Tiger Sets Early 2017 Schedule, Wagerers Loving Him In Vegas
Steve DiMeglio of USA Today reports Tiger's double commitment to the Farmers Insurance Open and Honda Classic, on top of his return to Riviera for the 2017 Genesis Open.
This would seemingly rule out a trip the week after Torrey Pines to Dubai and the Omega Desert Classic, but given the good health on display last December, it can't be ruled out. (Bob Harig's ESPN.com assessment quotes Mark Steinberg suggesting this scenario.)
Meanwhile having fallen from 50-1 to 20-1, the sports books are confirming that indeed, bettors are flocking to Tiger for Masters futures wagering.
Erik Matuszewski of Forbes reports that 11% of the money wagered has been on Woods, easily more than any other player.
Tiger came up early in Wednesday's Golf Channel conference call involving David Duval, Johnny Miller and Mark Rolfing, and the chat was informative, especially Johnny on Tiger's tempo:
Q. I was hoping that all three of you would answer:
What did you like most and what concerned you most about what you saw with Tiger at the Bahamas? And going into '17, can he win again?
MARK ROLFING: The things I liked most were the 24 birdies. I liked the way he looked physically, a little bit leaner, a little bit thinner up on top, and I liked his feel.
The moment I remember is when he hit the iron shot on the par-3, I think the 5th or 6th hole, and I knew it was on line, and he just said, go another yard, be another yard farther, which is the way you used to play, both you guys, David and Johnny.
When he's got that kind of feel and knows where his shots are going and can be within a yard of the right distance, that says a lot to me.
Can he win? I think it'll be difficult, but I would say yes.
All the stars are going to have to align, and I think it's going to have to be the kind of a golf course where he really isn't trying to overpower it.
DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I like that he seemed to have a successful week health-wise. That was, I thought, as much of a question as anything. Making a lot of birdies speaks to quality golf shots and quality putting. A couple of things you really need to have. And talking about hitting it decently close, too; you're not going to make 24 birdies by making 24- or 25-footers. You're going to hit some quality golf shots.
Golf swing-wise, I really liked the iron swings, kind of the knock-downs again, the controlling of the club face.
Even with some of the like kind of punch 3-woods I saw him hit, I remember one on the par-5 particularly he laid up with. Beautiful motion, controlling the rotation of the club face, limiting it.
The driver I think is going to be a question mark. You know, was not ever the straightest but certainly seemed to always hit them that way when he needed to, and it's a little bit different golf swing. The hand is a little bit higher as he swings the driver going into impact, which lowers the club face and opens it, and that means you have to have a lot of timing going into the golf ball to have a square, consistent hit and not have it going left or right. If he could work on that a little bit, I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him win in 2017.
I think in today's game with these players that are so overpowering, he's going to have to gain some accuracy and consistency off the tee to compete week in and week out like he wants to.
JOHNNY MILLER: The hardest thing for Tiger is just the attention that he draws and the media coverage and the pressure that his unbelievable career has created. Let's say he's tied for the lead going into Sunday. It gets so amped up, what people expect, and it's just hard. He's got to break that ice. He's got that ice he's got to break somehow, and he's got two areas.
I was really impressed with his putting. I was impressed with his irons. I was impressed with his
slower tempo.
When you swing slower, it's much easier to deliver the face where you want to at impact. The one thing he had, he had that blazing first move coming down when he was younger, but it was much easier to control with an iron than it was with his driver.
But I like that he's swinging a little slower, but the two areas that -- if he wants to win, he's got to get a dependable shot off the tee like Dustin Johnson has gone to a cut or whatever he wants to hit that he can do in his sleep, and number two, he's got to somehow -- I still think he's got the heebie-geebies chipping around the green, little pitch shots, and I'm not sure if he has a lot of confidence or not. I saw a couple of mediocre shots in the Bahamas in that area. Those are the two areas, the driver, the expectation, and one
other thing obviously is the chipping.
You've got to be happy with 24 birdies, though. You know, he's going to be a lot of fun to watch. He's going to really help the TV ratings.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 05:20 PM
Reader Comments (8)
Down deep they really like him.
With all of that said, I sure don't really like him down deep as you suggested but I do enjoy watching golf more when he's on the course. Twenty-four bladed chips would be more entertaining than 24 birdies for me when it comes to Tiger.
98% of your posts are predicated on cheapshots at Tiger and it's perfectly clear that you hate him. You may as well own it.