I’d just like to see that these twerps got exactly what they deserved.

This has been an MSF lesson in why you don’t mess with golfers. (It also doubles as a lesson in why being a douche bag will eventually come back to bite you in the remote-controlled douchemobile.)

Mickelson’s remarkable lob shot certainly qualifies, and it is on impressive display in the video below.

The only thing that would have made this video better is if Mickelson had decided to also show off his not-as-remarkable vertical jump in celebration.

Granted, Bradley nor anyone else on the PGA Tour has the track record that Woods has, but that’s part of what made this weekend, and golf over the past few years, great.

Keegan Bradley is one of many "no-names" to hoist a major trophy in recent years.

One of the biggest reasons that people watch sports is the unpredictability.  People watch because they don’t know what is coming next. Watching Tiger dominate week in and week out has its appeal, sure; but after a while that act gets old.

I hate dynasties. I hate watching the New York Yankees win, just as I hated the Jordan-era Bulls. That’s one of the reasons I like watching baseball, which has had nine different World Series champions in the last 10 years.

I hear all the time that parity is good for sports like football and baseball, so why can’t this be true for golf?

Bradley became the 13th different winner in the last 13 majors, with seven of those guys earning their first major win. He joined a list of relative no-names like Louis Oosthuizen, Y.E. Yang, and Charl Schwartzel in securing one of the four top prizes in golf.

How could this possibly be bad for golf?

Week in and week out, the story of every tournament is Tiger Woods. That storyline gets old real quick. The story should be how each and every tournament is wide open, and how each tournament provides four days to get to know some of the other great golfers that walk this planet.

This year, we’ve gotten to learn the stories of excellent players like Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Luke Donald and Adam Scott, amongst others. I loved watching the final round yesterday, learning that Jason Dufner isn’t quite there yet and that we might have to watch out for Keegan Bradley in years to come.

On top of all these great young players, there are still veterans than can win a tournament at any given time. Guys like Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson and KJ Choi have been having solid seasons, and they can still pop up and win a tournament any week. But this crop of young golfers is unprecedented. There’s a good chance that many of these players grew up watching Tiger dominate, and the fact that they have been taking it to their idol is truly remarkable.

Any golfer, including Tiger, could win any given week. It seems like Rory might be the next big thing, but I think it will be tough for anyone to win like Tiger once did.

Will Tiger ever return to his dominance? With the golfers on tour today, I don’t see how he could.

Often we ignore the possibility that it could be because of – not in spite of – these flaws that these people are able to claim their spots on the highest of pedestals in the first place.  Addiction is strange; it can destroy, but it can also impart an unshakable confidence in its victim.

As you probably know, Tiger Woods last won a major championship over three years ago.  Since that time, personally and professionally, his life has gone through total upheaval.  He was forced to undergo reconstructive knee surgery after that thrilling 2008 U.S. Open win, returned 8 months later and played fairly well, but left golf again in November 2009 after a history of being unfaithful to his wife became public.

Since then, Tiger has lost several endorsements, parted with his swing coach, Hank Haney, and his caddy of 12 years, Steve Williams.  Clearly, Tiger Woods has not been Tiger Woods, brand name and PGA winning machine, for the better part of the last three years.

Several reasons have been presented as explanations for the downfall of what many consider the greatest golfer who ever lived.  Perhaps his inability to get back into playing shape and remain healthy after the ACL tear in 2008 is the cause.  Maybe it is the deterioration of his marriage and the effect of sharing custody of his children rather than being a full time presence in their lives.  Some have gone as far as to suggest that Woods was a user of HGH until his doctor began being investigated for distributing performance-enhancing drugs.

I think there is another reason.

It might sound cliché, but golf is an incredible test of mental toughness and confidence.   When a golfer loses the belief that they are the best, and that they will strike each ball perfectly, they are destined for failure.  To succeed at the highest level of golf is to possess utter surety in your ability.  It is necessary to block out all distractions and be able to overcome unforeseen obstacles.  Tiger Woods’ biggest problem is not his health or his personal life being destroyed.  It is his lack of confidence – in his game, yes, but also in his invincibility – that has made him free fall from his accustomed #1 world ranking to #28.

