Tiger Likes Low Number Majors

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rankandfile3.gifBrett Avery's PGA Championship stat package is now posted online at GolfDigest.com.

He offers an interesting chart on Tiger's major wins.

The gist?

All but two of Tiger's major wins has come at events where the average scoring could be called "low."

Avery writes:

From the 1999 PGA to last week's 2006 PGA at Medinah No. 3, Tiger Woods has won an incredible 11 of 29 major titles. During that span Woods served as a catalyst for distance increases that prompted the transformation of most host courses. While he won last week on the longest course in majors history, it resulted in yet another victory in a championship with a relatively low scoring average in relation to par. Woods has one the five "easiest" majors since the 1999 PGA, including last week (72.635 average or 0.635 over par). 

Staring at the chart, it's hard not to notice that of the majors at the high scoring majors not won by Tiger, each was marked by course setups ranging from way too narrow (Winged Foot, Oak Hill) to borderline goofy (Royal St. George's, Pinehurst, Southern Hills) to completely over the top (Shinnecock Hills).

When you think of the worst setups of the last 7 years, elements of each of the aforementioned come to mind. 

Tiger's Post Final Round PGA Press Conference

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Decent questions today from the scribblers, except one from a foreign land.

TIGER WOODS: Thanks. It was a special day out there. I just had one of those magical days on the greens today. I just felt like if I got the ball anywhere on the green, I could make it. It's not too often you get days like that, and I happened to have it on the final round of a major championship. So it was a really neat feeling to have.

I was just trying to get the ball in the fairway, trying to get the ball anywhere on the green, and I knew that I felt like I could make anything. It's a special day on the greens today, and I just happened to make some nice bombs early in the front nine to stay ahead.
More modesty...
Q. You told us years ago the fact that you'd tape Nicklaus' records on the wall when you were a kid. Well, you're approaching him now, become No. 2 in majors. Can you discuss that, and is that 18 majors now like the big goal now that you've done everything else?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's still a long way away. It's not something I could get next year. You know, as I said, it took Jack over 20 years to get to his. It's going to take a career, and I've just got to keep plugging along and keep trying to win these things.

These are the most fun events to play in, the major championships. I just thoroughly enjoy coming down the stretch on the back nine with a chance to win it. That's why I practice as hard as I do and what I live for. That to me is the ultimate rush in our sport is on that back nine on Sunday with a chance to win a major championship.

To answer your question, I've still got a long way to go. 18 is a pretty big number.
The lack of root structure seems to be the developing theme with regard to the greens... 
Q. Some players talked about the greens and said they were really able to hold them well, and the reason being is because they're only a few years old and the root structures hadn't set in there. Wondering what your opinion on that is.

Also, you said you prefer major championships to be single digits. Having won at 18 under, do you take that? Is that okay, too?

TIGER WOODS: I'm never going to say no if I win. No, the guys are right. The root structure wasn't there, and every ball is just splashing and bringing up making huge ball marks. We're bringing up dirt. You're never going to get balls bouncing on these greens at all, this week, and then with the rain this week it just made it worse.

You just had the feeling early in the week even when you played the practice rounds that guys were going to make some birdies this week. All the par 5s with good drives, except for 14, so basically three of the four par 5s were reachable, pretty much for all players. You knew that guys were going to be bunched up making a bunch of birdies. Then you had the soft greens, and guys were going to continue making birdies.

One thing they never got this week is they never got the greens quick. Even if you had downhill putts you were never afraid the ball was going to run out. You never were cautious on a downhill putt, you thought you could still ram it in there and knock it in there. That's normally not the case in most majors. But this week it just happened to be an aberration.

It will be interesting to see if anyone parades this next quote out in defense of the state of the game and equipment (they will be ignoring the millions people spend to get golf courses playing somewhat similar):

...I played it basically the same positions I played in '99, just the ball has changed since '99. The ball is going a lot further. But I'm basically hitting 3 wood or 5 wood to the same exact spots I hit 3 wood or 2 iron the last time we played. I basically played it to the same spots I did last time and accepted that, didn't try and cut over any of the doglegs with driver. For instance, today on 5, it was blowing down off the right so I went with 3 wood off the tee because if I hit driver I would have to take it over the corner of the trees down there and I wouldn't have any room. I could run it in a far bunker so I laid it back. That's basically the way I played the golf course in '99.

And what would a week at a tree lined inland layout be without a "right in front of you" quote from Tiger...

TIGER WOODS: Well, as far as the first part of your question, Medinah Country Club is one of the neat places. I've played here a few times actually, as well as in the '99 PGA. And 2006 PGA I've come out here with M.J. and we've played a little bit. I've always loved playing here. It's a straightforward golf course. We don't get to play golf courses like this. That's why guys love Charlotte, love playing at Firestone next week, why guys love playing Riviera.

These are golf courses that are straightforward, classic golf courses that are just right in front of you. They're difficult but they're not tricked up like how most of the modern golf courses are now. It's a very straightforward the membership has done a fantastic job of getting prepared for us and having open arms and just having a great event this weekend.

This was funny...

