Tiger, unstoppable: poised to win 5 in a row
Tiger Woods flew to Ireland for Ryder Cup practice after winning the Bridgestone last week. Luckily, the Deutsche-Bank in Boston did not start until Friday, because Tiger was all jet lagged. Anyway, Tiger kept his red-hot playing going, shooting 5-under, to start at the top of the leaderboard. In thinking about Tiger's dominance over his competitors, compared to Jack's over his competitors, I think there are two essential questions to ask:
1. How much better is Tiger's game (if at all) than Jack Nicklaus's, trying to control for technology changes in equipment?
2. How much better were Jack's competitors (if at all) than Tiger's competitors today?
To me, the answers to these questions are very, very clear today, but I will wait to reveal them until after the weekend, so others can chime in.
7 Comments:
I strongly believe that the # of quality competitors that Tiger has to deal with is much higher than in Jack's time....maybe 3-4 times as many. All you have to do is look at the number of U.S. Amateur entries in this years tournament as compared to when Jack won the Amateur. Today, it's a HUGE accomplishment just to make it through qualifications....then another HUGE accomplishment to make it match play. I believe there are over 6000 entries each year....remember, you have to be at least a 3 handicap to even register! If my recolection is right, I believe there were around 1000 entries when Jack played.
However, I believe (to a lesser degree) that Jack's rivals were better players than Tiger's are....more accurately I think they were closer to him in his ability.
Tiger's accomplishments are more significant because it's simply harder to even get to the top, once he does though since the pool of guys is so large none of them are really used to winning, and tend to choke! How much more significant? That is the question......
Last guy to win 6 tournaments in a row was Hogan in '48. Tiger already won 6 in row. To even win 4 in row again is an incredible feat, especially considering that two of them were major victories and one of them over an elite WGC field. Don't forget the 2nd place at the Western Open to kick it off.
The mental strength requried to win back to back on the PGA is incredible. To win back to back to back to back is unheard of. We won't see it again in our lifetimes.
tiger woods messed up today and shot +1....he will still win, guaranteed..... the pool of professional golfers is sampled from a far larger number of total players... tiger woods is the only person who can win five in a row that lives right now....he may make it 8, 9, who knows.... hes playing like crap and only two back.. its a strange concept
Hey, I wouldn't sign my name either with a statement like that! He shot 66 on friday! How do you figure that's playing like crap? Jeez, don't give up your day job!
tiger said himself he is playing like crap, smart guy.....so do u disagree with tiger? i obviously was complementing tiger.....dont quit your day job, of sucking balls
calygolfing is stupid.......tiger said himself he couldnt hit the ball at all today...so do you disagree with him? i clearly was complementing tiger....you must be dumber than your nickname makes you sound
Did any of you see his Sat. round? His snap-hooks made him look like me!
Last year at DB, he opened with 65, then fell apart. Another year, he led after the first round, too....
There is simply no doubt that the pool of competitors is much, much deeper today than in Jack's time (and compared to 1945 or 48?? don't make me laugh).
I know it is hard to imagine we are seeing, truly, the best golfer ever, but ...
Post a Comment
<< Home