The Masters 2020

 

Hello, Friends.

So it finally became time to stage The Masters for 2020 this past weekend, after a seven and one-half month delay.  The Masters is always must-see-television for golf fans, and even for non-golf fans, and especially more so in this crazy year of 2020.  However, unlike most years, this version offered very little drama or edge of the seat excitement.  World Number One Golfer Dustin Johnson  seized hold of the tournament by the end of the second round and had a four shot lead after the end of the third round.  Bogies on 4 and 5 for yesterday caused his lead to slip to two strokes early on, and that made it look as though DJ would be seriously challenged, but a birdie on number six righted the ship, and Johnson would go on to earn a five stroke victory and set a Masters scoring record of twenty under par.  He recorded only four bogies throughout the 72 hole event.  That is astonishing.

He is a most worthy Champion.

Some other thoughts and takeaways from this year's toon-a-mint....

The sight of Augusta National without fans Patrons was pretty astonishing, although we have gotten used to such sights at sports events in 2020.  If possible, seeing it in such a natural state made it - in my mind, at least - even more beautiful, even without the azaleas and other flora in full bloom as they are in April.  I suppose sports are always better when played before packed houses, so let's hope that full galleries of fans Patrons will be on hand come April, but for this one year only, I am glad we got to see Augusta National as we did this past weekend.

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Runner-up Cameron Smith finished at -15, a score that would have won the Masters in 78 previous years, and had all four rounds with scores in the sixties.  Was anyone else as surprised as I was to learn that that was the first time that that had ever happened at The Masters?

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As always, CBS coverage of this Tradition Unlike Any Other was superb, even if Jim Nantz always appears to  be close to openly weeping when talking in hushed and reverential tones when speaking of the Augusta National, Bob Jones, Alistair MacKenzie and the hallowed Traditions of The Masters.   I loved the drone shots of the golf course.  I didn't miss Peter Kostis.  I did miss David Feherty, and I liked Dottie Pepper and Trevor Immelman on the coverage.  Verne Lundquist on 16 is truly a CBS Tradition Like No Other.  I am willing to bet that he knows the contours and quirks of the 16th green better than any of the golfers who play in the tournament every year.  And Nick Faldo is always good, too.  Doesn't take himself too seriously as so many of the other ex-golfers now doing the TV gig.  I was, however, wondering what the deal was with his sideburns.  Looks like he's trying to bring back 1968 again.

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This will go down as a mere footnote to the tournament, and if it happened to any other golfer in the field we wouldn't be talking about it all.  I am referencing the 10 that Tiger Woods took on the Par 3 twelfth hole yesterday.

The five time winner and defending champion started the day at -5 and was something like T-24.  Seven shots back and with over twenty guys ahead of him, he wasn't going to win The Masters this year, and who could blame him if all he wanted to do was go out, play quickly, and get it over with.  On the infamous twelfth hole, the shortest hole on the course, he rinsed his tee shot into Rae's Creek, put it into the water two more times, and ended up with a septuple bogey 10 on the hole.  Now at this point, no one, but NO ONE, would blame him if he really did check out both physically and mentally after that.  Didn't happen though.  He played those final six holes in five under par, going birdie-par-birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie.  The mental strength it took to do something like that is as amazing and as impressive as almost anything Woods has ever done on a golf course.  If you play golf, even if you are a hacking amateur like me, you know how mentally hard it is to recover and play even decently after thoroughly screwing up on a hole.

Tiger Woods, six weeks short of his 45th birthday, is still one of a kind.

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Bryson DeChambeau was the talk of the golf world, positively and negatively, coming into The Masters.  If you follow the game, you know that he's a bit of an oddball in his approach, and he talked openly about a course like Augusta National would play like a "par 67" for him.  Karma can be a bitch, and it bit Bryson in the butt this weekend.  He finished the tourney at -2 and way down the track, and was never really a factor at all.  I softened my opinion of DeChambeau after reading the cover story on  him in the current month's Sports Illustrated, but I was still glad to see him served up some humble pie this weekend.  At the same time, I'm sorry that it turned out the way it did.  Golf in general is a lot more interesting when he is in the mix on the weekends, and this Masters would also have been bit juicier if it was DeChambeau, instead of Cam Smith or Abe Ancer, chasing down Johnson on Sunday.

