Is Phil Really In Tigers League?

[Tim S]

Well, if his practice regimen or concentration slips, that would be bad. Normally, however, fatherhood focuses athletes and they end up doing better.....as Tiger has been doing since his kid was born.

[iacas]

As I said earlier in this thread lets see what fatherhood does for him.He just announced he is shutting it down after East Lake to spend lots of time with his family.It aint easy to juggle family and his regime of practice so we will see.

Sure, flap, but the early returns are already in and they point purely in the direction of "Tiger will continue to dominate." I know you're a Phil fan, but c'mon!

[fluxcapacitor]

Originally Posted by flap As I said earlier in this thread lets see what fatherhood does for him.He just announced he is shutting it down after East Lake to spend lots of time with his family.It aint easy to juggle family and his regime of practice so we will see

I'm kinda wondering about this. Has anyone here had a kid and quit working as hard at work to spend more time with them?

Now I don't have kids yet, but its the exact opposite from what I've seen. I've observed 2 scenarios. 1. The new parent keeps on as usual, maybe pushing a little harder to provide better for their child. 2. The new parent becomes a work-aholic because they'd rather deal with work than a screaming baby. I know that Tiger is not an ordinary person, nor does he have an ordinary career, but do you really think that he'll just quit half his routine just to spend time with his family? I am positive he can afford to do so, but has he EVER done anything and given less than 100%? I haven't seen him. I don't think children/family change peoples personalities...maybe sleeping habits though!

[SubPar]

Fatherhood has been a biig set-back for Tiger this year. Only 6 wins and 3 second place finishes in 15 of the toughest events. Pathetic. It's all over for him.

[play4him]

I definitely cut way back once my kids starting growing up. My priorites changed which I have no regrets about. I use to play in a lot of tournaments when I was younger, and thought I would really miss it when I cut back. I've just started getting back to thinking about playing more. Over the last 5-6 years I've only averaged about 6 rounds a year. My golf buddies thought I was crazy to scale back that much. They couldn't understand someone shooting par golf not playing. But being able to coach my children in Basketball, Baseball, and Golf is a lot more important to me.
But with Tiger that is his job, so time will tell whether his family life makes an impact on his career. I know I wouldn't want to be away from my family as much as those guys have to be.

[SubPar]

One thing Tiger has done is build a swing that is consistent and stands up under pressure and will continue to serve him well as he gets older. He stated this goal right after winning his first Masters.

Phil seems to be very much a "feel" player. Phil has so many moving parts in his swing you just never know where a drive is going. (i.e., the 1st tee at East Lake). And under pressure you cannot rely on "feel" alone. Simple, solid, repeatable mechanics is something that holds up better over all. Just another way Tiger is smarter.

[Jeepthrills]

As I said earlier in this thread lets see what fatherhood does for him.He just announced he is shutting it down after East Lake to spend lots of time with his family.It aint easy to juggle family and his regime of practice so we will see.

Tiger is about to win his 4th tournament after the birth of his daughter. Clearly it has slowed him down. The Tour is much different now than it was in Jack's day. Tiger has a private jet to bring his family on the road with him. He can take weeks off at a time to be at home with Sam and Elin while still practicing at a world class course. I have two kids and I work 50+ hours each week, 50+ weeks each year. I have since before my oldest, now 13, was born. I saw my kids first steps and heard their first words. He will get to do the same. The bigger issue will be in 5 years when she starts school and has activities. However, he may well be past Jack's 18 majors and Snead's 80+ Tour wins. That's only 1 Major and a little over 4 wins per year. Hell, he missed the Grand Slam by 8 strokes this year (2 @ the Masters, 1 at the US Open and 5 at the British Open.) He may have all of those records befor she is out of preschool.

[fluxcapacitor]

Just check the scores from today. Tiger's at -13 and Phil is at -6. With a 63 today that means that Tiger has shot a 63 in at least one round of his last 3 out of 4 tournaments. I've only been watching golf for a year, but I've never seen Phil put up that consistent of numbers.

I'm thinking that AMLOST everyone here agrees that Tiger's alone out there, and while Phil is in a strong 2nd, its still not close to Tiger. JMO.

[getinthehole]

No-one's in Tiger's league. The birth of his daughter has just made him much stronger, he will win much more next year too.

[JackTheSmuggler]

A few of Woods' highlights from summer 2007: He won the PGA Championship, shot 63 to match the lowest round ever recorded at a major, won four of his last five starts, shot a career-low 28 on the front nine at East Lake, trashed two tournament scoring records and moved a lot closer to being the first athlete to earn $1 billion in his career


At this point to compare Phil to Tiger is almost laughable...That argument abou Tiger being the Best Ever is starting to seem a little silly too..Of course he is..Hands Down.

