RichF

Quote: Your reply made even less sense - I never even mentioned the way the course at Tavistock Cup is set up. It's as important to 'serious' golf fans as 'American Idol' is to opera fans - a complete joke. The Tavistock Cup is all about why people point and laugh at golf: snobbery and elitism long associated with country-club cliches.

Firstly, light-breezy conditions + hot sun = low scores. The bunkers and water hazards are obvious...but this doesn't neccessarily make for a 'great golf course'. Except for 18, there's little drama to it. Secondly, we're talking about professional golfers playing...not me...so your last line is completely moot. Thirdly, I'm not a Tiger-Hater...I just despise his 'followers' harping on at every possible opportunity when he shoots a good round cos it prompts yet more 'Tiger's Back' threads. Like I said a few weeks back, the majority of these types are usually 20-30 years old, have every copy of EA Sports 'Tiger Woods PGA Tour' and probably wear red & black when they play on a Sunday.

Quote: Oh I agree...I tuned in for 10 minutes tops....admittedly it's not as embarrassing as Pro-Ams, but still cheesy enough.

Oh, and one day of 'target-golf' in easy conditions at a TV-course like Doral and a low-round of 'casual golf' at Tavistock with some chums is in no way , ' getting your groove back'. It's probably a step-up from his chum, John Cooke's 'his swing is clicking on the range' comment a few weeks back...

...you mean for the sake of The Tiger Woods Casual Golf Watcher's Club. Because without him, golf is doomed, right?

Quote: +1 These tournaments are as cringe-worthy as are idiot Feherty's comments on-the-course. If there was ever a reason to hate golf....you said it correct: these silly rich-pals-together events illustrate it perfectly. Just awful.

Quote: Beard? Straight cap-peak??

Quote: +1 Bit like a prime Tiger Woods.

Tiger? Doral? T10 or there abouts...

Quote: +1 However, Villegas' woes pale in compairon to Mike Weir : 22+ after 2 days and he officially lost his PGA Tour card yesterday...

Unfortunately a lot of posters on the Internet fall into the type those who 'fall-in-love-with-a-player' - and consequently are doomed to an emotional roller coaster and not able to enjoy golf at the level as people who love golf itself. Personally, I have an appreciation for watching the game at it's highest level - and every Thursday is great for me because I get to watch every tournament from the PGA Tour, European Tour and The Majors, year-in, year-out....and there is always someone is always playing at that 'great' level. It might be for only that week, but it's still great for me to watch. To me, golf is in a very healthy state now because of the rotating World #1s, The European Tour matching the PGA Tour in terms of depth-of-talent-talent - yet at the same time we have these 'player-fans' crying because they desperately want Tiger to get back to how he was because ratings are down, it affects the overall game, it's boring without him, blah-blah-blah... 'The Woods Followers', it is as if they're like a scorned ex-girlfriend mad at their partner because he's no longer fulfilling their emotional needs. If he does ever get back into the Top-5, he'll just be another professional golf player....but one with a great past.

Quote: So what? Dustin Jonhson's a long hitter (more accurate, too), nearly won a Major last year (and apart from a massive rules-infringement, would have ).

Quote: The cheating-issue is old news. What's happening now...a full 1 year on ...is alarming. Everyone goes on about how 'rusty' he is after a long layoff (not that long: he playd 5 fewer tournaments than usual in 2010) and how his new swing is a 'work-in-progress' and that eventually, he'll get it back (really? last time he changed his swing, it took him just 5 months before he was hitting thE Top-5 n tournaments again and another 6 months before the 'W's started appearing again) Bottom-line: If you're a 'Tiger-Fan' and you're 20 years old ( the two usually go hand-in-hand ): then you'll think, "Yeah, he's the Man, he did all this for the world of Golf, he can get it back, he'll start winning, he's flawed-but-arent-we-all" BS, then sure, he'll pass Jack Nicklaus by 2013 and you can carry on playing 'EA Sports Tiger Woods 2 XXX' to your heart's content. Everyone else who's smart: carry on as you were.

WTF is all this 'Bubba-Major-Love-Fest' going on all of a sudden? I bet he doesn't make the cut this year. Jamo is right with his posts.

Quote: +1 They need to market it correctly and ensure that we don't have a tour full of mega-talented sour-faced, club-throwing, spitting, swearing punks... I mean, WTF is wrong with these boring players like Kaymer??? He should liven up for god's sake...

