But What If The Ball Had Missed The Stick?

[nevets88]

http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/2013-12/what-if-tiger-woods-missed-the-stick?printable=true

Chamblee closed by asking Woods to recall the Friday afternoon in April, the second round of the Masters and the great approach shot at the 15th. "Have you ever wondered," Chamblee went on, "how different a year it might have turned out if you hit that flagstick like you feared? What if your ball did go in the water? Then what?"

The silence lasted four seconds before Woods smiled and said, "I can't even imagine."

[ghalfaire]

Hummmmmmm.  An interesting alternate history of events.  Maybe in one of those "other" dimensions that physicists talk about.

[saevel25]

So he hits the pins goes in the water. Ends up with bogey, but gets assessed a 2 stroke penalty for a bad drop.

Looks like he would have finished 7 under par 2 strokes out of the lead. He did go on to shoot -1 and -2 on Saturday and Sunday. He shot a -5 on Friday, so he was capable of going low. It wasn't like it took him out of the tournament.

Honestly it was a stupid question. Tiger probably thinks of the "What If" on that one. He knows that it was the 2nd round, not the final round. He knows that he had two rounds to make up the strokes. He knows he can go low at Augusta, he did it on that Friday. Guess what, he didn't step up. That is the more important part. Once again, Tiger couldn't come back to win a tournament. The greatest front runner in history of golf couldn't make a comeback in a major, as usual.

[jamo]

This truly is the darkest timeline. Also: [quote name="saevel25" url="/t/71585/but-what-if-the-ball-had-missed-the-stick/0_30#post_930972"] Honestly it was a stupid question. Tiger probably thinks of the "What If" on that one. He knows that it was the 2nd round, not the final round. He knows that he had two rounds to make up the strokes. He knows he can go low at Augusta, he did it on that Friday. Guess what, he didn't step up. That is the more important part. Once again, Tiger couldn't come back to win a tournament. The greatest front runner in history of golf couldn't make a comeback in a major, as usual.  [/quote] The question was made up. Note that it says, "if you hit that flagstick." In real life he did hit the flagstick.

[turtleback]

http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/2013-12/what-if-tiger-woods-missed-the-stick?printable=true

Chamblee closed by asking Woods to recall the Friday afternoon in April, the second round of the Masters and the great approach shot at the 15th. "Have you ever wondered," Chamblee went on, "how different a year it might have turned out if you hit that flagstick like you feared? What if your ball did go in the water? Then what?"

The silence lasted four seconds before Woods smiled and said, "I can't even imagine."

Kind of a silly premise.  But it really went over the top with the notion of a one-on-one with Brandel Chamblee.

[iacas]

Yeah, I think that if he misses the flagstick, he birdies, a four-shot difference (or two if you don't want to count the penalty). Tiger tends to not play very well when coming from behind, so his -1 and -2 rounds could have been better, too.

[rehmwa]

It was a beautiful shot.  So a birdie instead of what?  4 less strokes and going into the weekend with a solid share?  It very well could have meant a win....

4 strokes and not getting his momentum stalled for a bit is huge.  It's very deflating to hit a great shot and have chance turn it into crap.  (turn it around, hit a lousy shot and get a very LUCKY break (off a tree and back into the fairway, hit a seed on a putt and sink a huge putt, etc) can really jazz a player and those vibes affect the rest of the round.

who knows - woulda coulda shoulda......what really happened is what needed dealing with, though.  He's been good enough before to recover even from this.  It wasn't his week.