Woods Wins: "Finally, the outcome was familiar, too."
Doug Ferguson captures Tiger Woods' first win in two years with his lede:
After going more than two years and 26 tournaments without a win, and after so much turmoil in his personal life and with his golf game, Tiger Woods stood over a 6-foot birdie putt Sunday to win the Chevron World Challenge and felt as though nothing had changed.
Finally, the outcome was familiar, too.
After his last putt, from 6 feet, fell, Woods reacted as if he had just won his 15th major. He let out a primal scream and pumped his right fist so vigorously it was a wonder he did not wrench his arm out of its socket. With a doff of his cap, he spun around to acknowledge the couple of thousand fans circling the green. Woods also let reporters in on his celebration by sending several bottles of Champagne to the media center.
Ron Sirak summarizes what the win means for Woods.
Throughout his career -- when he was the Full Tiger -- Woods maintained that haunting ability to recede into a tunnel of concentration and dismantle his opposition first mentally and then physically with his shot making. On Sunday, Woods had that look in his eye again. And, when it mattered most, he had the shots to back it up.
"My immediate thoughts?" he said, repeating the question when asked what went through his mind after the birdie putt on No. 18 gave him a final-round 69 and a one-stroke victory. "I wasn't really thinking," he said. "I think I was yelling."
Yes, he was yelling, and ripping a pumped first through the air that had the power of a Tyson right cross. When the winning putt dropped, there was an eruption of joy from the gallery as well as from those in Woods' inner circle who have endured an extremely difficult two years. Fittingly, the victory drought ended at a tournament that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Sean Martin on the impressive finish and the 9-irons played by Woods.
Then Woods did what he does best. Two holes, two 9-irons and two clutch putts later, everyone got what they wanted. Woods hit a 9-iron from 172 yards on the par-3 17th, then sank a 15-foot birdie putt after Johnson missed from a similar distance. A stinger 3-iron off the 18th tee set up another 9-iron shot, this one from 158 yards, on Sherwood’s final hole.
Woods watched his ball in mid-air, walking down the fairway with both hands holding the club chest-high, perpendicular to the ground. His ball landed inside Johnson’s, which was about 12 feet from the hole. Woods approached the green with his left hand jammed in his pocket and his right loosely gripping his club, lightly twirling it as he strode. Ho-hum.
Brian Wacker on Tiger after the round exhibiting a sense of humor.
Yes, Tiger is back -- at least he was on this day and that gives him a lot of confidence going into 2012.
"I think if I have a good year I should be on the ballot for Comeback Player of the Year," Woods joked.
Kidding aside, sitting at the podium was a position not even Woods could have imagined six months ago as he sat at home on his couch, his leg up and sidelined by another knee injury. Questions swirled about his game, his health and his future. Sunday's win provided at least some answers.
"I had to get healthy and to where I was strong and explosive again so I could practice," Woods said. "Then my practice sessions started building and building and building. I got better each week, and that's because I was healthy and able to get the reps in."
Bob Harig puts the win in perspective and also talks to Joe LaCava, who issues much better stock quotes than his predecessor.
But he had to start somewhere, didn't he?
"Winning means everything to him whether it's an 18-man field or Augusta National,'' said veteran caddie Joe LaCava, who has been on Woods' bag since October. "He wants to win and get in the winner's circle. He knows it's not 144 guys. He knows it's not the Masters.
"But still, winning is winning and you're beating 17 other really good players on a tough golf course in tough conditions. It means a lot. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if he lost and it's not the end of the world that he won. But it does mean a lot.''
Farrell Evans talked to a few Q-Schoolers about Tiger's performance at the Chevron World Challenge (incidentally the last under the oil company name, reports Doug Ferguson). Safe to say Jeff Maggert won't be getting a sponsor's invite anytime soon.
"I'm sure he'll count it as a win," said Jeff Maggert, who shot a 6-under 66 on Sunday at the Stadium Course. "But 18 guys? C'mon! At this time of year, you're fat on turkey looking forward to Christmas.
You can read the entire post round interview with Woods here.
I would add a couple of random notes from the day. First, the golf course, which was frozen right up to the moments before the first group went out. It was a delight watching the tour staff, superintendent Sean Dyer and impressive crew determine if they could stick with the planned-on tee times, then so quickly prepare a defrosting Sherwood for play.
And the firmness and speed remained in the greens even after the thaw, so while some will understandably downplay the field size, time of year and quality of the design, winning on a Sherwood playing as firm and fast as it can is noteworthy. No, it wasn't as fast and fiery as a top major or Cup venue like Royal Melbourne, but it was certainly not in any way soft and when you include the wacky winds all week, this was as complete a test as you're going to get in the States. (I think the relatively high scoring on a five par-5 course speaks to this.)
Now, onto the visuals. PGATour.com posts video of the final two birdies. And right after the winning putt, do note the graceful way Mark Rolfing takes off his shades and hands them to his schlepper!
The Sportscenter highlights:
Geoff
**Robert Lusetich on the normalcy of Woods' win.
“I felt normal,” he said. “I know it’s been a while, but also for some reason it feels like it hasn’t.”