Trying to look at 'Masters consistency' as well as 'current consistency' - if I had to pick from both tours, I'm going for either Hunter Mahan or Ian Poulter

No sign of anything saying he is going to regain anything soon. He refuses to change or more alarmingly, add to his playing schedule which at least might get some of the confidence back. If he sticks to his usual schedule he most likely will continue to post his 70-75s, make some cuts, but won't contend. The result is he will continue to slip. It's almost like he is refusing to admit anything is wrong and refusing to change. So far he isn't overtly blaming others but how soon before that starts: Adios, Foley and possibly Stevie (who continues to look uncomfortable on the bag not knowing whether to compliment him or try to help him with observations). If everyone else is commenting on "what is going on with that swing" you know for sure Stevie is seeing it. Truthfully, I think we'll find out a lot about the state of his game in the next 5 weeks. He'll be teeing it up in 3 events he's done very well in the past (Bay Hill, Doral & Masters). If he fails to 'contend' in any of those (and by that, I mean win or finish in the Top-5) he could drop out of the Top 10 (of course, depending on how other players fare during the same stretch.) Aside from his driving, which is getting worse, now his short-game and putting is MIA too. I find it funny that people keep comparing his current swing to that of 3 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, when they really should take a look at his putting stroke. In the last 8 months it's become 'stabby', jerky - not flowing and rhythmical as it once was. Sure, his struggles with the full shots keep putting more pressure on the short game, but I do not think that this is really the cause. At times his putting stroke looks like those of some players on the Champions Tour. Short and with a stabbing motion. He can still make some putts with this, when he really feels good, obviously, but it just breaks down under pressure. Even if he finds some sort of repeatable swing, this will be the real issue. Plus, factor in the fact that his body isn't what it used to be and he's 35 and the rising talent coming along better than ever...I think we'll see whether Woods sticks to his statement a few years back when he said if he ever got to the poijnt where he wasn't winning/contending...then he'd retire from golf. Anyways, doesn;'t anyone enjoy watching the new names in golf on both PGA Tour and European Tour? Personally, I've watched more golf these past 12 months than I ever did when Tiger-Mania was going on...

Amongst all the hideous golf 'fashion' going nowadays (Daley, Fowler, Poulter, etc), Kaymer gets flak for wearing a scarf for 2 days of one tournament. Weird.

Quote: No you don't. All you've done is show that you're from Massacussetts and you rave on about Graeme McDowell all the time. (ooohh..the penny just dropped for me ) Well, Graeme McDowell and one off-season December tournament, that is. Dude....get another story, this one is really boring .

Quote: Is entertaining or was entertaining? I find it hard to believe you enjoy watching him play now...especially when there's so many other better players around. I followed him for the first 3 holes at The Open at St Andrews last year and then decided to watch all the other other groups instead...can't be doing with the lemmings that follow his group around all the time and watching parts of McIlroy's masterful 63 was far, far better than a guy struggling to re-adjust, regardless of who he is/what he's done. Oh, and no, we don't owe him anything whatsoever...golf's his job.

Quote: He won't ever get it back...he'll be out the Top 10 this year (as will Mickelson) and he'll stick to his promise of retiring from golf if he isn't winning/contending (which means millions of fair-weather golf 'fans' can go and find another sport to watch) I'm sorry if that's a bitter pill for 'Tiger-ites' to swallow...but sooner or later...it's got to be swallowed... 2011 will be known as Golf's 'New World Order'...

Quote: And how many wins does McDowell have on the PGA Tour? Same as Kaymer: One. See above post by Zeph for the 'best don't play on the PGA Tour''

Quote: I don't know what he's going to do...sign up for Honda Classic, Shell Houston, Valero Texas, etc, to get some ranking points back? It's all well and good his mates suggesting his 'swing is clicking on the range'... but let's see it where it counts. At this rate, guys like Kuchar, Casey and McIlroy are going to pass him soon as well...

Quote: No! It's not the truth!! ( well, the Westwood part is, sure, LOL ) What I mean is...look at the difference between Kaymer and McDowell - it's like Night and Day. G-Mac has just had a great past 7 months since his Wales Open win at Celtic Manor...Kaymer's been playing lights-out since early-2009 and has more wins in one year than McDowell has in three . It's no secret that I'm a 'Kaymer-ite'...but I know stellar-talent when I see it. As for the PGA/Euro comparison: a) it's been done to death and b) I think you know the tide is truly turning in a big way now.

Quote: Pre-2010, McDowell couldn't get arrested and he's just like Westwood: a grinder. "Westwood shouldnt be 1 he chokes everytime he is under pressure who cares about Kaymer because he plays on the Euro tour which isnt close to as deep as the PGA tour" That post actually made me 'laugh-out-loud'.