Good luck this weekend Tiger:
http://www.woio.com/story/18672012/tiger-only-four-back-after-first-round-at-the-memorial
Tiger only four back after first round at The Memorial
Posted: May 31, 2012 8:43 PM EDT
Updated: May 31, 2012 8:43 PM EDT
*
Tiger only four back after first round at The Memorial
Sometimes, the most priceless stuff heard at a PGA Tour event doesn't emanate from the mouths of players, officials or even the high-priced talking heads on TV.
Sometimes, it's just some random knucklehead standing along the ropes, trying to impress his pals with how much he grasps the nuances of the game, when in reality he probably doesn't know a graphite shaft from a graphite pencil.
One such dude was parked near the clubhouse as Tiger Woods walked to the tee box at Muirfield Village. The man turned to his pal and said, and we're not making this up, "Let's stay and watch Eldridge hit, then go find somebody else to watch."
Guess this recent rough patch by Woods was worse than we thought. Fans can't even tease Woods by dropping his rather unwieldy given name correctly.
Too bad the guy and his buddy bailed, because by the end of the first round, he sure looked a lot like the old Eldrick T. Woods.
Putting together his best round since March, Woods fired a 2-under 70 at Muirfield on Thursday and for the first time in four starts, appears to be poised to both play on the weekend, if not in the televised portion of the back nine on Sunday.
Woods actually missed birdie putts on his final two holes from inside 18 feet to claim a share of the lead as the morning wave finished play.
"I was just consistent all day," Woods said. "I didn't do anything great and I didn't do anything poorly. I think over the next three days, hopefully I can play as well as I did today."
Gotta be a good sign that he's talking about four days, not two.
After winning at Bay Hill in March, his first PGA Tour victory in 30 months, Woods' past three finishes have been T40, a missed cut and another T40. When he made the weekend, he was off so early in the morning, they had to squeegee the dew off the greens first.
Thursday was an improvement right from the first monster mashes of the day, a pair of drivers off the first two tees that sailed 315 and 321 yards and actually landed in the fairway. His playing partner, Fred Couples, saw no indication that Woods had been wobbling for a couple of months.
"It could have been 5, 6 under," Couples said.
For once, that wasn't just wishful thinking from Woods or one of his pals. On a course that is as dry and firm as it has been in a decade, scores skewed high and the greens were frighteningly fast, at a major-championship level.
It could have made a guy's hair stand on end -- and apparently did. There was a guy watching Woods on the final hole sporting a majestic Mohawk haircut, replete with green- and white-dyed streaks, drinking an adult beverage. It had to be three cans of mousse, easily.
"I do not have that problem," cracked Woods' chrome-domed caddie, Joe LaCava.
Woods, a four-time winner at Jack Nicklaus' signature event, kept it out of the hairiest areas at Muirfield and benefited directly. He made a mess of the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, when Couples waved him off his approach shot from a fairway bunker.
It was the first time all day Woods missed the fairway, and Couples noticed that another player was teeing off on the nearby 10th tee, and Woods twice backed off the shot until the player had hit the shot.
"He was doing great until I slow-played him on 18th," Couples laughed. "I told my caddie, 'Watch, he's going to flip it in the bunker now, and is going to hate me.'"
Worse, Woods yanked it into the hay short of the green, then chunked his next shot into the bunker, finishing with a double-bogey.
It didn't exactly derail him. Woods had three separate cracks at tying for the lead on his back nine, but didn't do much of anything on the greens, leaving four midrange putts short of the hole. In fact, he only made one putt longer than 10 feet all day, a 13-footer for birdie on his eighth hole.
"He did make some key putts," Couples said, "but he didn't make many putts."
Sure, you've read that story before, as has Woods, who knew he was leaving some chances out there and not exactly loving it. At one point, after he fanned an approach shot on his 16th hole, he called himself a "d---head," prompting some giggles along the ropes.
But at least nobody was laughing about his position on the leaderboard for the first time in weeks. After the demonstratively convincing Bay Hill victory, most assumed that Woods was regaining some semblance of his old self. Then he tanked in surprising fashion at the Masters, Quail Hollow and the Players Championship.
Consequently, Woods, who last won at Memorial in 2009, a few months before the scandal that completely changed his career trajectory, has become a bit of an expert on the quick-twitch Twitter world that has alternately written him off and hailed his triumphs with nearly every shot hit.
He was asked about Rory McIlroy, who missed two cuts in succession as the world's No. 1 player before arriving at Memorial this week, and the increased scrutiny the talented Ulsterman is facing. Woods laughed and sarcastically noted that he can certainly relate.
"I think you've got to get right back to work," he said. "I don't think you can sit back and let it fester. You need to get back on it and do your diligence and do your homework and hit balls and chip and putt, whatever caused you to do what you did."
Most of the 14 clubs in Woods' bag had been uncooperative during the past two months, though Thursday was a massive improvement. Nobody could argue otherwise.
"As I said at the Players, I did it in streaks," he said. "I was hitting the ball and hitting it well in streaks and just needed to get a little more consistency out of it. Today was certainly one of those days where I was very consistent."