He then dug deep into his old school playlist, to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” — released when Woods was just 14 years old — to emphasize the point.
“It’s pretty funny because one of my buddies texted me this morning (with) an old LL Cool J lyric: ‘Don’t call it a comeback; I been here for years.’
“I can’t wait to text him back.”
In other words, Woods doesn’t think he’s back because, in his mind, he never really left. Maybe the great ones have to think like that.
But the truth is, win No. 83 wasn’t like any before.
Jill Painter on the wild fan scene at Sherwood, where record crowds turned up.
They wanted Woods back in the victory circle and let their feet do the talking. They walked through the gates of Sherwood Country Club in record fashion, 68,294 over the past five days.
Woods high-fived a fan en route to signing his scorecard, and the teenage boy said: "I'm never washing my hand again."
Boys dressed in Rickie Fowler orange stuck around and tried to implore Woods' ball into the hole with words.
Woods' heroics turned actor Stephen Bishop, who was in "Moneyball," into an obsessed fan jockeying for Woods' autograph Sunday. Bishop kept asking Woods if he liked the movie, hoping that would get him to sign his hat. There were too many people, five-deep, wanting the same thing as Bishop.
Reader Comments (52)
Maggert is right, and add to his comments the fact that at the 16th, Tiger missed the green from 81 yards.
The fact that this is a sign that "HE'S BACK!!" only serves to further reinforce how far he had fallen.
Scott, if you consider Zach weak competition you've got some pretty high standards. The man's won a green jacket and six other tour events, more than McIlroy and Donald combined. Sure he hasn't had his best season, but he still has been one of the best American golfers of the last 10 years.
If he wins Bay Hill in March, some will say that it's just an invitational and a regular tour event. Wait until he faces major pressure!
If he wins The Masters in April, some will say that it has the weakest field of the majors and that the course plays into his hands. Wait until he faces full-field opposition on tougher courses!
If he wins the US Open at Olympic in June, some will say that it was not a proper test of driving because he only played the stinger off every tee. Wait until he has to use his driver!
And, if he completes the Grand Slam at Kiawah in August, some will say that he doesn't have the same stern competition that Nicklaus had. Wait until somebody invents a time machine so that he can face Jones and Hogan in their primes!
He will never be accepted in some corners regardless of what he achieves, so why bother about the negative comments after this win?
/Hawkeye, second lieutenant in Woods' army of keyboard monkeys
Hard to understand the "World Challenge" tag when 14 out of 18 are US players. Must be impossible to schedule a true world event that's not legit.
+1 for Hawkeye this morning, though
Woods: Earnings: $14,382,922 Wins: 9 Top10s: 17 Top25s: 24
Maggert: Earnings: $390,886 Wins: 0 Top10s: 0 Top25s: 3
Maggert's best of those years was 2006 (he won $1.4M - about $100k of that while Tiger was in the field). Tiger fared
pretty well when they both played:
2006
Woods Maggert
1 $990,000 Ford Championship at Doral MC $0
T20 $59,583 Bay Hill Invitational T54 $12,540
T22 $76,800 THE PLAYERS Championship T45 $22,020
T2 $440,000 Cialis Western Open MC $0
1 $1,338,480 British Open MC $0
1 $1,224,000 PGA Championship T62 $13,425
1 $1,300,000 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational T59 $37,500
[1] My database of results only goes back to 2005. For this comparison, I'm not too worried that Maggert had better head-to-head results in the 1997 to 2004 span.
Uh look - Tiger beat a 18man field - he is back...
So is this his new standard? Bouncing around some low numbers and winning side events? Lets see if he can do it against a real field. (that refers not only to quality but also quantity)
It was significant bc at the end of the day Tiger has to hit shots that mattered to win a golf tournament, and it will serve as a nice confidence boost. In the same sense, I think Rory took a lot of confidence from winning the Shanghai Masters having to battle over the last 18 + play-offs, even though that was an invite only, limited field, appearance fee, no OWGR pts event. And Westwood will take confidence from Nedbank.
I think it unlikely that Tiger is "back" in the sense of him being, in 2012, the top player in the world by a mile again. That's just a huge ask right now. The relevant question is whether he will perform in 2012 like one of the top players in the world. Is he back that far? Let's put a number on it: will his US Tour winnings in 2012 exceed $5 million? That would be very impressive at this stage of his comeback -- only a handful of players reach that level in a given year. How many buyers and sellers would we have at that over/under? How about $4 million? $3 million?
What do you think?
Does this mean that he will win the Masters? No, of course not. But this was an important step, regardless of size of field, quality of field or time of season.
As an aside, it was also fun to watch.
Oh what the heck, I'll just go ahead and predict this: He wins the Match-Play, The Masters and the AT&T. Tops the Money List, but fails to win the FedEx Cup. Returns to the top of the World Rankings sometime in the second half of the year. Goes 3-2 at the Ryder Cup, including a singles win over McIlroy.
I said this in an old thread because there was nothing else to comment on and I want to say it again: It's been fascinating watching him learn to win all over again. His reaction spoke volumes and it was just great to see. I don't care about predictions or any of that stuff. All I care to know is that he still has it in him. Next year will be a lot of fun.
