Golf Archives
May 7, 2007
Tiger wins in Charlotte.
Tiger Woods took home another tournament trophy Sunday, ninth in his last twelve events on Tour. 9 of 12 — the statistic is mind-blowing in this game. But the really astonishing thing is this: he wins now by means quite different, and more admirable, than he used to.
In this victory in Charlotte, on the superb and mysterious Quail Hollow Club, with a loaded field — I believe the CBS anchor said 27 out of the top 30 players in the world — Mr. Woods won by two strokes and it could have been more. He played several poor or unimpressive shots, or just unlucky ones, first on a wild stretch on Saturday’s rain-delayed third round, which included a hole-in eagle by Vijay Singh, and then again, improbably, on Sunday. But in the end, Tiger Woods won this up-and-coming event by his mastery of what is most succinctly called the Tough Par Putt.
July 16, 2007
I heart golf.
Another reason to love golf: it seems that about a third of the men on Tour are professing Christians of humble and endearing faith. Almost every other winner gives glory to God in his interviews, sometimes to the amusing discomfiture of the interviewer. Yesterday an American named Jonathan Byrd won the John Deere classic in Illinois, a smaller tournament lacking in big-name players but thereby offering a better opportunity to the younger guys. Interviewed by Bobby Clampett, he said that he prayed to God for calm during the final holes. If that sounds hokey to you — well, then you’ve probably never played golf. Calm in this game, in pressure situations, really must have a divine origin.
Poor Tim Clark, a South African who held the lead almost all day Sunday until his last two holes, showed on the 17th why this is so. His second shot on the par-5, slightly mis-hit, landed on the upslope of a fairway bunker, right near the lip, leaving a near-impossible shot. Had it carried 18 more inches, it likely would have taken a nice bounce up toward the hole, at worst coming to rest in the greenside bunker to set up a fairly routine up-and-down for birdie.
Just another week on the PGA Tour. Byrd’s victory give him a bid to next week’s British Open, as well as a spot in next year’s Masters. Nice perks for a “smaller” tournament.
September 4, 2007
The PGA Playoffs in full swing.
We saw some of the best golf of the year yesterday outside of Boston. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, paired together for the third time in this second round of the PGA Playoffs — the Deutsche Bank Championship — did not disappoint. For a time it looked as though Mickelson would just run away with it, but Tiger gave him a good run — good enough, indeed, to make this viewer wonder whether Mickelson would choke against Woods yet again. In the end he did not, putting markedly better than his rival and capturing the top position in the Playoff standings as the Tour moves to Chicago for its third leg.