Q. What did you first think when you saw that Luke came out wearing a red shirt today? And can you recall the last time anyone wore a red shirt when paired with you on Sunday at a major?

TIGER WOODS: I don't recall, no. No, sorry. I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was kind of weird to have a blue belt with it (laughter).

Here's why Tiger is a saint. I don't care how bad this person's English is, lost in translation is no excuse for first askig this question, and then following up obnoxiously.

Q. When I was out there on the putting green, I found that Phil Mickelson signed autographs for kids every day all the time and you seldom did or never did. What's the reason? And does that mean you don't like kids or you love golf more than kids?

TIGER WOODS: I sign at the range, but I didn't do it around the clubhouse, no. There are too many people, and kids get run over. It actually gets pretty dangerous. We had a barricade go down this week. It gets a little dangerous at times.

Q. And a follow up, I know that you will come to China this November for HSBC Championship. Will you give more autographs to Chinese kids than last year? I think you did it once or twice.

TIGER WOODS: Trust me, I did more than that.

Q. I'd appreciate it.

TIGER WOODS: You got it.

Like I said. A saint.

Micheel On Tiger

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The PGA runner-up sums up Tiger pretty nicely here...

Q. It's obviously no secret that Tiger is back on a roll again. I'm just curious what your take is on where his game is in relation to everybody else right now, and is it getting to be sort of a 2000 ish feeling again with what Tiger is doing?

SHAUN MICHEEL: I suppose. He's obviously well, he's still an incredible putter, and he's just such an intimidating force, really. For him to go out and I said this earlier, for him to hit 11 out of 14 fairways on this golf course where you basically are having to hit wood off the tee at the Open Championship, I don't know how many drivers he hit, probably not more than oh, he hit one, okay. So he's hitting a lot of 2 irons, and he was just in control of his game.

That's what you've got to have. You've got to have control of your golf ball. When you pull the driver out, sometimes you lose that control, but he wasn't forced to do that. I don't know how many drivers he hit this week, either. He probably wasn't forced to hit as many because I know the 7,500 yards was the longest in PGA history, but it really didn't play that because there's a lot of doglegs and there's a lot of holes you can kind of cut some yardage off. He's going to be dominating whether he's playing well or not. Tiger has a unique ability to play well when he thinks he's not playing well. I mean, we all kind of smirk and laugh when he says he's got his B game, but that's better than most of our A games. He's just that good.
He doesn't do anything silly. He doesn't make any mistakes. He's so mentally tough there, I'm not sure anything ever bothers him. I wish I had that feeling just once.

Tiger's Post 1st Round PGA Press Conference

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After a 69...
Q. Can you talk about the setup and with that many low scores out there, does it change the approach where par is not necessarily a good score?

TIGER WOODS: Well, the greens are soft out there. The wind was pretty benign most of the day. It would come up, die down, come up, die down, but it wasn't a real big factor out there today. With the greens being soft, the guys are going to aim at a lot of flags, indicative of the scores. Any time the greens are fairly soft, you're going to get a bunch of low numbers on the board.

Q. Just getting back to the greens being soft, were they softer in the practice rounds and were you surprised that for a major championship, we haven't had rain around here hardly at all, that they were this soft in the first round?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I was pretty surprised that they had that much moisture in them. But also, then again, they are not exactly smooth, either. So it will be interesting in the afternoons, see what the scores will be.

You get a lot of balls that are bouncing a little bit out there. There's going to be a lot of that just because the greens are so soft.

Tiger's Pre-PGA Press Conference

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Tiger Woods managed to go the whole press conference without one "it's right in front of you" compliment of Medinah, and he also got through it without screaming "why!??!?!!" at the top of his lungs after some really wonderful questions. First, the golf course and course management stuff.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, the golf course is absolutely fantastic. Obviously they've lengthened some of the holes and the greens have been redone, but the golf course is such a wonderful layout, wonderful shape to it. It's one of the neat golf courses we get to play. It's old and traditional and it's just very straightforward. I mean, you've got to hit the ball well and obviously control your irons into these greens in order to have a chance.

Q. A lot has been made about your driving accuracy. Do you think too much has been made about it? And secondly, playing a course like this, do you need, do you think, to hit driver a lot, or can you hit the 5 wood stinger and 3 woods and get away with it.

TIGER WOODS: I'm not going to hit that many drivers because it won't really allow me to. Most of the holes are doglegged. Obviously I'd have to take driver up over the top of these tall trees, and it doesn't make any sense. Yeah, I'm going to use it a few times, definitely.

But overall, just like it was back in '99, I hit just a bunch of 2 irons and a bunch of 3 woods here. Just because that's the way the golf course allowed you to play. You play to a lot of the corners and obviously fire from there. If you try to take on a lot of the corners or shape the ball around the corner, yeah, you can, but it's not always the easiest thing to do.

And with this next question, the affair sprialed rapidly. Where was Julius Mason to pull the plug!?!