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Heard this interesting tidbit on the Tony Kornheiser Podcast this morning.  Dustin Johnson now has both a Masters Championship and a US Open Championship on is resume.  How many other golfers currently active in the PGA Tour can make that same statement?

The answer is TWO.  Tiger Woods and Jordan Speith.  Are you as surprised as I was that this is such a short list?

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Finally, a $7.50 investment on Fan Duel made by me last week on Dustin Johnson to win The Masters turned into a $78.75 payout, so you know for whom I was  rooting.

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One great thing about a one-time Masters in November is that we only have to wait a little less than five months until we get to do it again!

Sports Update?

Yep, that's a question mark in the headline because, really, we all know that there are no sports to speak of currently.  So this will really be me, more or less, cleaning out some shirt pocket notes.

There was one live event this past Sunday, and that was "The Match 2"  featuring the teams of Tiger Woods/Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson/Tom Brady.

I watched and enjoyed it immensely and here are some of the reasons why.

• The Match raised $20 million for COVID19 relief efforts.

• It was played, for the most part, in miserable weather and these four multi-millionaire athletes soldiered on for the cause, so good for them. (Major League Baseball, take note.)
• All but Brady wore shorts.
• Manning and Brady, purportedly to be single digit handicappers, were spraying the ball over the course.  In my Tuesday round of Retiree Golf this week, I hit more fairways off the tee than Tom Brady did on Sunday (albeit I hit it a LOT shorter).  It's fun to see great athletes humbled.
• Tom Brady never used a driver.
• No caddies.  They drove their own carts, used range finders, cleaned their own clubs, and pulled their own pins.  I mean, TIGER WOODS was pulling the pins on the greens.  He probably hasn't had to do that since he was ten years old.
• Tiger Woods didn't miss a fairway all day.
• Tom Brady called Peyton Manning "Paydirt."  Great nickname.
• And of course, Brady holing out from 100+ yards in the fairway after hacking it all over the place. And splitting his pants.
• Justin Thomas as an on course commentator.
• Charles Barkley.
• And of course the constant realization that the game played by the likes of Woods and Mickelson is way, way, way different than the game played by high level amateurs like the two QB's, let alone the game played by hackers like you and me.

News reports a few days after the event had Mickelson speculating about continuing the format of The Match with different celebrity guests.   Names like Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, Tony Romo, and Patrick Mahomes were being floated by Lefty.  To that, I say be careful what you wish for.  Keep trotting the golden goose out there, and soon The Match will be just another dunk contest, home run derby, or outdoor NHL game.  Plus, how long will it be before the "celebrities" will C and D Listers like Ryan Seachrist and whoever it is that won the last season of The Bachelor?

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While Woods, Mickelson, Manning, and Brady were slogging it through the downpours in Florida on Sunday, MLB and the MLBPA continued their pissing contest over money when and if some form of a Major League Baseball season is to be played.  You know the story: "Billionaires vs. Millionaires" fighting over  moola while 100,000 Americans have died and tens of millions are out of work because of a global pandemic.

Rather then me go on and on about the horrible optics of this whole thing, I strongly recommend that you read Jason Mackey's lengthy piece that appeared in the Op-Ed section of Sunday's Post-Gazette:

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/insight/2020/05/24/Home-run-or-strikeout-Baseball-s-return-to-play-negotiations-could-have-long-term-effect-on-the-game/stories/202005240045?fbclid=IwAR0a6H23SNIh1nX-uYMp0PlULzgYG4YIG1oHGBVb06uQc0_rJw1_MgYhAbY

It not only outlines the issues of these specific negations, but also lists why baseball, the sport, is declining in following among younger people.  The best line in the article is quote that says of MLB and its Players that "it's almost like they're asking people to not follow their sport."

As it is, I say that it is less than 25% probable that there will be a baseball season in 2020.  Hope I'm wrong.

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Football.  I have watched two episodes of "America's Game" on the NFL Network highlighting the 1975 and 1978 seasons of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The show on the 1979 season awaits me on my DVR.  I don't like to be one of those guys who wallow in nostalgia, but man it sure is fun watching those shows.   Those teams were GOOD!!!

Tiger Wins The Masters!!

Hello, friends.

If it is a truth that nothing can match The Masters for sheer self-reverential malarkey, it is also a truth that few sporting events, year after year, can match The Masters for drama and excitement.  The 2019 edition of this event may have been the most dramatic of them all, and the old canard that "The Masters never really begins until the back nine Second Nine on Sunday" was never more true than it was today.