For years, Tiger was able to manipulate the world into thinking he was a quiet, boring man who happened to have an obsessive competitive streak and astonishing skills on the golf course.  As we have learned, Woods’ life away from the course was anything but boring.  Tiger’s power allowed him to conceal his scandalous personal life, and that, coupled with his dominance on the PGA Tour, allowed him to have a certain confidence that he could do anything without repercussions.

I think it is likely that Tiger’s bulletproof self-image is what propelled him to such heights on the course.  In his mind, he should have won every time out.  To his ultra-secure self, Tiger felt that nothing was going to stand in the way of what he wanted, be it victories, women, or claiming the title of the world’s richest athlete.

In many ways, Woods is like so many pop culture icons that have come and gone.  The landscape of Hollywood and the music industry is littered with stars at their peaks of creativity and success at the same time living in the valleys of desperate, destructive abuse of drugs, alcohol, or other vices.

Eric Clapton made the best music of his life while on heroin, and after getting clean he fell precipitously.  Ditto for Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots (his revitalization with Velvet Revolver was surrounded by accusations of relapsing).  Eddie Van Halen, once considered the Hendrix of his generation, was a relentless partier.  Once he got sober, the string of #1 albums stopped, and so did his reputation as the greatest guitarist in the world.

In Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, and Gary Busey were all talented and successful early in their careers, all while addicted to some sort of substance.  They have all had resurgences sober, but there was a fairly long dormant period of flops and bad performances in between.

Whether the substance abuse had anything to do with these stars’ ascent to fame we can’t be sure, though I think that the attitude that those stars possessed had very much to do with their success.  That attitude is one of indestructibility, and of the ultimate assurance that the art they produced would be great.  Tiger was addicted to women, winning, and most importantly, the power of being the greatest living athlete on the planet.

One could argue that it would have been better if Tiger’s torn ACL had been the end of his career.  It certainly would have left the door open for some very heated discussions.  We could have debated Tiger’s place in history without having to see him labor through this disastrous patch.  If he plays for the next 14 years and never reclaims his throne, he’ll be looked at more negatively than if he had been permanently injured at age 33.  He would be have been talked about the way we talk about Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and Sandy Koufax.

I’m not saying Tiger needs to go back to sleeping with massive quantities of women or icily shutting out the media (although he still does a pretty good job of that), but he does need to regain that confidence that he had for each of those 14 major championship wins.  He needs to take the course steadfastly believing that he is the best golfer ever, and that he is the best golfer in the field every week.

If it takes him doing some unsavory things to get back to that place, is he willing to go there?  Does he care about regaining that invincibility more than reforming his life?  As much as we don’t want to admit it to ourselves, we want Tiger to go there – as long as it means he is winning again.

*********

Follow Me on Twitter @keithmullett

*********

Image Credits:

thequickten.com

ridingthepinesports.com

Everyone remembered McIlroy as the one who completely collapsed at Augusta by shooting a final round of 80. He led heading into Sunday, but he could never find his swing and quickly fell down the leaderboard. He was the subject of the media leading up to the U.S. Open, and he knew he had to respond with a strong performance.

I think setting records en route to winning the U.S. Open at the age of 22 accomplished that goal.

Through 26 holes, Rory was already at 10-under (a U.S. Open record) after an eagle on the par four 8th. He hit in in from the fairway, and this was about the time where everyone knew he was on his way to something special. He finished the second day at 11-under, which could have been 13-under had he not double bogeyed the 18th hole.

Heading into Sunday, Rory was 14-under par with an eight shot lead over the next closest golfer, Y.E. Yang. This is a very commanding lead for any golfer, but many were still skeptical about whether Rory could hold the lead.

McIlroy started the day with a birdie and finished the front nine two under par for the day. This put him at 16-under par for the tournament, which is where he would finish the day. His final score of 268 was a U.S. Open record. He set another record when he reached 17-under par, which is the record for lowest score at any point in U.S. Open history.

The last time a player won with such dominance, the trophy read: Tiger Woods. His 15-shot win in 2000 proved his dominance over the rest of the golfing world. Now that Tiger is out of competition for the foreseeable future, if he even returns to anything resembling his old form, a player like Rory McIlroy has a chance to dominate as Tiger once did.

