Tigers and 'Cats and Jayhawks (?)...Oh, My

Not sure how you apportioned your TV viewing time this afternoon, but most of my attention was on NBC watching Tiger Woods win his first PGA Tour event in 934 days. Did the guys at NBC bring up that 934 day number enough for you? Since the revelation of Woods' now well-publicized feet of clay, it is quite fashionable to knock him and have people tell you what a scuzzball he is and blame him for everything from poor on-course behaviour, spitting too much, global warming, $4 per gallon gasoline, and inverse fluctuations in the stock market. I, however, have always been rooting for him to find the magic once again on the golf course and start winning. Golf is a lot more interesting when Tiger is in the hunt and winning.

Well, he did that in most convincing fashion today - a five shot margin over second place finisher Graeme McDowell. One most interesting stat from today, and I think I heard this correctly from the boys in the booth, was that of the final 14 golfers, Woods was the only one to shoot under par in today's fourth round. That's impressive.

That was Tiger's 72nd official PGA Tour win. The record for Tour wins is 82, held by Sam Snead. Here's a question to ponder: at age 36, which record is Tiger most likely to break, Snead's 82 career wins, or Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors (Tiger has 14)? I was beginning to think that both records were becoming out of reach for Woods, but after today, I think Snead's record is well within his grasp, and probably more likely to fall than Jack's 18 Majors. However, if Woods wins one this year, and right now he's got to be the favorite at Augusta in two weeks, Jack's record comes into play once more.

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I began the afternoon by watching Kentucky wallop Baylor (the Bears, Oh my!). That one was so out of reach so early, that staying with the golf at Bay Hill was easy to do. The Wildcats sure do look impressive. Make that Very Impressive.

I was also glad to see Kansas advance. Not that it helps me all that much in my FGE Bracket Pool, but Kentucky and Kansas are my two Universities in the MOASP, and if they both happen to meet in the Championship Game, I will have a big leg up on securing the coveted Lamp of Knowledge Trophy for 2012.

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It will be interesting to see the TV ratings for this afternoon. A Kentucky blowout and a golf tournament with Tiger Woods in the lead surely ate into what CBS thought they would score for this afternoon.

Oh, and by the way and for what it's worth, I didn't see Woods spit once on the golf course today.