The victory of Tiger Woods at the age of 43 - his fifteenth Major, his fifth Masters win, his first Major win since 2008, and his first Masters win since 2005 - was simply amazing.  The dramatic ebbs and flows of all of the other contenders on that final nine, which saw names such as Xander Shauffle and Patrick Cantley atop the leader board, albeit briefly, the strange and awful things that can happen to golfers on Augusta National's shortest hole, the Par 3 twelfth, were all on display, and through it all the resolute determination and sheer will of Tiger Woods, not to mention his still remarkable golf skills, shone through like a beacon.  It was an amazing thing to watch, and performances and events such is this is why people who follow sports, well, follow sports.

Two comments made by Nick Faldo on the telecast stood out to me.  As it became apparent that Woods was likely to win this event, Faldo commented about the generations of younger golfers now on Tour who came of age watching Woods play.  Whereas at the height of his powers, Woods would have to fight off the occasional Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, or Davis Love, today, Faldo remarked, Woods was fighting off - and would eventually - overcome an entire field of young guns.  Faldo also told the story of how two years ago at the Masters Champions dinner, Woods told him that he doubted that he would ever be able to play golf competitively again, much less win on the sport's biggest stages.

It was a comeback of monumental proportions, and it is doubtful that any sports story that might develop and occur over the course of 2019 will be able to top the story of Tiger Woods' win at this years Masters.

Before writing this post, I went to the Blog search box and typed in "Tiger Woods", and I found sixteen posts that I had written over the years that featured Tiger Woods.  Some of them concerned the topic of who might become the "next Tiger".  In every one of those, I came to the conclusion that we are never, at least not in my lifetime, ever going to see another Tiger Woods.  This weekend's accomplishment confirms that opinion.

Like I said, what we saw today is why we follow sports.

Michael Phelps, the Tiger Woods of Swimming, 

follows the ball on Woods' near ace on #16.

Green Jacket #5

"It still fits."

TIGER!!!!!

Back in January, one of my sports wishes for 2018 was to see Tiger Woods win again.  Didn't have to be a Major.  Just wanted to see Tiger win a full fledged PGA Tour event one more time.  He teased us throughout the summer, and this weekend at the PGA Tour Championship, the magic was back.  I was planted in front of the tube for all eighteen holes, and it was terrific to see.  

Loved every bit of it.

Sports Notes - Various Topics

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box, Wide, Wide World of Sports Division.....

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a spectacular month of July, sporting a record of 17-9 that shot them back into playoff contention.  August has not been so kind.  With three games remaining, the August ledger shows them at 8-16.  Fourth place in the Central, 14 games out of first place.  Eight and one-half games out of the Wild Card spot with nine (9!!) teams ahead of them.  With thirty games remaining, they have to go 18-12 just to finish over .500.

And here is some more good news.  On his weekly radio show on Sunday, Neal Huntington led off with this quote:

"As we look at next year's club, the core of it is this year's club."

How would you like to be a ticket sales rep for that Pirates with THAT as your marketing slogan this off-season?

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Le'Veon Bell has indicated that he will sign his franchise tag deal with the Steelers and report for practice on Monday, one week before the regular season opener.  All the Steelers players and coaches are saying the right things.  You know, "He's the best...it's just business....we're glad he's back...we need him to get where we want to go"...and blah blah blah.

When this season ends, and Bell goes and collects his pot of free agency gold in 2019, these same players, the ones who have been banging their heads at training camp and in exhibition games will no doubt tell us what they REALLY thought of Bell's hold outs these last two seasons.  You know, like they all told us about what kind of a teammate James Harrison was in his final year with the team after the Steelers canned him.

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Pitt opens its 2018 football season on Saturday against the mighty Great Danes of Albany University. I am looking forward to being at Heinz Field on Saturday to see Albany collect it's huge paycheck, and to spending another convivial season, my sixth, amongst the members of the ticket group I am in.  That's will always be fun.

As for how is Pitt going to fare this season, I can claim no insight or expertise to make a valid prediction.  However, I do know this: In the three seasons under Head Coach Pat Narduzzi (or HCPN, as he will be known for the remainder off this blogging season), Pitt has gone 8-5, 8-5, 5-7 (0-2 in bowl games; they failed to qualify for a bowl last year, and that's not easy to do in college football these days).  It's time for the Panthers to take that proverbial "next step" under Narduzzi.  Not sure what that means, but it would sure be nice to see Pitt in the race for a slot in the ACC Championship game in November.  HCPN has already predicted that they will be in that game. Can't say that he's shying away from putting himself on the spot.