[donatello rage]

if u ask me really hate lefty to me he comes off as a pompous guy who is full of himself

and to answer the threads question

NOOOO

if tiger has an average day of putting he will easily win

the thing about tiger is that some weeks he cant make the putts but hell be able to either have them lip out or just be a few inches short

phil's putting yes he is an amazing putter and has an amazing chipping game but lets admit this anything out side of 10 ft and if hes putting hell miss where as if tiger misses he was either just taking a roll at it or if he lags it hes within 1 ft

phil's chipping is good but tiger really never has to chip as much as phil so lol theres my asnwer

[sonicblue]

Phil isn't even in 2nd place when it comes to challenging Tiger. No one deserves to be in "2nd place." It's like discussing which planet has the 2nd-most life on it after Earth.

Who in their right mind says that Phil's short game is better than Tiger's? That's not close, either. Tiger gets up and down from EVERYWHERE!!! Just because has the balls (and lack of brains, sometimes) to take a huge swing on a 7 yd flop shot doesn't mean his game is better. Pretty much the only title that Tiger is not poised to lock down is "best driver ever" because of his occasional spraying. Short of Bubba and Daly, Tiger is the long driver on tour, his distance and accuracy with nearly every iron is virtually unmatched, his short game is flat out mind-boggling and his putting....well, his putting is so good, it makes you forget how good he is getting to the greens.

When Tiger first started, I watched to see if he really was that good. Check.

After a while, I watched to see if he would ever falter. Nope.

I grew a little tired of watching because he just won all the time, but now I'm back to appreciating how amazing it is that he shows up EVERY SINGLE tournament, EVERY round, and continues to master this great game. If I have my way, I won't miss another shot in the career of the greatest golfer ever.

[SubPar]

The reason Phil is so renouned for his shot-making ability and skill around the greens is that he is regularly having to save his ass from awful decisions and terrible shots. Tiger can do the same, he just does not have to use those skills every third or fourth hole.

Segio is a lot like Phil without the wins. He can hit some amazing recovery shots.... but he is constantly having to hit recovery shots.

SubPar

[donatello rage]

ahhh sergio just struggles he doesnt have the shot making ability of phil for sergio is not the best short game guy.. as we saw on the tour championship he started concentrating on his putting and what happened was he wasnt able to hit his consistent drives... he started messing up his drives and could not go under par where as phil could mess up his drives and still go way under par

[Mikey]

I do not think Phil is even close and the sad part is that he is next best golfer besides Tiger. I do not know if Phil will ever accomplish what Tiger has.

Lets be honest Tiger is the greates of all time.

[Jeepthrills]

When he plays his best, Phil is the second best player out there. Sometimes he plays his best and Tiger doesn't and he even beats Tiger. It's like the Detroit Lions and the Patriots. The Lions can play their best and if they catch the Pats on an off week, they may win. If we are looking at the entire season and the chance to be a champion, I'll take the Pats over the Lions. Granted Phil may not be as bad as my Lions, but Tiger is better than the Pats and he doesn't even need to cheat to do it. Sorry Pats fans, but I couldn't resist.

[iacas]

When he plays his best, Phil is the second best player out there. Sometimes he plays his best and Tiger doesn't and he even beats Tiger. It's like the Detroit Lions and the Patriots. The Lions can play their best and if they catch the Pats on an off week, they may win. If we are looking at the entire season and the chance to be a champion, I'll take the Pats over the Lions. Granted Phil may not be as bad as my Lions, but Tiger is better than the Pats and he doesn't even need to cheat to do it. Sorry Pats fans, but I couldn't resist.

Comparing any team to one player is silly simply because Tiger beats, virtually every time he tees it up, 100+ of the best in the game. The Patriots only have to beat one other team at any given time.

Tiger's winning percentage when you factor in the entire field and figure his W-L record by that is eons ahead of any football team's, any baseball team's... any team's in any sport. After all, he was roughly 98-0 the past two weeks alone, and 216-1-1 the past three weeks. What'd he do the two weeks before that? Oh right, he won a major and a WGC event. So now we're into the 400-1-1 realm. Ain't no team ever gonna do that.

[Jeepthrills]

Comparing any team to one player is silly simply because Tiger beats, virtually every time he tees it up, 100+ of the best in the game. The Patriots only have to beat one other team at any given time.

My comparison was to simply point out that on any given week, a lesser team or player can beat a better team/player. However, in the big picture the best team will usually win. Tiger just takes that to a higher level than anyone has ever seen. The only thing really comparable on an individual level right now is Federer in tennis. Even that doesn't really compare because he only has to beat 6 or 7 people to win in a field of 60+.

Phil is like the Bengals. He has the talent to compete with the best, but doesn't have the make up to do it every time out. There has not been a team in recent history that has been the odds on favorite to win every week and been able to maintain that for 10+ years.