Home > Furman Bisher > Archives > 2008 > June > 21 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTiger’s loss leaves big divot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every bone in Tiger Woods’ body must have been shaken when he went charging across the 18th green at Torrey Pines, shrieking like a banshee last Sunday, brandishing his putter as the ball slid sideways into the cup, in triumphant celebration. Of what? Tying Rocco Mediate, 158th ranked player in the world of professional golf.
Rocco Mediate, who began the 2007 season as an on-course commentator from Hawaii, walking the course with a broadcast pack on his hip. Rocco Mediate, who hadn’t won on the PGA Tour since the Greater Greensboro tournament in 2002. A kind of lovable sort of guy with a ready smile and no delusions of greatness, the kind of guy you might find running the Italian trattoria around the corner.
He has boundless admiration for the man who would beat him in the playoff round of the U.S. Open on Monday, and speaks of it. No shame to lose to “the greatest player there ever was,” was how Rocco put it. But, man, what an earth-shaker it would have been if it had gone the other way, and it did come as close as one more of Tiger’s pressure putts. Which dropped also.
The playoff was a riveting thing. Mediate would be only a sheep led to the slaughter, but to the contrary, the sheep played into the 18th hole with the lead, and there the result became inevitable. The 18th hole is a patsy for Woods, a par 5 that’s a par 4 for him. So when Mediate’s tee shot missed the fairway, he was cooked, and it was time again for him to play the role of the gracious loser. It’s one I’m sorry I had to miss, but there are times when family matters have to take priority.
Then what happened next should not have been such a stunner, but nevertheless, it was. Rocco would understand. He has had surgery after surgery and knows what it means to play hurt. One year, at the PGA Championship, a chair in which he was sitting collapsed and his head, shoulder and neck were injured. In fact, he missed the better part of three years to back problems, and began 2007 on a minor medical exemption, which is why he was walking around with a broadcast pack on his hip in Hawaii.
Woods played the Open in pain, no question. His whole body shudders from the pressure that he puts on his left knee when he launches a full drive. Most who follow the tour closely fully expected him to take another long break, then come back in time to finish off the FedEx folly and go into his cave for winter hibernation. Now he’s gone, like a pitcher having his arm remodeled. No guarantee comes with surgery, considering all the pressure he puts on the knee.
So the tour weeps. In another era the absence of no one player would have had such impact. In Palmer and Nicklaus’ time there were such marquee names as Trevino, Watson, Player, Casper, Floyd, Faldo and Norman. Today there’s a lineup of pretenders, no logical challengers, as witness top dog Mickelson on the course in the town he lives and loves. Els, Furyk, Stricker, Howell, Cink, Scott — forget it. There’s probably no player with more gallery appeal than the rube from the Florida Panhandle, Boo Weekley. But he’s just as liable to pick up his gear and go fishing as he is to show up at a golf tournament. There’s now room at the top. To step up and become immortal. Any candidates?
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Comments
By Howard
June 21, 2008 5:18 PM | Link to this
Enjoyed your column immensely…all the Tiger worshippers and followers out there had better sit and pay close attention to Woods’ knee problem. Stress fractures? No big deal…they heal with rest and such. But ACL tears? With the tremendous pressure that Tiger puts on his knees and legs when he swings and such and coupled with the fact he has to walk approximately 4-5 miles a day in a four day tourney…that can only spell trouble for him if things don’t heal just right. Maybe he decided to play in the US Open last week because maybe he felt like this might be his last chance to take it. An elite athlete like him knows his body inside and out better than we will ever know ours…so maybe he didn’t want to take a chance. Also, Tiger has been on the scene 10-12 years…while he’s won a ton of money and events, “he ain’t getting any younger” as they say. If Woods had been 110%, he would have blown Rocco out of the water. Oh, and would someone put a sock in Johnny Miller’s mouth? Not only is he a biased bigmouth, but he made several tasteless remarks about Mediate…that if he had said about Tiger…would have gotten him fired!
By Ted Striker
June 21, 2008 10:59 PM | Link to this
Sad, indeed, Furman. Just not for the reasons described in this column.
I’ll grant you that ‘Tiger Woods IS golf.’ But only to SOME PEOPLE, not to everyone. No single golfer, no one individual transcends The Game itself. Nobody. Not even Tiger Woods. (If he did, he’d win every single time out)
Furman, we’re in agreement that “THE TOUR WILL WEEP” as you said. But is ‘the tour weeping’ really such a bad development? The starched shirt fat cats of the PGA will weep. The sponsors will weep. Others who foolishly allowed someone in a spectator sport to become the center of their personal universe will weep. Maybe this is just reality ringing their doorbell. Will they answer?
