On one hand I agree with Rory. Golf has been a game of rules and etiquette where a responsibility for upholding a sense of tradition has been important. On the other hand, the amount of money at stake has elevated a good number of golfers to millionaire status. Why can a high school or college basketball player be subjected to all sorts of boisterous and objectionable noise from their environment while pro golfers can't?
M.A.G.A.
Trump2020OP-the real one wrote:
On one hand I agree with Rory. Golf has been a game of rules and etiquette where a responsibility for upholding a sense of tradition has been important. On the other hand, the amount of money at stake has elevated a good number of golfers to millionaire status. Why can a high school or college basketball player be subjected to all sorts of boisterous and objectionable noise from their environment while pro golfers can't?
M.A.G.A.
Because golf isn't basketball. Should fans be allowed to scream when Roger Federer tosses the ball for his serve? Golf and tennis are not team sports and fans are ostensibly there to see great performances - not to cheer for their team. You can cheer for Tiger Woods without booing Rory McIlroy. I realize the internet has fostered a freedom to say anything without consequence. Hopefully, golf can avoid the incivility that permeates the rest of society.
Golf is golf.
Somehow, it's popular enough for a $8.9 million purse practically every weekend (for 120 players) courtesy of the PGA TOUR charity.
Another Bogey wrote:
1 3 Rory McIlroy -15 -5 14 69 70 67 - 206
T2 1 Henrik Stenson -14 -2 13 64 69 71 - 204
T2 2 Bryson DeChambeau -14 -3 14 67 66 72 - 205
4 4 Justin Rose -13 -4 14 69 71 67 - 207
T5 10 Tiger Woods -10 -3 17 68 72 69 - 209
T5 6 Rickie Fowler -10 -2 15 67 71 70 - 208
Miami (AFP) – Rory McIlroy ended an 18-month PGA win drought in sensational fashion Sunday with birdies on five of the last six holes to capture the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Four-time major champion McIlroy outdueled American Bryson DeChambeau and major winners Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson with an amazing putting display on the Bay Hill greens.
“It’s so nice to see everything come together finally,” McIlroy said. “I wasn’t that far away. It takes something to click into place. Something clicked into place with my putting obviously.”
McIlroy fired an eight-under par 64 to finish 72 holes on 18-under 270 and defeat DeChambeau by three strokes.
“I’m just proud of myself to hang in there over the past few months with injury and everything,” McIlroy said. “To get my first PGA win in I don’t know how long, it feels really great.”
Tiger Woods turned in his best round of the season and his lowest score ever at The Players Championship.
Woods shot a 7-under 65 in the third round Saturday, besting his previous low score on the Stadium Course by a stroke. He honed in his iron shots, fine-tuned his putter and was so hot through 12 holes that it looked as if he might challenge the Stadium Course record at TPC Sawgrass.
“I wish I could repeat it more often, but honestly it was just a better start,” Woods said. “I got off to a much better-quality start.”
“To be 8-under there through 12, realistically I probably could have got a couple more out of it and got to 10 (under) for the day,” he said. “But I’ll take it.”
Woods will be paired with Jordan Spieth for the final round Sunday and will start the day 11 shots behind Webb Simpson.
Playing better this year, but he's going to miss the cut at the U.S. Open
bladerunner wrote:
Trump2020OP-the real one wrote:
On one hand I agree with Rory. Golf has been a game of rules and etiquette where a responsibility for upholding a sense of tradition has been important. On the other hand, the amount of money at stake has elevated a good number of golfers to millionaire status. Why can a high school or college basketball player be subjected to all sorts of boisterous and objectionable noise from their environment while pro golfers can't?
M.A.G.A.
Because golf isn't basketball. Should fans be allowed to scream when Roger Federer tosses the ball for his serve? Golf and tennis are not team sports and fans are ostensibly there to see great performances - not to cheer for their team. You can cheer for Tiger Woods without booing Rory McIlroy. I realize the internet has fostered a freedom to say anything without consequence. Hopefully, golf can avoid the incivility that permeates the rest of society.
Come on. If b-ball players can shoot free throws with people screaming at them, then surely tennis players can serve and golfers can swing. Maybe they really aren't sports.
It was almost 10 months after my original post..but...TIGER WOODS IS BACK BABY!!!!!!!!!
Greatest Asian golfer ever!
LM is smoking something wrote:
Look at the driving distance stats. Tiger is about 264. Don't talk out of your rear end unless you can back it up.
