. He shot the second lowest round of the day, and only Kevin Na bettered Tiger's 67 - by one shot.

I'll go with Iacas, I just feel like no matter what there are going to be people who say Tiger won it and people who say O'hair lost it and I just don't think Tiger could win that without O'hair choking. So in terms of comprimising, I'll agree that it was a combination of both and that Tiger is the best ever, but that we have not seen what his climax is yet. He is still hiding something spectacular that we will see. Hopefully.

[David in FL]

Oh, bullpucky. He shot the second lowest round of the day, and only Kevin Na bettered Tiger's 67 - by one shot.

32 players shot par or better yesterday. Only 12 shot a worse score than O'Hair. That's inexcusable for the tournament leader, on that course, under those absolutely perfect conditions.

Don't misunderstand, Tiger's great, and he won yesterday, but it was given to him. Had O'Hair just thrown up a mediocre round, he'd have won it going away. Instead, he just threw up! Had he shot 69 and Woods a 63, it'd be entirely different. I'm sure that Tiger will happily cash the check, but I doubt that he's particularly proud of his final round.

[iacas]

32 players shot par or better yesterday. Only 12 shot a worse score than O'Hair.

And only one shot better than Tiger Woods, who shot his best round of the week when it mattered most.

Had O'Hair just thrown up a mediocre round, he'd have won it going away.

His 73 WAS a mediocre round. Doesn't mean he completely gave it away and all the blame can be placed on him. Look at the scoring average for the week.

Tiger parred 16 when he had to. He birdied 18 when he had to. He made crucial par putts when he had to. All day. Without Tiger's pressure and his 67, Sean's 73 would have won it by two over Zach Johnson.

I'm sure that Tiger will happily cash the check, but I doubt that he's particularly proud of his final round.

Ball striking wise there's some truth to that. Beyond that, no, I think he's perfectly happy. He grinded, he made the putts he had to make and the shots he had to make when he needed to make them, and he shot his best round of the tournament and nearly the best round of the day on a course that was at times windy and had long rough, he overcame three horrible lies in bunkers, and in the end, he beat 143 or so other golfers to win his 66th tournament.

I'm sure, overall, he's proud of the effort. Look, I'm the first guy to point out when a guy chokes and totally gives something away. Greg Norman in 1996 at Augusta? Sure thing. This? Not a chance. Tiger won it as much as Sean lost it.

[Jay-Bird]

Tiger absolutely WON it, but you can get away with missing fairways or hitting 3-5 wood off tees at Augusta. If he get's the driver dialed in, he should make a charge at the Master's.

But shooting a 73 in the final group on Sunday will never get it done - O'Hair certainly made it easier for Tiger to win in Orlando.

[pjsnyc]

Tiger absolutely WON it, but you can get away with missing fairways or hitting 3-5 wood off tees at Augusta. If he get's the driver dialed in, he should make a charge at the Master's...

I think its more like this - If he gets the driver dialed in, he should smoke the competition at Augusta. On the other hand if he doesn't get the driver dialed in, he still has the flat stick to make a decent charge at the Master's.

[David in FL]

His 73 WAS a mediocre round. Doesn't mean he completely gave it away and all the blame can be placed on him. Look at the scoring average for the week.

I guess we define mediocre differently. If I lose to 80% of the field on any given day, I consider my round to be significantly worse than mediocre......

The scoring average for the week isn't a reflection of the course on Sunday following the rain. It was perfect. The greens were holding and there wasn't much wind to speak of at all. Completely different playing conditions from the rest of the week. Dumping the ball into the water on 16 when Tiger was cockblocked was one of the most bonehead amateur shots I've seen in a long time.....something right out of my playbook!

[alcorn]

I dont know if Im more excited about whats to come of tiger woods or When someone is going to actually stand up to this guy like we seen at Matchplay this year...... I want to see Rory mc come up and get mean with this guy. I know its golf but these guys need to quite running away from tiger like their scared of the boogy man ya know haha

I agree with you here on the fact that no one is really standing up to Tiger. I mean yeah, tiger is tiger but I believe O'Hare was intimidated and thats why he lost it. I think the intimidation factor is one reason for alot of Tiger's big wins over the years though.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I guess we define mediocre differently. If I lose to 80% of the field on any given day, I consider my round to be significantly worse than mediocre......

I kinda agree here. I would rather hit that house behind the green than come up short into that hazard. Espeically knowing where tiger was. O'hare tried to win the tournament with that one shot. He gambled and lost.

[SubPar]

...