Rory McIlroy winning the U.S. Open shows how the face of golf is shifting from guys like Tiger and Phil Mickelson to guys like McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, among others. Guys like Phil will continue to win tournaments, but the younger generation will begin to dominate. The top ten for the U.S. Open was the following:

1. Rory McIlroy – 22 years old
2. Jason Day – 23 years old
3. Robert Garrigus – 33 years old
4. Kevin Chappell – 24 years old
5. Lee Westwood – 38 years old
6. Y.E. Yang – 39 years old
7. Peter Hanson – 33 years old
8. Sergio Garcia – 31 years old
9. Charl Schwartzel – 26 years old
10. Louis Oosthuizen – 28 years old

Five of the those players are under the age of 30, including this year’s Masters champ Charl Schwartzel. Other young players such as Webb Simpson and Dustin Johnson had great tournaments as well.

Fans not recognizing some of these names – yet – is a good thing for the game of golf. New stars need to come and take over the game, just as Tiger did when he won the Masters in 1997.

The youth movement in golf will continue to progress as the years go on. It will be interesting to see if Tiger can come back to the Tour and take back his reign as #1 from the younger, competitive field.

For now, enjoy this video of golf’s only boy band “Golf Boys” hit single “Oh Oh Oh”. It stars Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan,and Bubba Watson.

**********

* – Rory McIlroy photo source: NBCSports.com

When Tiger is in a major, or any tournament for that matter, the majority of the coverage focuses on him. Today, we still heard about him not being in the field, but the coverage was more spread out to all the possible storylines, not just one guy. As the afternoon went on, I became more and more interested in the tournament.

I liked watching Rory McIlroy pull away on day one after his collapse at the Masters. And right behind him is Charl Schwartzel, the Masters champion. How each responds after their results at Augusta are big storylines in this tournament, and they earned the coverage they deserved in the first round.

There are other storylines that would not have received as much life had Tiger been present. Tiger could have played boring even-par golf, and you probably would not heard much about Sergio Garcia’s -2 or Davis Love III shooting one under. There are plenty of other Americans in contention, and yes I know it is early, but guys like Ryan Palmer, Bubba Dickerson and Robert Garrigus would get virtually no air time with Tiger in the field.

None of the players I just talked about anywhere near as captivating as Tiger Woods, but the sum of all their parts approaches the hype that Woods gets. I’m looking forward to see if Rory can hold on, if Phil Mickelson can bounce back from his rough start, or if a guy like Steve Stricker can continue his hot play.

I’m sure those storylines will hold true for the next round or so, but come Sunday I’m sure most people watching will wish they could see Tiger and his red Nike shirt in contention. It’s not that there cannot be a captivating storyline without Tiger, but I don’t think any of us are going to be telling our grandkids about Graeme McDowell.

Love him or hate him, Tiger is golf. When he’s on his game, we are in awe of what he can do. His fall from grace was just as jaw-dropping as some of his drives. I’m still going to watch the final round on Sunday, and I really hope it is a good story and good television. But part of me is going to wish that Old Eldrick was surging up the leaderboard, looking to take down another major.

By itself, Tiger’s TPC failure is not a huge deal. The tournament is not a Major, nor did many people expect Tiger to compete anyway. He had barely swung a club since Sunday at Augusta.

In context, however, what happened yesterday just might have transformed a murmuring minority into a critical mass of doubters. It also might have signaled a shift in how we view the career of Tiger Woods moving forward and how we’ll someday view it looking back.

As I have spent some time this morning considering Tiger’s overall career, his recent struggles, and his potential for a return to form, there is one name, one memory that I keep coming back to.

Tiger Woods was once Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and Jack Nicklaus all rolled into one. Now, in the wake of yet another lost weekend, Tiger seems like none of those sports icons. Rather, he seems like another still iconic but much more tragic figure:

Mickey Mantle.

What Could Have and Should Have Been: The Babe, MJ, Jack, and Tiger

Ever since Tiger burst onto the scene, breaking Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 Majors has seemed inevitable. Now,  in the wake of Tiger’s infamous scandal, and with each new injury report, and with each successive weekend sans victory, the whispers of his permanent demise have become fully voiced discussion. As a result, Tiger’s once secure spot in not just golf but sports history — at the top, the very top — no longer seems so secure.

For so long as we have watched Tiger Woods swing a golf club, he has been a combination of Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and Jack.

Like the Babe, Tiger totally dominated, transformed, and lorded over his sport during his prime with never-before-seen power. And like MJ, Tiger’s focus and competitive drive were seen as other-worldly and essential in his daily pursuit of winning, which he did…often. No one hit the ball harder or won more than Tiger Woods. Not even Jack, at least not during his first decade on tour.

Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and Jack Nicklaus would be on any Mount Rushmore of American sports, and Tiger Woods combined the best of all three.

Combined. Past tense.

Unfortunately for fans of Tiger Woods, or just fans of transcendent greatness in general, this is where the narrative begins to limp in another direction.

You see, Jack, the Babe, and MJ left no unfinished business.

Jack, when he won Major #18 at age 46, ensured that no one could ever accuse him of leaving any unfinished business. And sure, Babe Ruth could have taken better care of himself and perhaps hit a few more home runs. And who knows if the Bulls would have won eight or nine straight titles had Michael never taken his baseball sabbatical in the wake of his first 3-peat and his father’s death (and perhaps other…things). But to a certain extent, and rightfully so I believe, we all view the Babe’s larger-than-life style and off-field excess, and Michael’s time away from the game, as being essential in the overall narrative of their greatness relative to their eras.

However, ignominious sex scandals, public divorces involving children, and debilitating knee injuries, cannot be considered by anyone to be essential in any narrative of greatness. Yet that is the direction in which the Legend of Tiger Woods has been careening over the last 18 or so months.

As a result, the similarities between Tiger’s career arc and the legendary but ultimately unfulfilling career of Mickey Mantle are becoming more and more striking by the year.

What Probably Will Be: The Mick and Eldrick

Prodigious Beginnings

Tiger Woods‘ golfing greatness has certainly been a product of prodigious natural talent, but the influence of his tough, no-nonsense father Earl cannot be understated, nor can Tiger’s love and respect for his father be understated. Similarly, Mickey Mantle is among the most talented athletes ever to pick up a baseball bat, and he drew much of his love, desire, and focus for the game from his father. Both Tiger and Mickey lost their fathers early; Earl Woods died once Tiger’s golfing dominance had been established, while Mutt Mantle died at age 39 as Mickey was just getting started.

Tiger Woods became a professional at age 20 after dominating amateur golf. He would go on to become the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Mickey Mantle made his MLB debut in 1951 at age 19 after being referred to by a Yankees scout, at age 16, as the best prospect that scout had ever seen.

Tiger Woods won his first Major, the Masters, in 1997, during his second year as a professional. He also won his first PGA Tour Player of the Year Award that year. Mickey Mantle made his first All Star team in 1952, his second year as a professional, and also led the Yankees to a World Series title that year.

The Transcendent Middle

Tiger Woods’ best stretch as a professional spanned the 2000 and 2001 seasons when he was 24 and, for a short time, 25 years old. This is when he completed the “Tiger Slam” by holding all four Major Championships concurrently. Mickey Mantle’s best season came as a 24-year old in 1956 when he hit 52 home runs, drove in 130 runs (his career high), and had a ridiculous slash line of .353/.705/1.169. He was named MVP, won the Triple Crown, and led the Yankees to a World Series title.

Needless to say, when Woods and Mantle were both 24, their potential for achievement seemed limitless.

They were the best players in their respective sports and the most powerful players in their sports. They even both took aim at the most hallowed records their sports had to offer. Tiger was chasing Jack from the very beginning, and Mickey twice took aim at the Babe’s single season home run record. Some even thought he could challenge the career mark if he could stay healthy.

Mickey Mantle became my dad’s favorite baseball player just like Tiger Woods became my favorite golfer. My dad expected greatness out of The Mick every time he saw him on TV or traveled with his dad to see Yankee road games. I expected greatness of Tiger every time I flipped on the TV during the weekend to watch a golf tournament.

The sport of baseball had seen few players with the overall skill package possessed by Mickey Mantle, and he was immensely popular and always winning by virtue of his talent and playing with the Yankees. Golf had never seen anyone with the skills of Tiger Woods, and he was immensely popular and always winning by virtue of being, for a decade, the golfing equivalent of the Yankees.

While both would continue to dominate their sports for many years, they would never be quite as dominant ever again as they were at 24. And really, how could they be? It is not hyperbole to say that Tiger Woods and Mickey Mantle were, at age 24, two of the greatest practitioners of a sport…ever.

After his Tiger Slam was complete at age 25, Tiger won ten more Majors before his 31st birthday. He was also named PGA Tour Player of the Year every year but one (2004). Mantle would win two more MVP awards at ages 25 and 30, and he finished second two other times in between while leading the Yankees to three more World Series titles.