Does Woods’ injury equate to a sudden lack of great players in pro golf? Are you being serious? It’s a marketing deficiency, not a player deficiency. If the PGA & media hadn’t insisted on hitching their collective carts to a single player, this latest turn of events would make it much easier to market their product the remainder of the season.
Sure, Tiger is arguably the best golfer ever, but was it really wise to encourage a universal man-crush on the guy week-in/week-out.
What’s that? There’s no media bias?
This just in: ‘TIGER WOODS FINISHES IN 22nd PLACE; winner is (insert name here)’
For at least some of us, the reaction to Woods unfortunate injury and surgery seems overblown. It’s surgery, not a burial. Even if he were to return in a fury of pyrotechnics & wearing a superhero costume, destroying the competition by 10 strokes in his first event back — would it impress as much as another post-surgery debut — where the other guy didn’t even win?
I refer to Ben Hogan’s SECOND PLACE FINISH to Sam Snead 11 months after a near-fatal car crash. Double fractured pelvis, broken ankle, ribs, collar bone, blood clots — doctors doubted Hogan would even walk again, let alone play golf.
So, let not your heart be quite so heavy, guys and girls.
By russm
June 22, 2008 12:34 AM | Link to this
Bisher,for some reason (color,youth,new generation,or whatever)you just can’t seem to swallow the fact that Tiger woods is the greatest golfer to ever live,bar none!! You just had to take a swipe at him for fist-pumping for tying the 158th ranked player in the world,but you failed to mention the rest of the field that he had just blown away while playing two of the most amazing rounds of golf ever seen while playing on virtually one leg.by-the-way the result would have been the same against that all-star line-up you mentioned,Palmer,Nicklaus,Trevino,player,Casper,Norman,Floyd. It,s many guys like Howard who would love to see this be a career ending injury for Tiger,You guys just need to get used to the fact that this young black man is going to dominate this so-called white-mans game for many years to come.
By Furman Bisher
June 22, 2008 3:02 AM | Link to this
Hey, I fist pump all the time! Especially when the orderly rolls me over twice a day! Anybody seen my colostome bag? Or my bedpan?
By bob
June 22, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this
The PGA tour…along with the Golf Channel…has now got itself in a pickle…the Star of the Show has left the course..the Tour and the voice of the Tour (Golf Channel) has nothing to talk about for at least until the Mercedes tournament (except Tiger’s medical status during his absence). The PGA tour is made up of the most boring personalities in all of sports..typically 2 things drive our passion for following a team, a player, a sport..talent of a player/team and the personality behind the talent/team. The PGA tour has talent..yet NO PERSONALITY! (with exception of Boo and Rocco.)
Not to character bash but look at these guys…
Retief..how about a smile every now and then…a guy that doesn’t show any emotion..usually works at the post office..if you know what I mean
Sergio…whiner
Jim Furyk..nice guy..probably a good neighbor..how about showing us a little fun..moon someone
Sticker..is a corn cobb in his bag
Adam Scott…nice looking…but no emotion
Ernie Els…how about throwing a club and start smoking..
Charles Howell..needs to be caught eating a bag of chips and drinking a milk shake..
Guys..if you need a little help on falling a sleep for your nap on Sunday afternoon or can’t sleep when hitting the hay at night…watch a PGA event or tune in on the Golf Channel..it will be better than Sominex!
Bob from Marietta
By Joey
June 22, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this
Russm,
He is great, but not the greatest until he wins 18 majors, and finishes 2nd in 19 more! (Like Jack, the real “greatest golfer to ever live”.
