2018 The PLAYERS Championship

[Shindig]

... and there goes it for Tiger.  Par on #16, water on #17.  

Meanwhile, Jordan is setting up for what might be his first score of the day that is neither a par nor a 4.

[Vinsk]

Yeah damn shame....been coming up short with wedge all day....this is where a better caddie would’ve helped...dopey Joe just hands Tiger clubs....useless.

[HJJ003]

Lackluster day thus far for Simpson but, solid enough to get the job done. He played so well the first three days though that even a poor performance would have likely got the job done.

[Frank-0-Sport]

Hmmm --

Just visited the Events Page at the Official World Golf Rankings site. It shows the current (as of May 13 2018 at 7pm ET) Players Championship SoF (Strength of Field) rating as 854. Earlier in the week, the rating was 871.

As I am not well versed on all the fine details of how the OWGR works, perhaps someone can enlighten on the reason for the 17-point difference!

[Vinsk]

1 minute ago, Frank-0-Sport said:

Hmmm --

Just visited the Events Page at the Official World Golf Rankings site. It shows the current (as of May 13 2018 at 7pm ET) Players Championship SoF (Strength of Field) rating as 854. Earlier in the week, the rating was 871.

As I am not well versed on all the fine details of how the OWGR works, perhaps someone can enlighten on the reason for the 17-point difference!

Those who were cut?

[colin007]

I am encouraged and disheartened at the same time.

First, Tigs has GOT to stop mis-hitting when he lays up off the tee. That's like two strokes lost....

The wedge game...WTF?? Not controlling distance or spin? No bueno dewd.

Good God I love watching that man hit a long iron.

Edited May 13, 2018 by colin007
Spelling

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, colin007 said:

I am encouraged and disheartened at the same time.

First, Tigs has GOT to stop mis-hitting when he lays up off the tee. That's like two strokes lost....

The wedge game...WTF?? Not controlling distance or spin? No bueno dewd.

Good God I love watching that man hit a long iron.

 

Totally agree. I know, I know golf is hard. But 111yds? And 17 tee shot?! Come on...these guys should hit short wedges in their sleep. When Tiger was 2nd at -14 I had my first solid Tiger’s back feeling...more than ever....Still a good showing but damn...why the errors on the ‘easy’ stuff?

[ChrisP]

It's good to see Webb win, even if most of us weren't rooting for him today because we wanted to see some drama. But he's a good guy and it validates his U.S. Open win a lot more. He was flirting with the "flash in the pan" major champions but he now looks like a lot better major champion now. He's left the "Stewart Cink" category and entered the "Geoff Ogilvy" category. 

Looking forward to the U.S. Open. From what I've heard, they're making wider fairways at Shinnecock which could mean lower scores than your typical U.S. Open, depending on the weather. If it's dry and breezy, it will play difficult, but if it's a little softer, I think you'll see some really low scores this go around. And while Tiger hasn't fared well at Shinnecock in the past, he plays a different style game now. Would love to see Phil give it one more run at a U.S. Open on a course he's played really well on.

Edited May 14, 2018 by ChrisP

[turtleback]

10 hours ago, pin high said:

Ok, did anyone else see the all fall off the tee when Spieth addressed the ball on the 2nd hole. Isn't that a stroke?

No it doesn't count.  But it is virtually obligatory for some wag to say, 'that's one.' LOL

[sheepdog]

Here's what I've got from perusing the internet and my newspaper this morning. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, oh by the way Webb Simpson won.

[HJJ003]

2 minutes ago, sheepdog said:

Here's what I've got from perusing the internet and my newspaper this morning. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, oh by the way Webb Simpson won.

FWIW, The two top stories on ESPN golf right now are about Webb winning. Tiger does have the third story. If you are seeing a lot of tiger on other places it’s likely because they know people won’t comment or read the content as much if they don’t talk about him. 

[klineka]

14 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Yeah damn shame....been coming up short with wedge all day....this is where a better caddie would’ve helped...dopey Joe just hands Tiger clubs....useless.

