Will Tiger Run Away With the Open?

[iacas]

Will Tiger run away with the British Open? What are your thoughts?

Obviously he's only leading Els by one right now, but then he has two more shots until he gets to DiMarco, and DiMarco and Els haven't had the best years this year. They may have a bad round and stumble.

[ragontona]

I'm not sure it'll be a runaway.

It's odd to even say this, but the way he's playing this week isn't conducive to blowing out the field. He's playing ultra-conservative, mistake-free golf. I think his game plan this weekend is to put up a couple of 66's and see if anyone has the game to catch him. Keeping driver in the bag eliminates any possible trouble he can get himself into. He pulled it out once in Round 1 and yanked it hard left... he won't make that mistake again.

PS... Only in the context of Tiger Woods can anyone say a couple of 66's would be "conservative." He's ridiculous when he gets like this.

[BigAl5150]

Will Tiger run away with the British Open? What are your thoughts?

I hope not. Els looks like he may have turned the corner and Goosen and Dimarco are playing well too. Adam Scott is within 5 shots and Sergio just eagled #2 so maybe he'll be in the hunt too (missed that one by a little in our Open Predictions

). If Tiger has a 5 shot lead going into Sunday, then its over. What's going to be the winning score? I thought -12 would win, not be the second round leader.

[rmgators]

Ernie is swinging terribly today...it's like he's trying to be too smooth.

[iacas]

Incidentally, any comments posted after about 1pm ET today are null and void. Clearly he's not gonna run away with it. Not unless he shoots 62 on Sunday.

[Baynative]

Maybe, not a runaway. But, I'd enjoy seeing Sergio, (the Spanish Sniveler) get a good butt whoopin'. Then he'd have something to whine about all the way through the Ryder Cup.

[Thrash13]

Maybe, not a runaway. But, I'd enjoy seeing Sergio, (the Spanish Sniveler) get a good butt whoopin'. Then he'd have something to whine about all the way through the Ryder Cup.

I cheer for the United States in team competitions, but I'll be pulling for the Sergio and DiMarco 110% tomorrow. I would even like Adam Scott to have a Sergio-type round tomorrow and steal the Claret Jug.

If Sergio, DiMarco, or Adam Scott win, I'll be a happy camper. I want all three of those guys to win their first major championship. That would be a lot more exciting to me than if Tiger won his 11th. I know the Tiger-ites will be cheering for that #11, and he is certainly the favorite. However, I just have a feeling it's DiMarco's week. Sergio might shoot a 78 tomorrow with his past history on Sundays, but I hope he at least keeps it together enough to stay in contention. Tiger will be tough. He always is. I'm just glad the tournament isn't already over because that would make for a boring Sunday morning here in the States.

[cold]

What was Sergio complaining about yesterday?

[rmgators]

What was Sergio complaining about yesterday?

The weather...was crying about his draw

[cold]

lol

[3puttbert]

I'm pulling for DiMarco now. Tiger is the best and deserves everything he has worked for but DiMarco just grinds. Now after learning about his Mom, he has my rooting interest. After all the talk of Tigers Dad, it was nice to see DiMarco go out and play.
If DiMArco can't win the I have to go with my local player Furyk. It's nice to see a tour player that played in local Am events that you have played in.

[Thrash13]

I still like tigers odds. Never saw the round but I see he did not miss many fairways or greens, looks like he a bad putting day. It would be very difficult to bet against him since he has never lost a major where he has lead after 54 holes.

Don't quote me on this, but I believe Tiger had 28 and 27 putts the first two days, respectively. (within a putt or two I hope)

He had 34 putts today, so that was definitely the difference. You take away his three 3-putts, and he is sitting four ahead of the field. Those were definitely putts he doesn't usually miss. Tiger's game is good right now, but he isn't playing as well as he can. I had some strange feeling he wasn't going to separate himself from the field today. The thing is he played about as bad as possible today and still has the same lead that he did after yesterday's round. To me, Tiger will shoot a 68 or 69 tomorrow. If anyone is going to beat him, it will have to be a 66 or 67 from one of the guys close to him. The only thing he allowed today is for more top golfers to close in on him.

[iacas]

Tiger's stats

Yeah, 34 putts is horrible. One of his three-putts didn't count as a three-putt because it was from the fringe (barely).

He made some bombs in the first two rounds (and holed out on 14, so 0 putts), but 34 is atrocious. I said in the podcast when we were talking about whether Tiger has lost some of his intimidation that he'd only lost a bit, and where he'd lost it was in the putting department. Putting cost him last year's U.S. Open and this year's Masters. Will it cost him his first major after having the 36- and 54-hole leads?

[Baynative]

Sergio is to much of a complainer for my tastes - everything is always someone else's fault. The weather, the draw, the cameras, the crowds... whatever. But I'm with you 100% on DiMarco. His time is due. He a great competitor and a deserving sportsman.

BTW - did you see the interview with Els after Sergio had been whining about his bad luck to have a breeze and Tiger's "Easy" draw in the morning?

Els was asked about the wind and he just said, "It blows the same for everyone". --- Class act, always has been.

[rmgators]

I can't stand Sergio and I am really hoping Tiger embarrasses him tomorrow...that said I do hope DiMarco plays just a little bit better and gets that first major. Tiger certainly seems to have lost some of his aura over the past few years...I wonder if he may have made too many changes?

[nurseduffer]

I know Tiger will be out there with his little red shirt on tomorrow and probably will be unstopable...but it would sure be awesome if Dimarco pulled it off.
I am pulling for Dimarco and if not him...Furyk (big long shot) or Els
I just don't think Garcia can pull his putting off under pressure. He started leaving them short on the back. Plus I think he is a little baby sometimes.
I'd Rather see someone else win rather than Tiger win his 11th. It would be neat to see some new blood.

[allin]

I think I might root for the Argentinian, except I don't really think he has a chance with this many top names in the hunt. I think if anyone beats Tiger they are going to have to get off to a fast start. Tiger will destroy those par fives on the back nine if he has to tomorrow. Only other scenario would be bad weather. Tiger is just a little bit above average bad weather player in my opinion.

About Sergio, I think his whining is his way of excusing poor performance and maybe motivating himself. Do the better golfers think this negative outlook is a factor in his often poor putting?

[GoingfortheGreen]

I'm a huge Tiger fan, but have been a closet Sergio fan since that memorable Sunday in 1999 - hell I hadn't even started playing golf then.

I know I know - all that wasted potential, a zillion waggles, putts like sh*t, can't close, dated a dog (Martina H) - I know all that, but it's something about him that enamors me to his game....

It's unlikely he'll win given his past history of choking on Sunday. But hey, that's what we said about Phil all the time.

Yeah, I was really happy about the way Phil played -- did you see him in the background when the Golf Channel was interviewing the God of Short Game --Pelz basically said that the plan was right, Phil just couldn't execute. That was so sweet!