World Golf Championship Wrapup
Is anyone getting tired of seeing Tiger win?
No? Good, neither am I.
Tiger’s win last week at the World Golf Championship - CA Championships was his third consecutive win at the CA, his sixth in eight tries at the tournament and his 13th win in 24 starts at World Golf Championship events. That is a 54% winning percentage. Most professional golfers are lucky to make the cut in half of their events entered, so what Tiger is doing in the WGC tournaments against the toughest fields on some of the toughest courses is unbelievable.
But, then again, it is Tiger Woods.
To put Tiger’s run in perspective, his 13 wins in the WGC events alone is equal to or greater than the number of victories these golfers had in their entire careers: Mark Calcavecchia, David Duval, Craig Stadler, Bruce Lietzke, Jim Furyk, Paul Azinger, and David Toms.
For any golfer to go up against Tiger is truly a David versus Goliath match up. What Tiger does not realize is that Goliath loses. Tiger does not. His win last week was the 31st consecutive time he closed out a tournament when leading after 54 holes. Tiger does not allow the Davids any leeway.
Last week, Brett Wetterich was Tiger’s David. It seemed almost unfair for Wetterich to try and conquer Tiger when Tiger held a four stroke lead after the third round. But, Wetterich did not wilt under the pressure that a Tiger Woods’ pairing brings. He actually did what most of Tiger’s final round partners could not...beat him in the fourth round. Wetterich’s 1-under 71 bested Tiger’s 1-over 73.
Tiger won his 56th career tournament last week in true Tiger fashion. He was erratic off the tee, hitting only 53% of his fairways, but he backed that up with iron play second to none. He led the tournament in greens hit in regulation at 75%. This superb iron play was displayed on the first hole in Saturday’s round. Starting the day in the middle of the pack on the first page of the leaderboard, Tiger vaulted out of the gate with an eagle. Tiger set up the eagle by throwing a five iron into the stratosphere only to have it land a few feet away from the pin, Tiger went on to shoot 68.
But, where Tiger was not himself was on 18. Despite holding a three stroke lead entering the 18th hole, Tiger chose to abandon the gun-slinger attitude off the tee and elected to use a 3 iron, taking any trouble out of the way. Tiger ended his day with a bogey, but still collected $1.35 million and another WGC trophy.
From the outside looking in, Tiger’s run in these events seems historical, but to Tiger it’s business as usual.
Next week the PGA Tour is in Humble, Texas for the Shell Houston Open. Check-in all week with hookedongolf.com for updates and results.