You have no idea that a "better" caddie would have helped. Obviously Tiger doesnt feel that his caddie is useless and Tiger's opinion is the only one that matters. 

For all we know, he could have been at his numbers perfectly for those specific wedges and simply mishit them slightly. 

12 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Totally agree. I know, I know golf is hard. But 111yds? And 17 tee shot?! Come on...these guys should hit short wedges in their sleep. 

Tiger averages a GIR 63% of the time when hes 100-125 yds out (10th worst on tour this season)

That leaves 4 out of every 10 shots (on average) from that distance he's missing the green completely. His approach on 14 just happened to be one of those 4.

You might think that they should be able to "hit short wedges in their sleep" but that's not really the case. Only one player on tour this season has an average proximity to the hole of less than 15 feet on shots 100-125 yds from the fairway, and only 3 players average closer than 16 feet. That's just the averages, which obviously means a good portion of the approaches from the best players from that distance are ending up 20+ feet away from the hole.

Tiger is 13th in strokes gained approaching the green, gaining .704 strokes per round, only .04 and .07 strokes behind Spieth and Thomas, and just .02 behind Phil.

Tiger is doing just fine IMO.

[rehmwa]

Tiger was super positive after that last round, he was beaming.  Something has clicked here, at least in his own mind.  Hope it carries over.  Quite a show. 

Webb had a fun tourney, nice to have a huge buffer of shots on the last hole to blow if needed.  very comforting.

[ncates00]

21 minutes ago, klineka said:

For all we know, he could have been at his numbers perfectly for those specific wedges and simply mishit them slightly. 

He said he had a perfect SW number (127 to carry and 133 hole), but the breeze picked up into his face.  He said he hit a good shot- so I'll take him at his word.  SW seems to be too little club, but he is TW and a speedy one at that.  I just would worry even if he got the carry that the ball would have so much spin on it and zip off the green.

[saevel25]

1 minute ago, ncates00 said:

He said he had a perfect SW number (127 to carry and 133 hole), but the breeze picked up into his face.  He said he hit a good shot- so I'll take him at his word.  SW seems to be too little club, but he is TW and a speedy one at that.  I just would worry even if he got the carry that the ball would have so much spin on it and zip off the green.

It looks like he was trying to hit the perfect shot. If that is the case, then that is the club if he can just carry the bunker. I think the ball would have taken a few big bounces and spun back towards the pin.

[nevets88]

First time since 2001, all majors and Player's, current titleholder is an American.

🇺🇸

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, klineka said:

You have no idea that a "better" caddie would have helped. Obviously Tiger doesnt feel that his caddie is useless and Tiger's opinion is the only one that matters. 

For all we know, he could have been at his numbers perfectly for those specific wedges and simply mishit them slightly. 

Tiger averages a GIR 63% of the time when hes 100-125 yds out (10th worst on tour this season)

That leaves 4 out of every 10 shots (on average) from that distance he's missing the green completely. His approach on 14 just happened to be one of those 4.

You might think that they should be able to "hit short wedges in their sleep" but that's not really the case. Only one player on tour this season has an average proximity to the hole of less than 15 feet on shots 100-125 yds from the fairway, and only 3 players average closer than 16 feet. That's just the averages, which obviously means a good portion of the approaches from the best players from that distance are ending up 20+ feet away from the hole.

Tiger is 13th in strokes gained approaching the green, gaining .704 strokes per round, only .04 and .07 strokes behind Spieth and Thomas, and just .02 behind Phil.

Tiger is doing just fine IMO.

Tiger chose to hit a sand wedge instead because he saw Jordan hit a 52*. I think that is poor thinking and Steve would’ve intervened. And no I don’t have any idea on what Tiger was thinking as you don’t either. It was simply my opinion so lighten up Francis.

[Patch]

16 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Yeah damn shame....been coming up short with wedge all day....this is where a better caddie would’ve helped...dopey Joe just hands Tiger clubs....useless.

In an interview Woody said the sand wedge was the right club. When I first saw his tee shot, (replay) my first thought was he hit it a little on the fat side.  The screen showed a 2 mph wind at the tee, and a 11 mph higher up. 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Patch