2013 Players at TPC Sawgrass, Tiger and Sergio Feud Discussion Thread

[MPtheKid]

Sergio complaining that he was a victim in all of this is ridiculous and is just the latest example of his whining. Sergio has a RIDICULOUS amount of game, but he is also really weak mentally. I was rooting hard for Tiger to bury him on Sunday and I'm glad that TW was able to come away with the win. I still can't believe that Sergio was chirping away to the media about how doesn't like Woods, Tiger's not a nice guy, etc and then he backs it up by losing 3 balls in the water in crunch time. Choke a little harder Serg.

All that being said, part of me did feel bad for him when he put the second one in the drink on 17.

[Mr. Desmond]

I don't know what Tiger is, or is not ... hope the guy is growing mentally, as I hope we all are growing in wisdom. But the guy who really needs a mental coach is Sergio. He seems stuck.

[Paradox]

Sergio doesn't seem to be able to find the line between the go for it mentality and not hanging on to bad shots.  Catch 22...if he doesn't take the risk, he doesn't win much..but when he takes the risk and doesn't succeed, he explodes.

That second shot with the SAME club should not have happened on 17.  Of course, he was by all accounts already out of it but I thought for a second he was gonna pull a Tin Cup and keep hitting it in the water.

[jamo]

USA Today calls Sergio's play on 17th as a "choke". Seriously?

Sergio Garcia chokes on the 17th tee, handing win to Tiger Woods

[URL=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/watch-sergio-garcia-chokes-on-the-17th-tee-handing-win-to-tiger-woods/]http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/watch-sergio-garcia-chokes-on-the-17th-tee-handing-win-to-tiger-woods/[/URL]

He was tied for the lead going into the 71st hole with a wedge in his hands to a massive green and put two in the water. The next time Webster releases a dictionary, the YouTube video of that hole is going to be embedded under "choke." [quote name="noSnowman" url="/t/66787/2013-players-at-tpc-sawgrass-tiger-and-sergio-feud-discussion-thread/270_30#post_842824"] Tiger Woods Owes Rivera play. That tournament, was if I am wrong, "correct me"...his first PGA event allbeit it as an amateur. Jerry West begged him to play the Northern Trust Open. Man up Tiger you owe Rivera a play.[/quote] That's not exactly what I meant. He doesn't "owe" them, I just think it would be cool.

[noSnowman]

And I went and played and missed it all. At least there was some drama...Saturday and Sunday. That par three green looks difficult to me. Landing on the green is just half the job

[Valleygolfer]

USA Today calls Sergio's play on 17th as a "choke". Seriously?

Sergio Garcia chokes on the 17th tee, handing win to Tiger Woods

[URL=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/watch-sergio-garcia-chokes-on-the-17th-tee-handing-win-to-tiger-woods/]http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/watch-sergio-garcia-chokes-on-the-17th-tee-handing-win-to-tiger-woods/[/URL]

I would not say that he "handed" the win to tiger. You have to make those shots to win and tiger did Sergio did not. Those who handle pressure win. Those who don't, lose. Those who don't, cannot give or hand something that they don't have away.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by noSnowman

I saw it too. Fans kicking the ball back towards the clear

Wait, is there some footage of this?  If so, I'd like to see it.  Balls take tricky hops through rough, trees and pine straw all the time and I never heard anyone suggest that the ball was kicked back into play until this thread.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by noSnowman

And I went and played and missed it all. At least there was some drama...Saturday and Sunday.

That par three green looks difficult to me. Landing on the green is just half the job

Tiger landed on the wrong side of the green on 17, but then he proceeded to hit the best putt from that spot that I saw all day - left himself just a tap-in.  Most guys putting from there had 5 or 6 feet for the second putt.

[bplewis24]

http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/9268417/2013-players-championship-tiger-woods-drop-14th-deemed-legit-pga-tour

[saevel25]

One, sergio probably did choke, but its the 17th green at sawgrass, and he looked to be in between clubs, and tried to hit a wedge hard, and didn't hit it solid twice. If he clubbed up, and hit easy, you worry about catching it and hitting it to long, so the harder wedge was probably a better shot, it just didn't pan out.

As to handing the win to Tiger, people forget that there was a rookie who had a chance to tie Tiger going into the last hole. Also, Sergio wasn't a forgone winner in that event, it wasn't like he was in the lead. He also was putting terrible that day, i knew he was in trouble when he was struggling on the front nine. But to say he handed it to tiger is BS. Tiger made some very clutch Birdies down the stretch to win the tournament.

Originally Posted by noSnowman

And I went and played and missed it all. At least there was some drama...Saturday and Sunday.

