Nationwide Tour Greater Medinah Open Running Thread

Make all par 5s, 4s (par 70) with tight, deep rough would hurt him.

But, why should anyone be changing the courses just to keep a black man down?

 

Any predictions on when Tiger breaks Jack's record?

I'll take the 2010 British at St. Andrews. Would certainly seem fitting.

 

Woods won with his putter. He sunk the ones other golfers whispered by the hole. His margin of victory is entirely unrelated to any other club except the flat stick. Donald missed three putts under 15 feet in the first six holes. Woods made two of them. Reverse those, and Donald sits at 16-under while Tiger's at 15-under. As it stood, it was 17-under Tiger, 13-under Donald. Putting has always been Woods' secret weapon - it was when he made bombs in his last U.S Amateur win, it was when he beat Bob May, and it was this week.

If you look at Woods' major wins, I think you find exactly one - Bethpage - that didn't necessarily suit his bury-easy-par-fives-and-trust-my-putter-everywhere-else strategy he employs with such success. Then again, Bethpage didn't suit anyone - it was a joke setup that eliminated two-thirds of the field. Woods didn't play well on the final day (+2) and still won by three strokes. Pebble beach was a fantastic runaway. And he was never seriously challenged in either St. Andrews win.

He's one of the greatest, and without question the best Friday and Saturday golfer who ever lived. His opening round might be creaky, his final rounds are usually putter-dominated, but he hammers the field on the middle two days. If he doesn't, and he has to play from behind, well, you've seen it - he's never won a major that way. And he may never have to before passing Nicklaus.

At any rate, no more of these at Medinah, a visually unappealing course that fails to provide a serious test unless it's boiling hot, dry and the wind is up - or you want to U.S Open it. A shootout is far more exciting at a circus course - Valhalla, or the milder-yet-varied Riviera.

 

Excellent anaylsis that proves the oldest cliche in golf: Drive for show, putt for dough.

Nobody but Tiger could putt on Sunday. I don't especially like him, and never cheer for him, but give the man his due. You have to play awfully well to beat him because he generally doesn't beat himself.

 

here's the thing - in his prime, Nicklaus never seemed to miss any meaningful putts inside 20 feet.
Tiger is exactly the same way -- whether for birdie or par, when he needs to make a putt, he makes it.