Monty Blasts Tiger's Austerity Approach

Jim Black reports on Colin Montgomerie's critical account of Tiger's play at Lytham in the wake of Andy Murray's aggressive play in the Olympic tennis.

As usual, Monty almost got it right.

"The Olympic title isn't a grand slam event but, at the same time, for Murray to go back to the court where he lost to Federer a month before and produce such an amazing win took a lot of doing. He tried to attack in their previous match, but Federer forced him on to the defence, while Woods always looked like he was playing for a place in the Open and third is what he got. You've got to bring out the driver and attack at some point, not constantly hit 3-irons and end up two-putting from 40 feet. Using your driver is part of the game, surely.

"I don't think Tiger is confident using his driver, having watched him spend two and a half minutes deciding which club to hit on the 11th tee at Lytham and, when he did make up his mind, he almost lost his ball.

"Murray showed that the way to win is by being aggressive and attacking. He beat the two best players in the world, Federer and Djokovic, to prove that he is as good as anyone in the game."

Now I know you've all committed my Golf World story about Tiger's week at Lytham to memory, but in case you didn't read it yet, I focused on the moment at the 11th tee because I was sitting there listening to the conversation between Tiger and LaCava thanks to intimate spectator roping.

It was a key moment and he did eventually hit driver. Instead of hitting a slight draw, which was necessary to offset the left-to-right wind, Tiger did hit the slight cut he'd been hitting and the wind took it about 30 yards right of the fairway in a mashed down rough area. So Monty got part of it right. 

That said, we will find out this week if it was a confidence situation or simply his strategic approach to Lytham, which, as I wrote in the story, kept him in contention but when the time came to shake the reins and make a move at 13 and 14, he stuck to the plan. At 7,767 yards and soft, Tiger won't have a choice this week.