And Tiger, with a one shot lead, going at the pin and plugging the ball in the trap on 17 wasn't so bright either, by these standards. The way O'Hair was playing Tiger had to know a par-par finish would be good.

Why don't we just discount every win by 1 or 2 strokes by saying someone gave it away rather than someone won it? Tiger hit some great shots and made some clutch putts on the back 9. He did what he does; he gave himself a chance to win if O'Hair didn't shoot a good score. And then when he had to opportunity, he sealed the deal on the 72nd hole. O'Hare didn't give him the long bogey putt Saturday. O'Hair didn't give Tiger the improbable up and down on 14. He didn't give him a 25 ft. birdie on 15. O'Hair didn't place Tiger's third shot right at the hole on 16 either. And I'm pretty sure O'Hair didn't help Tiger make the 15 foot birdie on 18, in the flat light of dusk. SubPar

[David in FL]

You're missing my point...... The course was easy (by comparison) and a 67 should

never have made up 5 strokes. O'Hair, who played great all week simply fell apart. I'm no Tiger hater.......but he never should have won that tournament. The only reason he did, was because the guy he had to catch, played one of the worst rounds of the day. A 73, on that course yesterday, by tour standards, sucked. It's as simple as that. Did he fall apart because of the pressure? Most likely. But make no mistake, fall apart he did.

[bIGwIRE]

Beacause he shot a 67 and beat O'hair by 6 shots...shouldn't have happened.

Tigers final round should have beaten O'hair's final round, but not by 6 strokes. 3 or 4 maybe, but not 6. It was amazing to watch, though. I was rooting for Tiger all tourney. If he plays every round at Augusta like that final round he'll walk away from the field.

[JetFan1983]

Beacause he shot a 67 and beat O'hair by 6 shots...shouldn't have happened.

You are not taking into account the pressure Tiger put on O'Hair from the very first tee. Yea, he had a five shot lead, but Tiger had him looking over his shoulder after the 2nd hole!

[zeg]

Said it before, I'll say it again: stop focusing on O'Hair. He had a bad round. Happens a lot, even for a tournament leader on Sunday, and not only when Tiger's in the mix (e.g., the Gore blow-up in the final round they kept bringing up). Tiger still beat everyone else who was on the course...

[JetFan1983]

I'm new to the game of golf, but even I realize that playing under pressure is a HUGE aspect of this game. Hell, when I went from playing golf on an empty course with my dad or my best friend to playing on a Saturday morning at a crowded public course, that was a crazy jump in pressure. I played awful with the random group they put me with and I couldn't deal with the slowplay. I can't imagine how pressure packed it is with Tiger standing next to you for 18 holes and having an entire gallery of people rooting for you to fail!

Pressure is part of the game, kids!

[misty_mountainhop]

You have to give it to the man whatever O'Hair did or didn't do. I thought Tiger was meant to be a front runner and rarely won when coming from behind? I bet the rest of them are concerned now - if he's away going into the last round, they lose and if he's chasing they lose.

Someone definitely needs to step up and make a regular challenge though.

[SubPar]

Because he shot a 67 and beat O'hair by 6 shots...shouldn't have happened.

O'Hair almost made it into the record books! Largest lead on Sunday to go on to lose (6 strokes)

Bobby Cruickshank, 1928 Florida Open Gay Brewer, 1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic Hal Sutton, 1983 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic Greg Norman, 1996 Masters Tournament Sergio Garcia, 2005 Wachovia Championship This record is for the most strokes behind at the start of the final round by a golfer who goes on to win the tournament - the largest final-round comebacks. 10 strokes: Paul Lawrie, 1999 British Open 9 strokes: Stewart Cink, 2004 MCI Heritage 8 strokes: Jack Burke Jr., 1956 Masters Tournament Ken Venturi, 1959 Los Angeles Open Mark Lye, 1983 Bank of Boston Classic Hal Sutton, 1985 St. Jude Memphis Classic Chip Beck, 1990 Buick Open Scott Simpson, 1998 Buick Invitational Craig Stadler, 2003 B.C. Open Three golfers share the record for the largest deficit at the start of the final round overcome to win a tournament on the LPGA Tour(10 strokes) : Mickey Wright, 1964 Tall City Open . Annika Sorenstam, 2001 The Office Depot. Louise Friberg, 2008 MasterCard Classic. None of these should have happened either, but they did. The winners are still winners. With the exception of spectacular flame outs like Van de Velde and Norman, no one remembers who the losers were. SubPar