Dude. Driving Distance is a really silly stat. They measure it only on two holes each round facing opposite directions. Tiger hits a ton of irons and woods and finess shots. Ref (see bottom):
https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.101.htmlTW also ended averaging 304yards.
More interesting stat would be something like this:
https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02401.htmlTW here at 17th. 120mph, which probably includes some woods and irons. My earlier post you quoted said Tiger was swinging 120 and driving 300. Guess what, he still is. Rather than assume I'm a duma$$ speaking out of my rear, wouldn't it make sense to ask where I'm getting my information from and how I'm reaching those conclusions?
just like a broken watch........
theJeff wrote:
I love that “back” meant “tied for 3rd” to some people here.
Remember this: Tiger’s biggest advantage was mental. People in contention thought they had no chance, and they played like it. There is an AMAZING stat about how poorly his playing partners used to play over the weekend in majors that Tiger was contending in (I forget the exact numbers, but the average was over par for players that played well enough to be on the leaderboard the rest of the tournament.)
Now that they realize he is mortal, he will NEVER be back. People in contention will ALWAYS know that they have a chance against him.
There is a great deal of truth to what you say. But keep in mind that only affected one of his playing partners in the majors. The other guys weren't dealing with that directly. That said, I think the aura he had probably hurt chasers in general.
That mental advantage came from somewhere. Part of it was his intense personality. But part of it was his physical dominance. I don't view Tiger as the greatest, but he was beyond a shadow of a doubt the BEST to ever play the game at his peak. His 2000 stats are stupid.
#2 Driving Distance, 10+ yards longer than everybody else
72% of Fairways (like 10 guys on tour hit that each year now)
#1 GIR, by over 3%
#3 Scrambling
#2 Putting
#1 Scoring (by almost a stroke and a half, when he favored tough courses)
That's ridiculous. Yea, he had a mental advantage too, but he created that mental advantage by being almost comically better than everyone else.
Def to the def wrote:
Greatest Asian golfer ever!
True That!
LM wrote:
theJeff wrote:
I love that “back” meant “tied for 3rd” to some people here.
Remember this: Tiger’s biggest advantage was mental. People in contention thought they had no chance, and they played like it. There is an AMAZING stat about how poorly his playing partners used to play over the weekend in majors that Tiger was contending in (I forget the exact numbers, but the average was over par for players that played well enough to be on the leaderboard the rest of the tournament.)
Now that they realize he is mortal, he will NEVER be back. People in contention will ALWAYS know that they have a chance against him.
There is a great deal of truth to what you say. But keep in mind that only affected one of his playing partners in the majors. The other guys weren't dealing with that directly. That said, I think the aura he had probably hurt chasers in general.
That mental advantage came from somewhere. Part of it was his intense personality. But part of it was his physical dominance. I don't view Tiger as the greatest, but he was beyond a shadow of a doubt the BEST to ever play the game at his peak. His 2000 stats are stupid.
#2 Driving Distance, 10+ yards longer than everybody else
72% of Fairways (like 10 guys on tour hit that each year now)
#1 GIR, by over 3%
#3 Scrambling
#2 Putting
#1 Scoring (by almost a stroke and a half, when he favored tough courses)
That's ridiculous. Yea, he had a mental advantage too, but he created that mental advantage by being almost comically better than everyone else.
I don’t necessarily agree that his greatest advantage was mental as he was much greater than everyone else in the physical side of golf. However, in regards to mental edge, I think he still has it with the crowd going crazy when he’s in the lead. No other players get that kind of cheers and I think that negatively affects other golfers thinking that everyone wants Tiger to win and if they win, they are ruining it for everyone.
Just want to bump this up.
It took a while to get that major, but he is indeed back!
I told you all a year and a half ago!
Just a few years ago he might have been the most hated sportsperson in the USA now he is the darling of the nation. USA you are such a funny place.
amazing
thrilled wrote:
Just a few years ago he might have been the most hated sportsperson in the USA now he is the darling of the nation. USA you are such a funny place.
This is only reason why so many want to emigrate to the US.
thrilled wrote:
Just a few years ago he might have been the most hated sportsperson in the USA now he is the darling of the nation. USA you are such a funny place.
So true. I’m a white conservative Christian and I was so nervous watching, wanting him to win, I could barely watch. I don’t understand it either as I’m not a fan of unfaithfulness.
wola wrote:
thrilled wrote:
Just a few years ago he might have been the most hated sportsperson in the USA now he is the darling of the nation. USA you are such a funny place.
This is only reason why so many want to emigrate to the US.
We just love underdogs regardless.