Oh, and Pitt is relying heavily on sophomore quarterback Kenny Pickett, who as started all of one game in his career.  Granted, that game was a spectacular upset win over a 10-0 (or were they 11-0 at the time?) Miami, and Pickett sure was great in that one.  Still, Pitt is putting  a lot of eggs in the inexperienced Pickett's basket.  I hope it works out.

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On the national scene, you are all familiar with the sordid tale of Urban Meyer and the ridiculous slap on the wrist that Ohio State handed him last week.  This has been written about extensively by many, many talented national sportswriters and commentators,  so I won't restate the story here. Suffice to say, most people, at least most people outside of the state of Ohio, feel that Meyer should have been fired.  I especially like one columnist I read, and I regret that I can't remember who it was, who has renamed the Buckeyes coach "Urban Liar".

Well, at least we know who and what runs the show at THE Ohio State University, and considering their track record over the years with Woody Hayes and Jim Tressel, I guess we shouldn't really be surprised.

As for me, I have decided to effect any own form of protest.  I have decided that I will NOT watch any college football game this season involving Ohio State.  That could include several games of consequence, including games against Penn State and Michigan, and it could also include games in the College Football Playoffs in January.  Although  I would think - hope? - that that CFP Committee would bend over backwards to NOT include Ohio State in that four team set-up, no matter what their record.

Now, I know that little old me sitting in Pittsburgh, PA not watching a given football game or games on a given weekend or weekends will not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but it will make me feel better about myself.  So I have that going for me, which is nice.  (Two classic movie lines referenced in one paragraph!)

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The other big announcement in recent days was confirmation that Tiger Woods will meet Phil Mickelson, head to head, in a $9 million televised golf match over Thanksgiving weekend.  Of course the Nine Large will be coming from someone else's pockets - yours!  Yep, this made for TV event will be available only on a Pay-Per-View basis, probably cost you twenty-five to thirty bucks to watch this event.  

Now I love Tiger and Phil, and they are arguably the two greatest and most important golfers (and in the case of Woods, one of the most important athletes) in this century, but this is pure money grab, worthy only of fading boxers, MMA fighters, and Vince McMahon.  Also, between them, Woods and Mickelson have won exactly one tournament in the last five years.  I don't begrudge anyone making a buck, but guys of their stature should really be above this.  

Now, if they were going to play a skins game for $1,000 a hole OF THEIR OWN MONEY....that I might be willing to watch.

There Is No "Next Tiger"

As all golf fans know, at the age of 21, Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters in record-breaking fashion.  At the age of 32, he won the 2008 US Open in an 18 hole playoff while, oh yeah, playing on a broken leg.  In that span of time, forty-six of golf's major championships were contested, and Woods won fourteen of them, or 30% of them.

Nobody would have predicted that that '08 Open would have been Woods' last major championship, and while I will "never say never" where Woods is concerned, it must be conceded that with each passing year that does appear to be the case. Also with each passing year, the clamor arises as to who will be the "next Tiger".  

Time for The Grandstander to open up a spreadsheet.

	Masters	US Open	British Open	PGA
2008			Padraig Harrington	Padraig Harrington
2009	Angel Cabrera	Lucas Glover	Stewart Cink	Yang Yong-eun
2010	Phil Mickelson	Graeme McDowell	Louis Oosthuizen	Martin Kaymar
2011	Charl Schwartzel	Rory McIlroy	Darren Clarke	Keegan Bradley
2012	Bubba Watson	Webb Simpson	Ernie Els	Rory McIlroy
2013	Adam Scott	Justin Rose	Phil Mickelson	Jason Duffner
2014	Bubba Watson	Martin Kaymar	Rory McIlroy	Rory McIlroy
2015	Jordan Spieth	Jordan Spieth	Zach Johnson	Jason Day
2016	Danny Willett	Dustin Johnson

As you can see, the chart above represents each of the twenty-eight Majors played since Woods' Open win in 2008.  There have been thirty-two of them that have been spread out among twenty-two different winning players.  Six of them - Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymar, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, and Jordan Spieth - have been multiple winners, with McIlroy winning four of them, and each of the others winning twice.