The Disappointing Decline

It was after turning 31, when both men still should have had at least a few years of their prime remaining, that the performance of each began taking a drastic turn for the worse, with off-field distractions and injury concerns playing roles in the struggles of each.

Tiger’s off-field distractions need no expatiation. You know them, I know them, and they will always be part of the story of Tiger Woods. Similarly, Mantle’s womanizing and his struggle with alcohol are part his story, though unlike Woods he did not have to deal with being exposed while playing to the extent that Woods was exposed.

There is no way to tell how much the off-field stuff has hampered Woods on the course or how much it hampered Mantle on the field, so I will not dwell on it any longer. But it is part of the story for both, and it leaves legitimate cause for wonder about how much greater their careers could have been otherwise.

We do know though, with certainly, that injuries have severely hindered the recent performance of Woods, and we know that they diminished the late career performance of Mantle.

In fact, Mantle dealt with injuries his entire life and career, beginning with a crippling leg infection when he was a young boy. He also tore his knee up (perhaps even tearing his ACL, though no one knows for sure) as a 19-year old in the World Series, which began his career of knee troubles. Woods’ injury concerns did not become an issue until later in his career, but as with Mantle, they are showing no signs of easing up as he ages.

Despite injury, Tiger Woods went on to win the 2007 PGA Championship and, famously, the 2008 U.S. Open on a shredded knee. He has not won a Major since that U.S. Open at age 32. Mantle had one more great season after turning 31. It was 1964, when he was 32, and he finished second in the MVP voting.

Since turning 32, Tiger has had one more successful season on tour. In 2009 he did not win a Major but was named PGA Tour Player of the Year. Now age 35, Tiger has seen concerns over his knee mount and his decade-long grip on the #1 ranking in the world slip through his fingers.

Mickey Mantle played only four more seasons after his strong year at age 32, but he never finished higher than 19th in the MVP voting. At age 35, Mantle was moved to 1st base to finish out his career. He logged over 1,000 plate appearances his final two years but was a shell of himself. He hit 40 home runs total during those final two years, and in neither season did he bat over .245 or slug higher than .434.

We do not know yet what Tiger will do at age 36, or how long he will play after that, but his withdrawal this weekend is a new low in a two-year span that has seen plenty of unexpected and unprecedented lows for one of the most dominant athletes of my lifetime.

The Uncertain Future

The comparisons with Mantle must stop here because Mantle’s career was essentially over by the age Tiger is just now reaching. Golfers obviously can have longer careers than baseball players, and no one can say with certainty that Tiger is done winning, but the signs seem to get more ominous by the weekend.

What was once inevitable — 19 or more Majors won by Tiger — now seems like a pipe dream. Health, focus, and confidence were three things we used to be able to count on from Tiger week in and week out. Now we cannot really count on any, and it leaves us all wondering, legitimately, whether Tiger at age 36 and beyond will be nothing more than what Mickey was at age 36 and beyond:

Done.

No, Tiger won’t be literally done for a long while. He’ll certainly keep rehabbing his knee, retooling his swing, and recharging himself for the only four weekends of every year that really matter to him. And perhaps he’ll start winning again. And perhaps he’ll have the good fortune to get and stay healthy long enough to make one final legitimate run at the record he’s been chasing all his life.

Yes, perhaps this is where the similarities between Tiger’s career and Number Seven’s will cease. Mickey couldn’t overcome bad health and bad habits to have a late career renaissance. Maybe Tiger can. Before this weekend I always believed that he would. But now I’m not so sure, and I bet neither are you.

Maybe now is the time when we readjust our expectations. Maybe now is the time we begin to realize and accept that the guys we’ve always compared Tiger to will not prove to be Tiger’s greatest sports comparables. Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan, as mentioned above, left no unfinished business. Neither did Jack Nicklaus, who fulfilled every ounce of his vast potential for greatness while setting the bar for all golfers.

Tiger Woods, however, now seems destined to fall short of fulfilling his potential. And if he does, his career will ultimately go down as having been much more like that of the The Commerce Comet than the Babe, his Airness, or the Golden Bear.

In this post, I am going to focus on one of the more notoriously entertaining aspects of the Charles Barkley Experience: his putrid golf game, manifested so awfully with every herk, jerk, and duff produced by his flagrantly ugly swing.

