2011 PGA Championship - Atlanta Athletic Club

[Homer Bailey]

Tiger -3 thru 5, but just dunked one in the water on the 256 yard par 3 15th.

Ross Fisher and Steve Stricker at -3, and Bob Sowards at -2 through 10.

[Homer Bailey]

A double and a bogey later, and Tiger is back to even.

[MWM]

Major meldown for Tiger after 3 birdies in his first 5 holes. He's now gone 5 over in his last 4. That's blow up territory. Makes me wonder if he's tweaked his knee again. Even when he's not playing well, he doesn't just go 5 over in a 4 hole stretch. But who knows! I think he struggles to make the cut.

[SunDeck]

Atlanta in August? Sounds awful to me.

[texasdave]

Tiger now +3 through 10.

[MWM]

He then bogeyed his first two on the back. That's 7 over in a 6 hole stretch. He's at +4 and heading south. I think he misses the cut.

Meanwhile, Adam Scott is tied for 2nd at -3 after 15 holes. :)

[BuckeyeRed27]

Good to see Stricker at the top. Always liked him.

That is a crazy blow up from Tiger. Did it all start after he put one in the water?

[Homer Bailey]

Good to see Stricker at the top. Always liked him.

That is a crazy blow up from Tiger. Did it all start after he put one in the water?

Yeah, he hasn't hit a single good shot since then. I don't think he makes the cut.

[SunDeck]

He then bogeyed his first two on the back. That's 7 over in a 6 hole stretch. He's at +4 and heading south. I think he misses the cut.

Meanwhile, Adam Scott is tied for 2nd at -3 after 15 holes. :)

Don't you mean Steve Williams at -3? :D

[MWM]

Don't you mean Steve Williams at -3? :D

LOL.

He's now +8 in his last 8 holes. He's going home tomorrow.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Hey Tiger made birdie. Crazy. Only +4 now with 4 holes to play.

BTW SI.com has live streaming coverage of Tiger's group right now.

[Homer Bailey]

Sowards in with a 69!

[Homer Bailey]

Tiger 6 over with 3 to play. Not making the cut in my eyes, which is fine by me. I don't want him to be the story this weekend. Too much good golf being played by other players from all over the world.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Tiger 6 over with 3 to play. Not making the cut in my eyes, which is fine by me. I don't want him to be the story this weekend. Too much good golf being played by other players from all over the world.

He would obviously have to play massively better tomorrow, but outside of Stricker no one has gone that low yet.

[Homer Bailey]

Tiger shoots 77. I'm pretty sure Redhook could have beaten him. Stricker at -7 and cruiiiising.

[BuckeyeRed27]

I think Tiger found every fairway bunker on the back 9.

[Homer Bailey]

I think Tiger found every fairway bunker on the back 9.

13 bunkers on the day. And to think, in 2000 (or was it 2005?), when he won the British at St. Andrews, he didn't hit it in a single bunker.

[Homer Bailey]

Rory McIlroy just injured his wrist on a tree root. This doesn't look too good.

[Homer Bailey]

Rory still playing, and in obvious pain. This is hard to watch. He should withdraw.

[texasdave]

If it makes Tiger feel any better, the Japanese wunderkind, Ryo Ishikawa?, shot an 85.

[Redhook]

13 bunkers on the day. And to think, in 2000 (or was it 2005?), when he won the British at St. Andrews, he didn't hit it in a single bunker.

13? Really? Wow. I didn't get to watch a single shot today. I was too busy. 13 bunkers is ridiculous. I bet that beat his all-time high by 5 or 6.

I'm happy for Sowards shooting 69. I hope he plays well tomorrow and makes the cut. He's a super nice guy and one heck of a player. He should still be on tour. He's too good to be playing against club pro's like myself.

[Homer Bailey]

Johnny Vegas climbing the leader board, and up to -2, 5 off the pace. I put 10 on him at 250/1 before the tournament.

[kaldaniels]

Johnny Vegas climbing the leader board, and up to -2, 5 off the pace. I put 10 on him at 250/1 before the tournament.

Gotta make up for the money you put on the Reds to win the Central somehow. :beerme:

[Homer Bailey]

Gotta make up for the money you put on the Reds to win the Central somehow. :beerme:

That's $50 I'll never see again. I was positive the Cardinals weren't going to win, so I should have put some on the Brewers as well. Never bet on your own team, that's one of my rules. Silly me.

I'm also going to lose Phillies under 97.5 wins. I think I'll just stick to football from here on out.

[Redhook]

I'm happy for Sowards shooting 69. I hope he plays well tomorrow and makes the cut.

Tripled the last hole to miss the cut by one. Ouch.

[Homer Bailey]

Tripled the last hole to miss the cut by one. Ouch.

UGH. I saw he missed the cut, I didn't know he did that. That is bruuuuutal.

