Photo courtesy of Greenwood/Getty Images
A week after he wins the Buick Open after an up and down series of rounds, and three weeks after missing the cut at The British Open, Tiger went to work this week at the Bridgestone Invitational and hit an 8-iron on the par-5 16th hole, 182 yards, to put the ball within one foot of the cup. A gimmie.
Tiger started the round three strokes back of Padraig Harrington who also hit his first shot in the rough, though on the opposite side on the right of the 16th. Tiger had to punch his ball out to the fairway leaving him a long third. Padraig, however, looked to clear a bunker on the left leaving him a little closer for a third shot, though a risky play. He would barely clear the bunker and give himself a terrible uphill lie on the lip to go at the tight flag, no more than three paces to the drink.
With Tiger to shoot and down a shot just after giving up the lead following bogeys on 13 and 14, this was one of the biggest tests for him all weekend. You could see him holding himself back from exploding when he teed off into the rough and maintaining his attitude. He’s recently been called out following his missing the cut at The Open for being a little more emotional than others following a poor shot and you he knew the best way to turn things right back around was a perfect third shot and put the pressure right back on Harrington.
He took out his 8-iron. Someone better tell him that it’s 182-yards and not 138. Oh, wait, that’s my shot…he can hit that. Full swing, power at 110%, a little left to right wind. With those two bogeys behind him and a chance to swing himself right back into the lead assuming Harrington will leave himself a tough 4th, Tiger took back the club for the swing and in an instant hit the poor golf ball as hard as he could and looked to fly the ball over the water and next to pin. An improbable shot…unless you’re the number one player in the world.
The ball flew majestically high and landed to left of the hole a few yards past it. The ball spun back to the hole as close-to-perfect as one could be less than a foot from the pin. Check.
Harrington, the defending PGA Champion to be played next week, would put his shot over green and into the deep stuff. He would then follow with an attempt to full-swing a flier to within a few feet, a tough shot regardless, but knowing that Tiger’s ball is sitting a few inches from the cup for birdie made this his forth even more pressure filled.
His swing would get more of the ball than he wanted to as it bounced next to the hole and skipped into the pond. With that shot, he would have to pace back to the other side of water and back-up to get a full swing at the hole, close to a hundred yards from the hole. Check-mate.
By the end of the hole, Paddy would triple bogey and then watch Tiger tap in his birdie for a four-shot swing with two holes to play. Tiger would then finish another work week with a birdie putt on the 18th to win his 70th tournament on the tour and position himself, once again as the favorite going into a major with the PGA Championships next weekend.
Just when you thought that Tiger couldn’t impress, he takes out a pressure-filled eight-iron and makes the shot of the tournament. So sure, at times he may lose his cool on a bad shot. With shots he knows he can make, it’s these he counts on when the pressure is on. More often than not, we see him come up with something incredible that just makes people shake their heads. Less often, he’ll miss and that may come with a wince or even a curse.
My take, it happens less often than not and he’s entitled to be unimpressed after, time and time again, showing such perfection. It’s such a rare occurrence for him to miss that people break it apart because it’s the one thing that happens so rarely. He’s only human and he wears his emotions, win or lose, on his sleeve. It’s these emotions that push him to even attempt the shots he looks at making. He knew going into that third that he pulled the club out of his bag for one reason only…to impress. I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed. Damn…impressed.
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