That par three green looks difficult to me. Landing on the green is just half the job

The green is a nasty piece of work. Though a lot of players put the ball in the water, that green isn't that imposing of a shot from the tee box. As one who played there before, i thought it would be scarier of a shot, but the green doesn't look small. It plays smaller, because of the railroad ties, but visually, its not really as scary as i thought. The shot that is scary is the tee shot on number 18. Stand back were the Pro's hit at, and it just looks like you can't hit the fairway. I think Tiger's drive on that hole was the best shot he hit all day. He actually hit a draw perfect down the center. The hole in your mind just screams at you, "RIGHT!!!!"

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by saevel25

I think Tiger's drive on that hole was the best shot he hit all day. He actually hit a draw perfect down the center.

No way!  Everybody knows Tiger can't hit a draw. ;)

[sonicblue]

Originally Posted by huskyhater

Do that and call it in-that cheater needs to be busted again! He cheated! WAY too far ahead!

Originally Posted by jerkputter

Miller noticed what I did. He took an incorrect drop and will probably get away with it. I play with people all the time that do the same thing. The move way ahead of where the ball should be dropped. I am going to find a sky view of hole 14 and see for myself

Oh Jesus H Christ on a popsicle stick...  Before "the fire hydrant," Tiger was well known as one of the most knowledgeable guys on Tour regarding the rules.  Now every half-cocked judgmental asshat wants to frame every single thing he does as dishonest, cheating, deceptive, etc...  No rules official saw it, they don't have "aerial instant replay" available for the players.  His playing partner AND his playing partner's caddie agreed on the drop.  It's not like Tiger had free reign to do whatever he wanted.

[Meltdwhiskey]

The more typical golf websites to visit have articles that seem to be in strong support of the latest drop.  But I saw this on Yahoo - where some guy has done an analysis indicating there might have been a problem.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/did-tiger-woods-improper-drop-en-route-players-124525467.html

Not sure he couldn't have gotten a double on that hole by re-teeing anyway. But thought it was interesting.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by huskyhater

He has 'bent the rues' the last 2 Tourneys he's played in...........I say that anybody who roots for this guy is VERY liable to cheat on the course themselves. There should be an asterisk put on this Players...........

Sergio - using your phone on the course to post on TST is a violation of the rules.

[BallStriker]

Sean O'Hair rinses one trying to win and is championed as a guy just not willing to play for second place......Sergio does the same thing and they call him a Choker....clearly shows how the media's perception of a player guides the "slant" of the story......ridiculous.......I applaud Sergio for showing some balls and I don't give a flying FU*K what he did or didn't do after that shot......he played fantastically this week and came up short.......END OF STORY

As for Tiger and the drop.........I'll side with Wittenberg, who unlike anyone else with an opinion, was in the best position to see what happened

[sacm3bill]

This was discussed in the main tournament thread. The video isn't conclusive unless the blimp camera was directly overhead, which it wasn't. Once you introduce an angle there's no telling what flight the ball actually took.  Have you ever followed a blimp shot of a ball in flight and seen it take a bounce when you thought it was still high in the air, and/or appear to completely change direction after the bounce?  That's because the angle of the blimp cam distorts what the ball is actually doing.

The folks on the tee had the best view, and they were unanimous that the drop was correct. But since it's Tiger, there is controversy.

[Lefty-Golfer]

I am not a rules nit, my understanding of the rule is - The player (Tiger) is take his best guess on where the ball crossed, he asked his playing partner what is opinion was, they were in agreement of the spot near the bunker...and drops and moves on. there is no reason to think a fellow competitor would have any reason to support a false drop. Unless the tour is going to put a rules official with every group and let him be the judge and jury of the result i don't see how anyone can claim the drop wrong. Even if the drop was / is proven to be incorrect by the blimp shot the rules were still followed according to how they are written.

it is just another reason why the rules of golf are old, out of date and need to be either revised or TV reports from views not possesed on the ground should not be part of the event. it is really kind of silly if you think about it.

[jamo]

Sean O'Hair rinses one trying to win and is championed as a guy just not willing to play for second place......Sergio does the same thing and they call him a Choker....clearly shows how the media's perception of a player guides the "slant" of the story......ridiculous.......I applaud Sergio for showing some balls and I don't give a flying FU*K what he did or didn't do after that shot......he played fantastically this week and came up short.......END OF STORY

The difference is that Sergio plainly didn't need to attack that pin. He was tied for the lead with two holes to play. He didn't need to go straight at a pin that no one was hitting right at, especially since that pin was guarded tightly by water. Par-par would have put him in a playoff, and by making par on 17 he could have hit the same shot into 18 that Wittenberg hit - bringing it in from the right where the ball funnels to the pin. This isn't a case of hindsight being 20-20. That was the wrong play in that situation.