Well, Tiger is barely human. Human enough to lose once in a while. The men’s PGA U.S. Open was held at the historic Bethpage golf course on Long Island in New York this past weekend. It took some unbelievably tough weather conditions, a few guys to have some amazing rounds of golf, and Tiger to have a horrible opening round (where he shot a 74) for the first time U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover to pull it off and tame the Tiger. In fact, Tiger Woods ended the tournament in a tie for 6th place, with Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Ricky Barnes, and Ross Fisher all finishing ahead of him.
The tournament wasn’t all bad for Tiger though. He was still the only golfer to shoot in the 60′s at least 3 out of the 4 rounds, he finished with a 69 in the final round which was better than any of the 5 players ahead of him on the leader board had posted, and he walks away with $233,350 for his trouble. Chump change to him, but still a decent weekend in all. More importantly, with every passing tournament he is showing more and more that his knee surgery is not in any way bothering him and that he is back and a force to be reckoned with.
What is my opinion? I am happy for Lucas Glover, but much like Rocco Mediate from last year, Lucas better enjoy this party now. Every major golf tournament there is a new face and a new name that pops up and has a great tournament, finishing somewhere in the top 3-5 spots. However, it take the great ones to consistently be among the top in an individual sport such as golf, like Mickelson, or even Duval, Sergio Garcia, or Vijay Singh. However, if these names are names of great and somewhat consistent golfers, then Tiger is simply in a league of his own. Sorry Glover, but just ask Mediate how good his second place playoff finish feels now after he finished 47th at Bethpage this weekend and had next to no headlines.
Justin Stephens