By Howard
June 22, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this
Hey Russ M…just a comment in you inferring that I hoped Tiger’s injury was a career ending one. For one thing, I don’t like golf and never watch it on TV…didn’t watch one minute of the US Open. Second…Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer right now of this era…until he tops Nicklaus’s 18 he’s still not the greatest ever. Third…if you would have read closer and paid more attention, I was mostly analyzing his injury and his status. Nowhere did I mention I hoped for his demise…I personally don’t care if he plays for 100 years or never plays again. I respect his talent and the way he carries himself and his game to levels unattainable by the remainder of his peers…but realize that a knee like his that has already been surgically repaired…what say, about 4 times? sometimes doesn’t respond and with the tremendous torque he sends through his body and particularly his knees, it could go again. It might last long enough for him to break Nicklaus’ mark and beyond…but then again, he might make it a year or two before it goes out again and the public has to say adios el Tigre. As for him being the best black golfer and such…Russ go back to Tiger’s statement a few years back when someone asked him if he wanted to be the best Africa-American golfer of all time…Tiger responded no…he wanted to be the best golfer of all time. Which he will probably be…if his knee can hold up. Remember also Russ that Tiger won’t get the luxury of riding a cart when he returns…walking 20 miles over 4 days while pounding a golf ball and pounding your body like he does isn’t like the rehab of some baseball player or football star, etc. Now does it sound like to you I want him hurt and out of the game? I think not…as I stated earlier I don’t care one way or the other!
By Tiger is overrated
June 22, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
Tiger tied the 158th ranked player in the world over 72 holes, THEN Tiger tied the 158th ranked player in the world over an 18 hole playoff, THEN Tiger beat the 158 rank player in sudden death. If you watched the sudden death you heard the anchors say that Rocco (the 158th guy) would probably never be in that situation again. Translation his week was a fluke. But where were all the others. That’s right. Tiger over his long reign has had NO CONSISTENT COMPETITION. Phil, BJ, ELS, and blah, blah, blah are very, very inconsistent. Is Tiger that great or has he had no competition.
By Keeping It Real
June 22, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this
Howard,
For someone who does not care for the game golf or Tiger Woods, you sure like to write a lot of prose in an attempt to prove it. As for comparing Tiger to Nicklaus or the rest of the golfers(past, present or future), he has no equal. I saw Snead, Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Watson, Trevino, etc. play the game and can tell you that none of them could match his talent, mind set and ability to make shots. As for Mr. Bisher, he has never liked Tiger from the beginning. Could be racism, but it is not cool to accuse an old southern gentleman of harboring such thoughts.
I am watching the Hartford golf tounament on TV. As much as I love the game, it is very blaze without Tiger. You can hear it in the voices of the announcers. He has marketing appeal like no other before him. His influence on others as it relates to the game of golf is absolutely mind blowing. This equates to big dollars which is as American as apple pie.
I hope that he comes back better than before because he is an ambassador for the game. Look, even a person like you who does not watch golf has an opinion even though know nothing. Thats what I call impact.
By Paddy
June 22, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this
John Daley would have had a chance to capture alot of fans. A shame and waste to be so attached to deamon rum. Tiger was once asked who amoung his PGA competitors had the most talent, John Daley by far. I would like to watch big John on the weekends but he never makes a cut. He will be out of pro golf in 2 years.
By Proud dawg
June 22, 2008 8:58 PM | Link to this
Many years ago, when Tiger was just starting his professional career, I was taking lessons from a well respected PGA pro and he said then, Tiger’s knees will not be able to withstand the pressure he is putting on them with the swing he is using! Maybe Butch Harmon saw this as well and why he might have been trying to change his swing, and maybe thats why tiger fired him?
By Mack
June 23, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
I enjoy anyone who plays a sport like golf as well. But I myself won’t miss Tiger. He is ALL one hears about when golf is the subject. I would bet my right toe that we will have an update every day on his recovery. I will not miss his quick temper, filthy words, and I am glad I’m not in a scorers tent when he’s told that his score was changed by 2 strokes when a barrier was moved illegally to make a shot. The words he uttered in the scorers tent would make any one leave in disgust as my friend and pro golfer did when the outburst bagan.
By Country Ham
June 23, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
Well said Russm and Keeping it Real, people need to understand that Tiger IS the Best golfer of all time. All these people keep bringing up nonsense that don’t make sense!! I mean, who keeps up with how many 2nd place finishes someone has in a major! That stat just began to surface in the last few years b/c somebody had to hate on Tiger about something. Tiger finished 2nd the last 2 Masters but does anybody give him credit for that? Tiger has always had his sights set on surpassing 18 majors & will shatter that!! Does anyone here truly believe that if Tiger wanted to finish 2nd 19 times in Majors he wouldn’t do it? Also, how many course changes did Nicklaus, or any of these other so-called “marquee” players have to endure? I mean, I’d never heard of a course being “Nicklaus-proofed.” And as far as cursing goes, what other golfer has a sound boom on him for 18 holes? Just more people out there trying to rationalize their hatred for the man. If anyone here has never uttered a cuss word should really shut up…or grow up!!
