FanHouse Earl Woods

So it has come to this. The man who awed us for years in the golf world has been relegated to a sourpuss on the links who can't win the big one. Sure, he has claimed three events this year, but his missed cut at the '09 British Open -- on a course that some felt he would dominate -- has the golf world abuzz.

The Tiger Woods Conundrum is a tricky one. The biggest problem with it lies in the fact that Tiger has molded our expectations of him. He won his first major at 21. He never seemed to miss the big shot or the big moment, echoing these words by Earl Woods in the old Nike commercial, "I promise you, that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life, and he hasn't, and he never will." He was a golfing machine.

Now, some might argue that he has fallen off. He hasn't won the Masters since 2005 on a course he should dominate. It has been five majors since Tiger last hoisted a trophy. His golf swing seems to be a light switch at this point in his career; on at certain times, and very much off at others.

With three tournaments in a row coming for Woods, a few questions are in order.

You'll hear golf historians complain about the current British Open venue, citing the Royal and Ancient's decision to avoid hosting an Open there since 1994, when, really, most say the complaints have to do with Turnberry's poor location in terms of travel. (The course is accessible by a single road that makes you feel like you're driving down a narrow alleyway). You'll also hear people call Turnberry overrated and too easy, and they'll point to the Duel in the Sun as an example.

Tiger Woods, who has never played Turnberry until this week, wants people to understand something. Turnberry ain't that easy. He even admits it.

"It's a lot more difficult than people are letting on,'' Woods said.

The sports world has been getting treated to some pretty good commercials lately, from the NBA's Final "There's Only One" ad, which absolutely dominated, to Nike's new ad featuring Earl Woods doing his best Morgan Freeman and voicing over old footage of Tiger as he learned how to play golf.

I saw this for the first time the Friday before the tournament, got chills, and then was still blown away by it when I saw it for the first time on HD. It's an intense and moving ad ... and if you watched any of Tiger's patient putts yesterday, you know it's accurate too.



The part about dropping the bag, which is actually kind of lighthearted, just fascinates me for some reason.

Whatever your ideological leanings, and with the full understanding that politics, particularly in an election year, is about winning by any means necessary, this seems ... well, weird.

And while it's not blatantly racist, it certainly is uncomfortable to watch.



Um, huh? (You can watch David Bellavia's entire introduction after the jump.) What does Tiger Woods have to do with Senator Obama? You know, other than the fact that they're both part African-American. But maybe we're too quick to judge Bellavia; I mean, he could've said, "you can have your Pacman Jones and/or Chris Henry." At least he gave Democrats the upstanding young black man. So thanks for that. Jerk.

Whatever, the Golf Blog makes a good point:

[This is] just because Tiger's black, his name is thrown out there as associated with Barack Obama, all in a disparaging way ... Earl Woods, of course, was a Green Beret and Vietnam veteran, so to have his son's name invoked in an insulting fashion at a war rally apparently by another military man is appalling.

Yes, and John Kerry agrees with this message.

In related news, Fuzzy Zoeller will be introducing Senator McCain at a campaign stop at Rose Ridge Golf Course later this summer. Should be fun.

Time flies, doesn't it?

Ten years ago, Tiger Woods won his first major tournament, the Masters, by 12 strokes. It was a stunning display of reality surpassing than the hype. In its Masters preview edition, Golf Digest features a tremendous article called "The Dawn of Dominance: A decade ago Tiger's epic 12 stroke victory shook the game." The article assembles interviews with participants in that Masters, and gives you a great flavor of what it was like being a part of golf history.

I love this part from Paul Azinger, hearing a sport-talk radio guy who is so wrong on something, he feels compelled to call in:

Before the Masters, Tiger was favored, but the sports-talk radio guy in my area was saying how wrong that was--what has Tiger Woods done to be the favorite, and c'mon, there's a better chance he'll miss the cut. So I called in. I didn't identify myself, but the guy knew my voice. I just wanted to tell the guy that he had it really wrong--that not only could Tiger win, but he could win by a lot.

Really, even if you are a casual sports fan, this article is worth a read. Do you have any particular memories of the 1997 Masters?