McIlroy was the first obvious Next Tiger candidate, winning four majors in the span of four years, but he hasn't won since, and when he has been in contention after three rounds, he has spit the bit and not been close, often fading dramatically, as he did in this past Masters. Jordan Spieth appears to be the next most obvious candidate.  He has won twice in the last six tries and has been in contention in five of them.  Others like Jason Day and Dustin Johnson appear to be on the verge of superstardom, Day, in fact, is already there.  All four of those guys are young enough to be factors in and winners of Majors for years to come, but do you really think that they will accomplish what Woods did over a twelve year span of competing in Majors?  Again, "never say never", but I certainly wouldn't bet on it.

Two of the names on the chart above, Ernie Els and Mickelson, won additional Majors outside of the time frame of the chart.  Phil won five of them, Ernie won four.  Mickelson is undoubtedly the single greatest "other" golfer of the Woods Era, and Els is certainly in that same discussion, but they finish far down the track from Tiger when the tally of Majors is viewed.  In fact, going back to a point made in the prior paragraph, I'd say it's a good chance that neither McIlroy nor Spieth will surpass Mickelson's career total of five majors.

The point, if there is one, is that it is extremely hard to win a professional golf tournament.  You have to be better than over 140 other players over a four day period of time.  You have no team mates to block for you, get on base in front of you, or to set you up and feed you that ball or the puck. Sometimes you might get lucky, like Yang Yong-eun did back in 2009 (I mean, do you remember that he won the PGA that year, and have you ever heard of him since?), and there are some other One Hit Wonders that come along (Lucas Glover, Keegan Bradley)  It is real crucible out there, and with each passing year of Tiger not winning, his accomplishments in that twelve year span become more and more remarkable.

My conclusion - there is no "next Tiger", and if there is, I will be a very, very old man when I see him (and I'm old now!).

One final point for this little bar room argument.  Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors beginning with the 1962 US Open and ending with the 1986 Masters.  That was a total of 92 Majors during that span.  Jack's winning percentage was 20%, compared to Tiger's 30%.  If you tell me that Nicklaus was the greatest golfer of all time, I won't argue with you, and I would probably agree with you, but if you tell me that he was more dominant that Woods during their times on Golf's main stage, I might argue with you, although I would also grant you that Nicklaus nineteen second place finishes in Majors are a huge point in Jack's favor.

Just a little something to think over as we await the The Open Championship next month.

You Need To Read The Current Sports Illustrated

While I think that the overall quality of Sports Illustrated has slipped over the last several years, every so often it summons up its past greatness and delivers a first rate article.  In the current edition, dated April 4, 2016, they knock it out of the park with two such articles.

The first is the cover story by Alan Shipnuck about Tiger Woods entitled simply, "What Happened?".  It has been eight years since Woods has won a Major Championship, three years since he has won a tournament, and now, at age 40, and after undergoing three back surgeries in 19 months, he is rarely seen with a golf club in his hands.  At best, he will only be a ceremonial figure at next week's Masters, where his fellow golfers are hoping that he will at least show up at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday. What has happened, indeed.

It is lengthy story, and my take away on it is this: like most highly scrutinized people in the celebrity culture of the twenty-first century, Woods is a complex and somewhat confounding person.  For every story about the guy who is curt and rude with fans or media, you find a story about the guy who was on the phone every day with his swing coach Sean Foley, when Foley and his wife were about to have a baby who might have been born with a fatal birth defect.  That child, by the way, overcame the defect, and is today a healthy active kid who Woods continues to check on, even though he and Foley have long since parted ways as Coach and Client.  And for every story of Woods' marital infidelities, there are stories of the hundreds of kids whose lives have literally been changed for the better via the services of the Tiger Woods Learning Center.

Lots of complexities, and lots of great quotes in the story.  You need to read it.

The second must read story is called "Under The Gun" is an excerpt from  a book called "The Arm" by Jeff Passan.  It is about the culture of youth baseball, travel teams, baseball academies, and Showcase Tournaments  in the United States, and the companies who run these events.  I found it to be rather disturbing.

Finally, I would recommend the column on the back page called "The Beauty of the Bracket" by Frank Kaminsky, now a member of the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA, but more famous as member of the University of Wisconsin basketball team that went to two consecutive Final Fours in 2014 and 2015.  It is a great story about the thrill of playing in College Basketball's showcase event, but I was really struck by this passage in Kaminsky's closing paragraph:  

"The hardest moment was getting back to campus and realizing that I was done in Wisconsin. Two days after the Final Four last year, I left school to start training for the draft.  It just happened so fast.  I was there, I was a basketball player and having the time of my life, and suddenly I was gone..."