Woods has a history of lighting up certain venues, like Bay Hill, where he won for the sixth time. With four titles at Jack's Track, if he can marry consistency with constancy, Eldridge might be gone for good.
http://www.woio.com/story/18672012/tiger-only-four-back-after-first-round-at-the-memorial
Tiger only four back after first round at The Memorial
Posted: May 31, 2012 8:43 PM EDT
Updated: May 31, 2012 8:43 PM EDT
*
Tiger only four back after first round at The Memorial
Sometimes, the most priceless stuff heard at a PGA Tour event doesn't emanate from the mouths of players, officials or even the high-priced talking heads on TV.
Sometimes, it's just some random knucklehead standing along the ropes, trying to impress his pals with how much he grasps the nuances of the game, when in reality he probably doesn't know a graphite shaft from a graphite pencil.
One such dude was parked near the clubhouse as Tiger Woods walked to the tee box at Muirfield Village. The man turned to his pal and said, and we're not making this up, "Let's stay and watch Eldridge hit, then go find somebody else to watch."
Guess this recent rough patch by Woods was worse than we thought. Fans can't even tease Woods by dropping his rather unwieldy given name correctly.
Too bad the guy and his buddy bailed, because by the end of the first round, he sure looked a lot like the old Eldrick T. Woods.
Putting together his best round since March, Woods fired a 2-under 70 at Muirfield on Thursday and for the first time in four starts, appears to be poised to both play on the weekend, if not in the televised portion of the back nine on Sunday.
Woods actually missed birdie putts on his final two holes from inside 18 feet to claim a share of the lead as the morning wave finished play.
"I was just consistent all day," Woods said. "I didn't do anything great and I didn't do anything poorly. I think over the next three days, hopefully I can play as well as I did today."
Gotta be a good sign that he's talking about four days, not two.
After winning at Bay Hill in March, his first PGA Tour victory in 30 months, Woods' past three finishes have been T40, a missed cut and another T40. When he made the weekend, he was off so early in the morning, they had to squeegee the dew off the greens first.
Thursday was an improvement right from the first monster mashes of the day, a pair of drivers off the first two tees that sailed 315 and 321 yards and actually landed in the fairway. His playing partner, Fred Couples, saw no indication that Woods had been wobbling for a couple of months.
"It could have been 5, 6 under," Couples said.
For once, that wasn't just wishful thinking from Woods or one of his pals. On a course that is as dry and firm as it has been in a decade, scores skewed high and the greens were frighteningly fast, at a major-championship level.
It could have made a guy's hair stand on end -- and apparently did. There was a guy watching Woods on the final hole sporting a majestic Mohawk haircut, replete with green- and white-dyed streaks, drinking an adult beverage. It had to be three cans of mousse, easily.
"I do not have that problem," cracked Woods' chrome-domed caddie, Joe LaCava.
Woods, a four-time winner at Jack Nicklaus' signature event, kept it out of the hairiest areas at Muirfield and benefited directly. He made a mess of the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, when Couples waved him off his approach shot from a fairway bunker.
It was the first time all day Woods missed the fairway, and Couples noticed that another player was teeing off on the nearby 10th tee, and Woods twice backed off the shot until the player had hit the shot.
"He was doing great until I slow-played him on 18th," Couples laughed. "I told my caddie, 'Watch, he's going to flip it in the bunker now, and is going to hate me.'"
Worse, Woods yanked it into the hay short of the green, then chunked his next shot into the bunker, finishing with a double-bogey.
It didn't exactly derail him. Woods had three separate cracks at tying for the lead on his back nine, but didn't do much of anything on the greens, leaving four midrange putts short of the hole. In fact, he only made one putt longer than 10 feet all day, a 13-footer for birdie on his eighth hole.
"He did make some key putts," Couples said, "but he didn't make many putts."
Sure, you've read that story before, as has Woods, who knew he was leaving some chances out there and not exactly loving it. At one point, after he fanned an approach shot on his 16th hole, he called himself a "d---head," prompting some giggles along the ropes.
But at least nobody was laughing about his position on the leaderboard for the first time in weeks. After the demonstratively convincing Bay Hill victory, most assumed that Woods was regaining some semblance of his old self. Then he tanked in surprising fashion at the Masters, Quail Hollow and the Players Championship.
Consequently, Woods, who last won at Memorial in 2009, a few months before the scandal that completely changed his career trajectory, has become a bit of an expert on the quick-twitch Twitter world that has alternately written him off and hailed his triumphs with nearly every shot hit.
He was asked about Rory McIlroy, who missed two cuts in succession as the world's No. 1 player before arriving at Memorial this week, and the increased scrutiny the talented Ulsterman is facing. Woods laughed and sarcastically noted that he can certainly relate.
"I think you've got to get right back to work," he said. "I don't think you can sit back and let it fester. You need to get back on it and do your diligence and do your homework and hit balls and chip and putt, whatever caused you to do what you did."
Most of the 14 clubs in Woods' bag had been uncooperative during the past two months, though Thursday was a massive improvement. Nobody could argue otherwise.
"As I said at the Players, I did it in streaks," he said. "I was hitting the ball and hitting it well in streaks and just needed to get a little more consistency out of it. Today was certainly one of those days where I was very consistent."
Woods has a history of lighting up certain venues, like Bay Hill, where he won for the sixth time. With four titles at Jack's Track, if he can marry consistency with constancy, Eldridge might be gone for good.