And recently, on the 1st tee at the Champions Tour Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek, Barkley delivered one of the more ignominious moments of his mostly ignominious golfing “career”.

Watch the video:

Yes, that was Barkley knocking the head of his driver right off the shaft with his first tee shot of the day. Not really sure what else needs to be said. Just another moment in Barkley’s long litany of entertaining moments.

Here is Barkley and his playing partner Fuzzy Zoeller holding the detached driver head.

One thing we can say about Barkley for certain is this: when it comes to golf, he is most certainly not a role mode.

This can sometimes be difficult to see through the smoke of constant self-promotion but is most evident during ESPN’s consistently compelling show E:60. The latest example of this is a story called “Mumbai Masters: A look at how golf is played in Mumbai, India”.

This segment, which I encourage you all to budget 8 minutes to watch, tells the story of Anil Mane. He is one of the few people in India who has seen and experienced the two vastly different ways that golf is played in India, where the separations between classes are shockingly wide.

Anil is from the slums, but he got a job caddying at a country club because of his skill and determination. This E:60 segment shows us the world of golf in India through Anil’s eyes, ending with a fascinating look at how a golf tournament is constructed in the slums.

———-

Obviously I and probably not too many of our readers can even come close to relating to the living situation that Anil and so many others in India face on a daily basis. But I bet those of us in our late 20s and older, born before video games took over youth entertainment and it was not uncommon to spend entire summers outside playing sports, can relate to the participants of the “Mumbai Masters”.

Whether it is using ghost runners in baseball or creating golf tournaments with your friends or playing two-on-two in the driveway with everyone pretending to be a famous NBA superstar, sports and the imagination are so often intertwined. From the slums of India, where we are taken in this video, to the suburbs of Indiana, which is what I knew growing up, sports offer a world of fun, challenge, and limitless potential to the unabashed dreamer.

I think that is why so many of us fall in love with sports at a young age and why the love affair never dies but just evolves as we get older.

So from one sports fan sitting at his desk in Dallas to another who is hundreds of worlds away in the slums of India, here’s to you Anil Mane. Keep dreaming your unabashed sports dreams. My sports dreams are now lived vicariously through others, and for you and your family I hope that all of yours come true.

So with that in mind, surely no professional golfer could ever card a score as high as, say, 16 on a single hole right?

Na.

Oh sorry, let me be a bit more specific: that is “Na” as in Kevin Na, who will now be ignominiously known as the guy who went 12-over par at the opening round of the Valero Texas Open yesterday.

Here is the gory video proof:

Kevin, on behalf of crappy golfers everywhere, I would just like to say: thank you. Ironically, your 9th hole misadventures have inspired me to get back out on the links. Now, every time I shoot a 15 or lower on a par 4 (probably 50% of the time) I’ll be able to say that I outperformed a professional golfer.

You may be too shocked and embarrassed to realize it now, but you truly are a hero to us all.

**********

Even for the casual fans that do not watch most of the PGA Tour season, the Masters is a perfect storm and often a must-see.

It comes in early April, which is still tricky weather-wise in many parts, and the tourney serves as the perfect itch for the weekend hackers to eventually get out. And although an iconic and challengingvenue, it is also perfectly kept, and it takes usually ten under par (or a little better) to win. Oftentimes, the key to winning is avoiding the hole that can bite you with a double/triple/quadruple bogey (just ask Rory McIlroy).

Also, by keeping the field limited at 88 players, the Masters serves as golf’s All-Star Game. The U.S. and British Opens have enormous fields; the PGA Championship the same deal, except for reserving some tee times to local club pros (who are not regular Tour members) that qualify their way in.

The U.S. Open draws equal buzz, and is equally compelling provided the venue and conditions are right. But the USGA goes overboard making the course so tough that the tourney becomes more a matter of survival than a fair test of golf.

The Open Championship is often decided by (a) which way and how hard the wind is blowing and (b) when do conditions deteriorate, and which competitors were fortunate enough to play in the more benign elements.

The PGA Championship is usually a fair test, but by the middle of August many fans often find themselves on the links themselves, or looking forward to baseball’s pennant race, or the start of football season.

Everyone had their storylines ready for the end of Sunday and the official ‘passing of the torch’ from Tiger Woods to Rory McIlroy, who would have been the second-youngest champion (at age 21). It did not take long for scribes to start scrambling for a re-write, as upwards of ten golfers found themselves in the mix heading into Amen Corner and beyond. The most compelling moments followed.