[SunDeck]

UGH. I saw he missed the cut, I didn't know he did that. That is bruuuuutal.

At least he can say he beat Tiger Woods, while it still seems marginally relevant.

[Redhook]

That was one heck of a great tournament to watch.

[Stray]

Yeah that back nine was unbelievable. So much drama. Gotta hand it to Bradley, he showed a lot of guts. I'm not sure how many golfers can triple a hole on the back 9 to fall 5 back and still bounce back. It sucks since I'm sure a lot of people didn't watch after Tiger missed the cut....they missed a great tournament.

[kaldaniels]

So if Tiger doesn't catch Jack vis a vis Major victories, will anyone? The field seems to be so wide open now.

[Homer Bailey]

I feel like the PGA rarely lets down when it comes to drama. It's widely known as the 4th best major, but its usually the best tournament.

[Redhook]

I feel like the PGA rarely lets down when it comes to drama. It's widely known as the 4th best major, but its usually the best tournament.

True.

[Redhook]

So if Tiger doesn't catch Jack vis a vis Major victories, will anyone? The field seems to be so wide open now.

It's Tiger or bust.

[Hoosier Red]

So if Tiger doesn't catch Jack vis a vis Major victories, will anyone? The field seems to be so wide open now.

Nope. Not for a long while.

Jack's advantage was that when he played the fields as a whole were not nearly as deep. It was no where near as likely that someone who you hadn't heard of would come up and win a major. This was evidenced by the fact that he finished 1st 18 times and 2nd 19 times, and was in the top 5 56 times overall.
Essentially, even if Jack wasn't on his game enough to win a tournament, he was always going to be in contention on Sunday.

Tiger's advantage was that although the overall level of the field had improved, he was essentially alone on a plateau above them. This is evidenced(though not as strongly as I suspected) by the fact that he finished in the top 5 only 15 times in tournaments he didn't win. Essentially, he either had his game in the right spot to win the tournament, and he did. Or he didn't have it, and would grind out a result with the rest of the hoi polloi.

So now that Tiger's gone, and the field has gotten even better so as to make it hard for anyone to truly stand out, I'll be surprised if anyone makes it to 10 majors.

[Redhook]

So now that Tiger's gone

He isn't gone. He's down, but he'll be back. Not as good as he was, but he'll win again.


and the field has gotten even better so as to make it hard for anyone to truly stand out, I'll be surprised if anyone makes it to 10 majors.

It'll be atleast 10 years before someone wins their 10th major. And I'd bet, it'll be atleast 20. Like you said, too much talent and no clear dominator.

[RFS62]

He isn't gone. He's down, but he'll be back. Not as good as he was, but he'll win again.



It'll be atleast 10 years before someone wins their 10th major. And I'd bet, it'll be atleast 20. Like you said, too much talent and no clear dominator.



Agree with both of these comments. Tiger will reinvent himself. He'll find another swing that will work and he wil find his confidence again, I believe. Never the level he had, when he knew every tournnament was his to win, but he still has the mind of a champion, regardless of his personal life problems. Very few have ever thought their way around a golf course as well as Tiger. He's in rarified air in that category, although the pack is catching up there too with advances in sports psychology becoming widespread.

He'd be the most marketable character in history if he'd go Charlie Sheen crazy and create a public personnae on the dark side. Fallen hero, beaten down by the world he once stood on top of......He should stay with the gotee, give us a little evil twin look. He should also go on WWF as a villian. Needs to break a few clubs too, all John McEnroe like.

No more robot Tiger, the emotionless Terminator. Bad Tiger.

[Redhook]

He'd be the most marketable character in history if he'd go Charlie Sheen crazy and create a public personnae on the dark side. Fallen hero, beaten down by the world he once stood on top of......He should stay with the gotee, give us a little evil twin look. He should also go on WWF as a villian. Needs to break a few clubs too, all John McEnroe like.

No more robot Tiger, the emotionless Terminator. Bad Tiger.

That'd be hilarious.

[Hoosier Red]

He isn't gone. He's down, but he'll be back. Not as good as he was, but he'll win again.


I don't doubt that he'll win something again, but I'm skeptical that he'd be a good bet to win another major.

IMO the biggest advantage Tiger had when he was playing was that he was in his competitors head.
I forget the exact scores, but I think he barely averaged par for the final rounds in the majors he won, but the person he was playing with (almost)always shot a round well over par, trying to play a perfect round.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the best tests he had in the majors came from a no name like Bob May and a "past his prime" Rocco Mediate. These guys had nothing to lose and were able to play loose.

In this way, when YE Yang out played him in the final round of the PGA 2 years ago, it broke through the veil of invincibility in my mind.

TMBS, I think Tiger can rebuild himself to say be at the level of the top pros but not ahead of them. I don't think he'll ever go into a major as the favorite again.