Couple of things:
1) A win over an 18 man field vaults TW 30-something places in the OWR????!!! Somebody needs to check the algorithms
2) Last year, TW didn't "lose" this tournament...GMac went out and ripped it out of TW's hands with his putter....this year, as was allready mentioned...TW had to finish birdie/birdie to win...and he did just that. So is he "back"? I going to say he's FINALLY getting closer...a W is a W is a W...this could only help.
3) A frozen GC in southern California??!! It .must be that darn anthropomorphic global warming they keep screaming at us about...no wait...it's called climate change nowadays...ooopsy....anyways
and
4) Can't Nike make a black or dark color shoe for TW? Running shoe type styles do not go well with slacks...especially when worn with dark pants. I guess this is part of the "new" TW or is it a modernized version of the old TW that's come "back"? It's all too complicated...we need TGC to tell us what to think and like it!
Phew...been a long weekend...and it's Mikulash Day here where I live...lots of white robed father Xmas's walking alongside a devil and an angel...never knew Xmas was so pagan like in central Europe.
My next comment is that he earned a victory with such a small field which is an awful argument---how bout Bill Haas winning all the bread in a small field as well...? He beat some pretty damn good players this past week. I know it's silly season but that event was no joke!
People saying I won't believe he's back until he wins another major or two---complete nonsense...It's hard enough to win 1 major let alone two. A win these days on the Tour is convincing enough for this guy...
My only concern is Tiger's new pace of play. It's atrocious. If he ever gets in contention in a major again, we're going to see 6 or 7 hour rounds.
And Jeff Maggert is carrying the flag for an army of bitter old pros, trying to cling to yesterdays instead of selling insurance.
The guy's a turtle and even though Tiger's not fast these days, that death march wasn't on him.
We should be thankful that Webb or Jason (All) Day weren't in the last group, or darkness would've descended on Sherwood Forrest.
-his tournament
-beat 17 players
-took forever
-wore really bad shoes
WOW! zzzzzzzzzz
Seriously, he used to be a great player, but everyone has highs and lows. If this was his high, Tiger junkies are in for an awfully long withdrawal. His lows were once better than almost everyone's highs. Call it a blip, see what shakes. If he wins next year, consider that expected, now, wins a Major? Probably not, maybe never again. This past weeken dmeant nothing except 200-400 Joules to the chest of TV golf.
- Pressure comes from within...I think he obviously really, really wanted the win. Given how incredibly important this was to him, the pressure must have been enormous. I agree that awarding ranking points here seems silly, that it's a small cash grab, but I do believe that it shows that he can most certainly compete again. Even if it's only against 17 other guys - this was a pressure cooker. And he got it done. Respect.
- God, those shoes are ugly. Was watching the last couple of holes with somebody who watches golf only on occasion...her comment: "Why is he wearing Reebok gym shoes? And why can't they make those in black?"
- Within 24 hours, Rory wins by holing a bunker shot, Westwood pulls it off in SA, and Woods rolls in the downhill slider for the win. 2012 should be a boat load of fun. Can't wait.
My thoughts on the shoes he was wearing---at least he's not wearing METAL SPIKES---if they illegal to wear for everyone else on the course then they should be banned from wearing them on the Tour.
Golf fan--you should change your handle name on here--your out of touch with a little thing called REALITY...
LOL...that's what a non-golfer friend of mine asked me as well!
But were Woods, Westwood, and McIlroy keen to win? Were they ever! Westwood had a cakewalk in the final round so that wasn't all that interesting to watch, but the other two tournaments were excellent TV.
Notes of caution though ... all 3 are having difficulty stringing 4 good rounds together - and McIroy needs to do some serious work on his putting. In tournament after tournament he's increasing the pressure on himself by mediocre putting especially from 12 feet in. Writing as an expert on the subject (as my nom-de-plume implies) it seems to me that he strikes the ball beautifully but he misreads the line ridiculously often.
If he can sort that out he's going to blow away the competition over the next 10 years - if not, he's going end up a hugely successful, but not great, player.
jb
Correct.
Kind of pitiful that they are reading so much into this weekend.
Your words speak volumes...thanks for stating that fact especially when we had to read all these nonsense posts from these ignorant people filled with hatred towards the man.
OWGR is based on average finish - with a minimum divisor of 40 tournaments every two years. Since TW hasn't played 40 tournaments over the past 2 years, his OWGR is artifically deflated. For about his next 10 events, he will be earning points (to the numerator) without adding anything to the denominator.
So, if he continues to finish well, expect to see a rapid rise between now and the US Open. There is nothing wrong with the formula.
-LK
My issue is that World Ranking points for limited field events is crazy.
Tiger gets 44 points for beating 17 people.
Westwood gets 38 for beating 11 people.
By contrast Donald only got 32 for winning the Disney (and beating over 100 people)
Donald got 38 points for a T2 in the WGC Bridgestone
In fact Mcilroy only got 35 points for his T3 in the USPGA at Whistling Straits.
I understand how points are calculated but there should be some minimum number of players before points are awarded (is 64 the minimum?)