Charl Schwartzel – If you follow golf more closely, and in particular what goes on over in Europe, you are far more familiar with him, and know that he did not come out of nowhere. Many of the neophytes on Twitter just merely made fun of his name, at one point the Boston Herald’s Greg Bedard tweeted ‘Who the hell is this guy??’. That’s why some people are football writers (which Bedard does exceptionally well), and some are golf writers.

What we do know is Schwartzel pulled out one of the greatest final rounds in a major. Ever. The South African opened up by holing out for a birdie, then again for an eagle, then finished with four consecutive birdies, becoming the first Masters champion to close in such fashion. Yes, he is very worthy of the jacket.

Tiger Woods – With everyone busy shoveling dirt on him all weekend, it was so great to see him mount a Sunday charge. But ultimately, that lost momentum when what seemed to be a tap-in eagle on 13 went awry. That said, moral victories are not in Tiger’s vocabulary. And is there any question Bill Macatee can possibly ask Tiger in that situation?

Say what you want about the icon, it’s a shame that injuries, personal life, and now age are starting to take a toll. But everyone in the sport wants to see TW get to 19 majors, preferably while Jack is still around. Sunday was evidence that Tiger still has some wins back in him.

Rory McIlory – In 24 hours, he went from being anointed, to having his name involved in Greg Norman comparisons. But also remember the kid just became old enough to legally drink in the U.S. I would still take his incredible future. Even before the tourney, McIlroy was not considered a wise fantasy-pick for the weekend, noting that some of his putting woes would manifest itself on Augusta’s hard greens. It just took 63 holes for the inexperience to manifest itself.

Fred Couples – My annual fantasy golf mistake. He actually wound up tied for 15th with a group including McIlory, but Freddie went into the weekend in solid contention and  faded away a far less spectacular fashion than McIlroy. But even at age 51, Couples showed he still knows this track VERY well.

Phil Mickelson – Everyone’s pre-tourney favorite, especially after winning the event the previous week in Houston, Phil wound up leaving his ‘A’ game there. Just a case of Phil not having his best stuff this time around. That’s golf.

Jason Day/Adam Scott/Geoff Oglivy/K.J. Choi/Luke Donald/Angel Cabrera/Bo Van Pelt – Did I leave anyone out? All six of these names put themselves square in the dance at various points on the back-nine. At one point, Adam Scott went to -12 by nearly acing the par 3 16th, and looked as though he might become the first Aussie to ever win at Augusta. And Angel Cabrera may not be a total household name, a complete model of fitness, nor have the perfect swing, but he is a two-time major champion, and was in the final pair on Sunday. Too bad that he just doesn’t get the total respect.

It was a very entertaining show. Augusta National and its membership has its quirks (notice no blimp shots, no love for the actual city of Augusta), but you can’t fault five hours of quality TV programming with very few ad breaks.

And thanks to Charl Schwartzel for putting on one hell of a show, even if he’s not a household name.

In this post, we will quickly run down all of the Masters Saturday tee times – for Tiger, Rory, Phil, and everyone else – as well as give you all the TV info you need, and then a quick preview for what you’re likely to see on Moving Day at Augusta.

Masters Saturday TV Info

First, here is your Masters TV info for Saturday, April 9th:

• All live Masters coverage on CBS
• 2:30 ET – 3:30 ET: Phil at Augusta
• 3:30 ET – 6:30 ET: Live coverage of the Masters
• Go to Masters.com to watch Saturday live online

Masters Saturday Tee Times and Pairings

And here are the tee times and pairings for Saturday at the Masters (all timesET):

• 10:35: E Els
• 10:45: J Overton and A Baddeley
• 10:55: S Marino and C Villegas
• 11:05: K Kim and H Matsuyama
• 11:15: N Watney and B Haas
• 11:25: E Molinari and J Rose
• 11:35: M Jimenez and B Watson
• 11:45: M Laird and M Kuchar
• 11:55: A Cejka and R Palmer
• 12:05: R Moore and I Poulter
• 12:15: R Karlsson and C Hoffman
• 12:25: B Van Pelt and R Ishikawa
• 12:35: D Johnson and A Scott
• 12:55: P Mickelson and G Woodland
• 1:05: S Stricker and P Casey
• 1:15: D Toms and T Immelman
• 1:25: S Garcia and A Cabrera
• 1:35: R Fisher and B Snedeker
• 1:45: L Donald and J Furyk
• 1:55: L Westwood and C Schwartzel
• 2:05: F Couples and R Fowler
• 2:15: Y Yang and R Barnes
• 2:25: G Ogilvy and A Quiros
• 2:35: K Choi and T Woods
• 2:45: R McIlroy and J Day