So much for the myth of being a "student-athlete".  To his credit, Kaminsky never proclaimed to be a student.

Last Call for Legends

Recent days have proved to be a pretty tough time  for some sporting legends, three guys who, it can be argued, were among the very best to ever have played their particular sport.

Let's take them alphabetically.

Kobe Bryant has announce that he will be retiring at the end of this current NBA season.  Recent years have not been kind to Bryant.  Injuries have caused him to miss large parts of the past two seasons.  He returned in good health for this season, only to find that the skills that make him an NBA MVP, and NBA and an Olympic champion have deserted him.  He currently sports a shooting percentage in the neighborhood of thirty percent, and is causing many to compare him to Willie Mays as a New York Met.  Others are saying that he should retire NOW, immediately, and not drag out this final season as a shadow of his former, great self.  He has chosen to do otherwise, and I suppose that it can be argued that for all Bryant has done for the Lakers and the NBA, he has earned the right to go out on whatever terms he chooses.  So bring on the league-wide Farewell Tour.  It will be the last chance to see a guy who surely ranks among the Top Ten greatest players of all time.

My own personal memory of Bryant:  Setting the alarm clock for 2:00 AM on a Sunday morning in 2008 to watch the Gold Medal game of the Beijing Olympics live between the USA and Spain.  The Spanish team put up a good game against the favored Americans, but in the second half, it was Kobe Bryant who took control of the game and secured the Gold Medal for the USA.

Three weeks ago, Peyton Manning completed a pass in a game that enabled him to establish the all time NFL record for passing yards.  In that same game, he also threw four interceptions, injured his foot, and was benched in favor of Brock Osweiler.   Manning has not appeared in a game since, Osweiler has led the Broncos to two wins, and it now becomes a real possibility that we have seen the last of Peyton Manning as a Bronco, if not as an NFL quarterback.  

No one should ever question that Manning is among the very greatest of quarterbacks to ever have played, despite that somewhat lackluster post-season record.  To think that his final appearance in an NFL game may be that four interception game of a few weeks back is sad to ponder, and does bring back that image of Willie Mays falling down in the batters box as a Met in the 1973 World Series.

The final bomb to drop was the announcement yesterday by Tiger Woods that he has not begun any strenuous rehab from his recent back surgery (his third such surgery in recent years), that he has no plans or thought as to when he will resume golf activities at all, much less competing on the PGA Tour.  In fact, Woods has said that anything that might happen for him on the golf course, including winning any tournament would have to be considered "gravy" at this point in his life.

Even though many observers felt that Woods' days as a dominant golfer were behind him, the thought that we may never see him seriously competing again is shocking to think about.  Jack Nicklaus once said that he would never become a "ceremonial golfer", and for the most part, Jack kept to that.  I can't imagine that Woods will ever slip into that role either.

Woods is 39 years old, will turn 40 later this month, Manning is 39, and Bryant is 37.  As Charles Barkley has so eloquently put it, "Father Time is undefeated", and as Shaquille O'Neal put it "Thirty-nine.  It ain't twenty-nine, Bro."  These are facts that came jarringly home to roost in these last few weeks in the cases of Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods.

The Open Championship

I don't know about all of you, but I find myself really fired up for the Open Championship okay, the British Open, that begins this Thursday.

Credit for this, obviously goes to Jordan Spieth and the fact that he has won both the Masters and US Open this year and now has a chance to do something that has never been done - winning the modern Grand Slam in the same calendar year.  The fact that he played in the low level John Deere Classic this weekend, and won it, only intensifies the hype.  Also, I heard today that he will be paired with none other than Dustin Johnson in the first two rounds of the Open.  Those Brits know how to stage drama, don't they?

Also, the Open will be played on the Old Course at St. Andrews, the birth place of golf.  I love watching the Open when it is played there.  I hope it will be cold, windy, and overcast.

Spieth will be the favorite this week, especially since the injured Rory McIlroy will not be there, and you have to root for him.  However, one of the hardest single things to do in pro sports has to be winning any given golf tournament.  And one of the hardest things to predict is the winner of any given golf tournament, so I am going to wait until after the first round is played before offering my pick.  Yeah, it's kind of a chicken-scratch way to do it, but My Blog, My Rules!