By PaulWinchester
June 23, 2008 5:24 PM | Link to this
Country Ham: Good job. I couldnt agree with you more. Hey folks, why dont you just accept the fact that Tiger is black and also the best golfer ever. With Tigers play on the golf course you will HAVE TO EVENTUALLY COME TO THAT CONCLUSION. Hey, lets fast forward 20 years from now. For you clowns who say Tiger is lucky or is a fluke, what will you say 20 years from now when Tiger has added another 22 majors to his resume and has 36 majors (TWICE THE NUMBER THAT JACK FINISHED WITH). Are you still going to say Jack is the best golfer of all times when Tiger has doubled over his record? How foolish is that going to sound. Listen, just give it up to Tiger and stop the hatred and the racism towards this towering giant of a man. The absolute best golfer to ever walk the planet is Tiger Woods doing exactly what is dad said he would do on the PGA Tour.
By What a joke to hype Tiger
June 24, 2008 2:35 AM | Link to this
**If GA beats Moehouse is that considered a victory with any merit. NO. Then how in the H can Tigers win over the 158th player in the world have any value esp when the other supposedly good players finished out of the top 10.
Els Tied 14th Garcia Tied 18th Michelson Tied 18th Furyk Tied 36th Leonard Tied 36th Vijay Tied 65th
You always see this group of supposedly good players all over the leaderboard.
Please stop the crap about Tiger beating the best ever. He has never had consistent competition. Even when he has not been around Mickelson has choked how many times.**
By Keeping It Real
June 24, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
What a joke to hype Tiger,
I noticed that you used a little sarcasm with the “Moehouse” reference. Are you a racist or just being yourself? Since you responded at 2:30 am, I assume that you are a young man with nothing to do or you work at night.Did you ever see any of the old timers play? I did and I can tell you with no hesitation that they cannot match up with Tiger. You can change the equipment, the course, the weather, etc. and the result would be the same. Even Nicklaus and Palmer would tell you that. Stop Tiger hating and enjoy watching the best golfer ever.
By Jack Batten
June 24, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
Tiger has had no competition??? Give me a break. Money drives everything. Since Tiger’s arrival, the purses have increased exponentially. You have some “no-name” golfers making a million bucks a year plus. With more money comes greater competition.
Going back even into the 60s and 70, minority golfers to any extent simply did not exist. Now you have a world wide game with players coming from everywhere.
Take Tiger our of the equation and everyone would be talking about Left and all the great rivals he has. Add Tiger to the equation, and no one compares, at least not on a consistent basis.
I am a high school football coach and golf isn’t exactly my thing, but I would have to say he is THE most dominant athlete I have ever watched in a tremendously skilled sport where you have no one else to blame but yourself.
With Tiger out, I simply don’t pay any attention to golf.
By Tiger is overrated
June 24, 2008 11:10 PM | Link to this
Keeping it Real (that is such a tired, worn out phrase somehow glorified by Mr. - stupidest QB ever-conVICK).
Stop the racism slant and giving me your opinion and provide some stats. For example, with Tiger out of the field number 12 in the world won the Travelers. Again, where are the supposedly good players. The Top 10 players could not even win or place in the top 10 when Tiger was not playing. TIGER HAS NEVER HAD CONSISTENT COMPETITION. Hell, Phil didn’t even compete mumbling something about it not mattering, he would blow again.
By Keeping It Real
June 25, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this
Tiger is Overated,
I respect your opinion. As for me, the case is closed.TIGER IS THE BEST EVER….. EVEN WITH ONE LEG.
By Pitbull
June 25, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this
I guess I’m just having a difficult time understanding how it’s Tiger’s fault that the “competition” is so inconsistent. Oh and BTW, if Tiger’s left kneee had been solid, do any of you REALLY believe that the 158th player would have even had a PRAYER?? Stop it, you’re killing me.
By Overrated
June 25, 2008 7:45 PM | Link to this
Pitbull,
Where did I say it was Tiger’s fault. But if the competition is not there then how can you give Tiger the accolades unless you are a network and you see the HUGH marketing potential in the black audience. The same audience that will vote black just because candidate he is black.
By Jack Batten
June 26, 2008 8:17 PM | Link to this
There is no competition because Tiger is SOOOOOO much better than the guys he is playing agains. And, the competition he faces is better than anything Nicklaus went against during his playing days.
I don’t know the specifics of the demographics for golf, but I would be hard pressed to believe that the PGA and the networks are purposely slanting the golfing world in Tiger’s favor to improve their connection to the black population.
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