Obviously all eyes will be on the last couple of groups, which is how it should be on Saturday at any Major. This year, it will be especially so with the Next Big Thing – Rory McIlroy – currently leading everyone, but with red hot Jason Day playing with him and a familiar face teeing off ten minutes before.

Of the early starters, Phil Mickelson always has a chance to be a factor. He’s eight strokes back heading into Saturday, but he’s capable of dropping a 66 or a 67 (or lower) any day. He’ll need to do it tomorrow to get himself in the hunt on Sunday.

As for that familiar face mentioned above, here is my basic philosophy on Tiger for those interested: I don’t watch golf or follow Tiger Woods so that I can learn some moral lesson, and he does not represent me in any way, like say my allegiance to my alma mater does. So, Tiger Woods does not live his personal life in a way I’d be proud to live mine? So what? Who cares? I follow him and root for him selfishly as a golf fan because, damnit, I want to see someone challenge Jack. I couldn’t care less if he wins another Major or breaks Jack’s record for himself; I want to see him make a run at for me, because I’d be compelled by it. I’ve already invested too much time in Tiger, following him since the beginning, to give up now.

So here’s hoping Tiger’s terrific back nine on Friday is not like his one great round at Pebble Beach, which he followed up by stinking up the joint (relatively speaking). I think the ideal Masters Sunday for everyone would be for Phil to be lurking a few strokes back and Tiger playing with Rory as the old guard tries to protect its turf from the new guard.

It’s going to be a fun a weekend of golf.

But even without ever having studied the golf swing, or having just a year of teaching experience, it is incredibly simple to look in, from the outside, and identify problems in the golf swing; and it doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend duffer or the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods’ swing.

With Masters quickly approaching next week, Tiger has now been with new coach Sean Foley for the past 7 months. I’ll tell you and I’d tell Tiger that, without a shadow of a doubt, Foley is the wrong coach.

Tiger’s new posture at address is completely unathletic.  This stack and tilt BS is causing Tiger to be way too steep to the ball.  The lengthening to the swing is flat out asinine.  Think about it: longer, less control, to play better?

Tiger is SUPER athletic. Why entertain a swing that makes you less so?

Also, this: who was Tiger’s best coach?  Butch Harmon? Hank Haney?  No, Tiger’s father Earl. Earl didn’t know how to teach golf, but he got his son to where he is today, telling him “you want to hit it there, figure it out.”  Tiger could hit it where he wanted to. He had the stinger.  His second greatest coach, Butch Harmon, understood that.  He used Tiger’s athleticism to his advantage.  He built on what made Tiger, Tiger.

Look back to 2000 when Tiger held all 4 majors under Harmon.  Simply look at his setup to see his athleticism.  One single snapshot tells the entire story.  At setup Woods looked like he could either hit a 340-yard drive or long jump 25 feet with equal ease.

Now look.  He looks like he’s thinking about falling over, going fishing, or both.  The guy is jammed up.

Obviously I don’t know the guy, but from his “Apology Press Conference” it is obvious he can’t see the forest for the trees. His foolish pride will prolong his, and our, agony.

This guy is supposedly a Buddhist.  A Buddhist knows the most powerful force in nature is water.  It is humble, it sinks lower than anything less, but has the power to move mountains. (see: Tsunami)

Tiger Woods needs to go back to his roots, to strip himself down to the core.  Go to the Mountain, find himself, KNOW himself again before he can be successful.

And oh yeah – Dump Sean Foley.

**********

About the Author

Morgan Ryan, ARM is the sales manager at CLA Insurance in Frisco TX and performs the same “looking in from the outside” analysis for commercial insurance clients.

Editor’s note: I found the video below that gives a nice visual display and explanation of what Morgan explained above:

Your likeness on Golf Digest begs to differ.

It’s very possible, as Darren Rovell said this morning, that this is greatest magazine placement in the history of magazine placements. Now go get ‘em Tiger.

Image source: YFrog