Two other story lines to follow beside Spieth's quest for the Slam.

One is Dustin Johnson.  He has it in him to win one of these Majors, but how will that 72nd hole meltdown at the US Open effect him?

The other is Tiger Woods.  Yes, I know that Woods' days as the pre-eminent  golfer of all time are over, but an appearance by Woods in any tournament will always be a story, just as appearances by a washed up Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus were always stories whenever they played.  Call me crazy, but I still think that Tiger Woods will win again on the PGA Tour, and maybe even win another Major.  He knows St. Andrews.  He has won at St. Andrews, so give him a puncher's chance to be in contention for the lead on the weekend, and if he is in contention, you never know what might happen.  It's probably more likely that he will miss the cut, but I would never count him out.

Play well, gentlemen.

The Future of Golf, or Post-Masters Reflections

Four days after the conclusion of an amazing Masters Tournament, it's time to reflect upon just what took place and what it might mean.

First off, the wire-to-wire win for 21 year old Jordan Spieth prompted this great cover and tag line to appear in the mail box today:

Clever take on the book about Michael Jordan, and a statement that the "Spieth Era Begins Now".

First the tournament itself.  Spieth's performance was nothing short of, sorry about this, Masterful.  Only the fifth wire-to-wire win in the history of the Masters, and a tie for the all-time low score.  On Saturday, he stood up to the challenges and charges of the biggest names in the sport (McIlroy, Mickelson, and Woods), and on Sunday, every time someone looked like he would challenge him, Spieth answered with a birdie, an amazing up-and-down, or a clutch par, all leading to this moment.

Does this mean that a "Jordan Spieth Era" is now upon us?  

Well, how do you define an "Era"?  Is Spieth the next Tiger Woods?  Sorry, but no, or at least no one should be ready to declare so at this point.  Does it mean that Spieth can be a dominant player on the PGA Tour for the next 10-15 years?  It is quite possible that Spieth could indeed be just that, although, I do not think that we shall ever see anyone dominate professional golf the way that Woods did in the period from 1997-2008.  The probability of such dominance is infinitesimal, if for no other reason than this guy:

Rory McIlroy is only 25 years old and already has four majors to his credit.  And if McIlroy will prevent Spieth from being the "next Tiger", then Spieth, in turn, could prevent McIlroy from being the "next Tiger" as well.

What does excite the imaginations of golf nerds everywhere is the possibility of Spieth-McIlroy duels over the next dozen years or so that will be reminiscent of earlier days when Arnold Palmer battled Jack Nicklaus, and Nicklaus battled guys like Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, and Greg Norman.  It is a measure of Woods' total dominance during his time that there never was a real challenger to him, not even Phil Mickelson.  The idea of Spieth and McIlroy going head to head on Sundays at Augusta, Oakmont, St. Andrews and other such places over the next decade to so is wonderful to think about.

Oh, and we should also keep one other thing in mind.  Spieth could end up being a one hit wonder like Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover, Andy North, or one of the many other golfers who have managed to win one major, and little else.  It certainly doesn't appear likely that Spieth will fall into that category, as he has already won several times on Tour and performed well in a Ryder Cup competition, but you never know.  It will be interesting to look back at the ledger at the conclusion of this Tour and Majors season and re-evaluate the possibilities.

Of course, you can't make any evaluation of the State of Golf without talking about these guys:

Phil Mickelson had a terrific Masters.  His score of fourteen under par would have won the Masters 70 of the 78 times in its history.  It appears that he has something left in the tank, at least at Augusta, and it would have been interesting to see how Spieth would have held up had he been paired with Mickelson instead of Justin Rose on Sunday.  One of those intriguing "what ifs" that makes sports so much fun to follow.  However, Phil is now 44 years old.  It's hard to win anywhere on tour at that age, much less a Major, which makes his performance at Augusta all the more remarkable.

As for Tiger Woods, he is 39 and he managed to shoot eight under par over the second and third rounds of the Masters. He also was two over par over rounds one and four.  The fact that he scraped by in one over on Sunday, when he could never find a fairway off the tee, is amazing.  He could overcome such erratic driving at Augusta, but if he drives like that at a course set up for the US Open, he won't make the cut.

The key points in the above two paragraphs are the ages of the two golfers.  In all sports, and especially tournament golf, Father Time beats all comers.  I don't doubt that Mickelson and Woods all again win tournaments here and there on the PGA Tour.  Woods may even possibly still be able to dig down and win a Major one more time, but at this point it's a long shot.  This takes nothing away from what they have been, which is two of the greatest golfers of all time (and in Woods' case, he is in the argument for THE greatest golfer of all time).  It will still be fun to see them play and watch them on TV, but I am afraid that their Days of Dominance are over.

The US Open will be played in Oregon this June, which means prime time telecasts here in the east.  You know that Fox, which is televising the Open this year, has to be licking its chops in hopes of young guns like McIlroy and Spieth going at it at Chambers Bay.  Bring it on!!

Tiger and Rory - A Look Back and a Look Ahead

At the conclusion of last week's PGA Championship, my friend Joe Risacher made an observation on Facebook, and I am not quoting exactly, to the effect of "Is it time to start comparing Rory McIlroy to Tiger Woods and the race to catch Jack Nicklaus?"

Well, thanks to that seed planted by Joe, I decided to do a little research, and away we go....

Rory McIlroy is playing the 2014 season at the age of 25 (hereafter referred to as the "25 Year Old Season").  So far, McIlroy has accumulated 9 PGA Tour victories, and 4 Major Championships.  He also has six other professional victories world wide, for a total of 15 professional victories.  No one would dispute that this is very impressive, and he still has a chance to add to those totals in his 25 Year Old Season.

Tiger Woods 25 Year Old Season was 2001.  When that season was over, Woods had 29 PGA Tour victories, and 6 Majors.  His career totals in these categories are 79 and 14, respectively.  Woods has also added an additional 27 other wins world wide, for a total of 106 in all (I do not know how many of those twenty-seven wins were by the age of 25).

So, doing the simple arithmetic, to catch Woods over the next 13 years (Tiger is now in his 38 Year Old season), McIlroy will have to rack up another 70 PGA Tour wins and 10 Majors wins.  Because he plays much of his schedule between both the American and European Tours, and this could change, he is simply not going to win 70 more times.  As for ten more Majors in that time, well, that could happen, but would you bet on it?

And what about Nicklaus, the guy they are both chasing?  

By the end of his 25 Year Old Season, 1965, Jack had 17 Tour wins and 4 Majors.  He would go on to win 73 total tour wins and, we all know, 18 majors.  He won his last Major, the 1986 Masters, at age 46.  This was also his last Tour victory as well.

Nicklaus also went on the play a bit on the Senior Tour, but not  as  full time Geezer Golfer.  He won a total of ten senior tournaments, and eight of those were Senior Major Championships.  Jack pretty much saw that he could dominate the Seniors when and if he chose to do so, and then hung up his clubs as a serious competitive golfer.

Arbitrarily, let's say that Rory will win five more Majors over the next three seasons, not unreasonable given how he has played this summer, but no sure thing, either.  That will give him nine Majors by age 28, and at that time we can start the -can-he-catch-Jack discussions seriously.  Even then, the odds against him will be long (Exhibit One to support this statement: Tiger Woods, himself!)

And what about the all-time "standings" of Majors winners?  Take a look:

Jack Nicklaus 18
Tiger Woods 14
Walter Hagen 11
Ben Hogan, Gary Player 9
Tom Watson 8
Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Harry Vardon 7

(By the way, the one name on that list that all but serious golf history nerds have forgotten is Walter Hagen, and he may well have been the most interesting and most colorful guy of anyone else on the list.   Look it up if you don't believe me.)

So, even if you give McIlroy his five additional Majors as speculated above, he would be tied for fourth all time, and in some VERY exclusive company, even if he doesn't match Nicklaus and Woods.

My conclusions:

• No one is going to catch and surpass Nicklaus' 18 Majors records.
• Woods will catch and surpass the record of 82 PGA Tour wins, held by Snead, which isn't the record he wants, but will be a gold standard in and of itself.  And one of those wins might even be another Major Championship, but he is running out of time to win five more of those.
• The greatest professional golfers of all time are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.  I could be talked into supporting either one of them for the honor, depending on what argument you make.
• Rory McIlroy may well be in the discussion one day, but let's wait anther 3-5 years before we begin making that argument.

One final word about the guy who may well be everybody's favorite golfer, Arnold Palmer.  I don't believe that anyone would argue that Arnie was the greatest golfer of all time, but a case can be made that he was and is the most important golfer of all time (I'll bet even Jack Nicklaus would agree on that one.)  That, however, is a subject for another post.