Q. My doctor doesn't think that golf is a very physical game, but you have a lot of ups and downs here at Medinah. How would you rate it compared to other courses as far as a walk for four days?
TIGER WOODS: Not that tough. I mean, I think I'm in decent shape. Walking 18 holes shouldn't be that hard. Twenty more years before I can ride in a cart (laughter).

Some of the other questions Tiger faced...

Q. How old were you, and was there a specific shot or a specific tournament when you knew that you were good enough to play on the PGA TOUR?

Q. Best we can tell, the only other time you play with Phil in a major is '01 at The Masters. Can you think of another? Then I have a quick follow up.

Q. Do you find it more enjoyable to play with Phil in a major or at a Ryder Cup?

Q. You kind of made reference to it earlier, 20 years until you've got to ride in a cart. I am kind of curious where you see yourself at 50. Are you still trying to add to your major totals, or are you a soccer dad or what do you see?

Q. Is it okay to ask on the spectator side I know you are a great player, great champion. I've seen this like four times in a row, but no matter what, you are a great player. I remember there was a long time ago at The Masters, you won The Masters, and I think the channel 2 commentator introduced you, and when your father passed away everybody felt sorry. My question is going to be in the near future about a charity in the memory of your parents who have passed on?
I'm going take a guess here and say that question came from an uh, overseas writer. Or a drunk one.
Q. You look at some of the guys who have played you tough in majors, Rich Beem, Bob May, even Chris DiMarco would sort of fit into this category of guys who maybe they wouldn't be the first guys you would think of. This might be a tough question for you to answer, but do you think it's easier in a way for those guys who have lower expectations to play up to their abilities against you, as opposed to guys who are ranked second, third, fourth in the world?

Q. What do you think is your impact on golf in the last decade?
Q. What are you bowel movements like?

Oh, okay, I slipped that last one in. 
 

Pelz: Phil "has more imagination and a few more shots around the green"

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Ed Sherman offers some quotes that should make Thursday's Tiger-Phil pairing that much chillier:
"When Phil's at his best, I'm thinking nobody can beat him," Pelz said.

Does Pelz's bold pronouncement include a certain player who has won 50 PGA Tour titles and 11 majors?

"You bet it does," Pelz said. "If Phil's long swing is good, his short game, I believe, is the best in the world. He doesn't have a serious weakness inside 150 yards.

"I'm not saying Tiger's short game is bad. He has a great short game. But I think Phil putts more consistently than Tiger does. He has more imagination and a few more shots around the green."

Pelz adds one caveat.

"The question is, how often is Phil on his best game?" he said.

Jackie Burke Unplugged

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There's a killer book excerpt in the new Golf Digest featuring Jackie Burke's thoughts on the Ryder Cup, but since it's not linked, here's Burke talking to Jim McCabe about his PGA Championship win and other topics.

He has been around the game for nearly all 83 years of his life, which is why when he speaks, people listen. Burke has a passion for the game, particularly for great amateur play, but he cares little for some aspects that shape the landscape. He's fearful that a player on a practice range somewhere is going to get seriously hurt by a teaching device what with all the ropes and metal, and he feels pity for what they've done to the club professional's job description.

``He's got to worry about carts and shirts and the hypotenuse of a triangle," said Burke.

As for the phenomenon called Tiger Woods, Burke said it isn't a mystery.

``He's the only one who understands how to play the game, how to make shots," said Burke. ``The other guys? They're all out there plumb-bobbing the world, worrying about their launch angle and their ball speed. But Woods is like the great pool player -- he doesn't see the cue, doesn't see the ball, he just sees the whole game."

Detroit Tiger?

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Vartan Kupelian spent a few too many days in the hot Flint sun last week, because he's proposing that Detroit find a way to build the first ever Tiger Woods design to replace the "too easy" Warwick Hills. Oh and he wants to pair Tiger up with Tom Doak.

Apparently Vartan is trying to make enemies in IMG Design Services, Inc. 

Tiger, Do You Like Golf?

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Okay, so none of the stenographers asked anything that silly, but check out these beauties following Tiger's win at the Buick.

For fun, I've supplemented Tiger's answers with my own versions of what he might really like to say. You can go to ASAP to read his actual answers to these thoughtful questions.

Oh, and note that not ONE "reporter" asks about the apple that rolled by his first putt on 17, or how it is that he didn't flinch when it happened!

Q. Your relationship with Buick, what does it mean to win the 50th tournament here, the birthplace of Buick?

A. Actually, it really tops everything I've ever done. The Masters, The Open Championships, the Foundation, the four majors in a row. I'd trade them all in for more wins in Buick events.

Q. We're used to seeing you wear red on Sunday and used to seeing you win. How far back does that good where you've worn red? Have you done that since your rookie year and what's the story behind that?

A. Wow, it's funny, but no one has ever asked me about that or ever written about that. Your name again?

Q. You have 50 wins now. Do you see yourself getting to 83?

A. No, no, winning this Buick is it for me on the PGA Tour. The rest will be majors, no more Tour event victories. So 83 is likely out of the equation.

Q. When is the last time you felt like you were playing this well going into a major?

A. Hmmm, well let's see. I just won a major and I played well the tournament beforehand, so I'm going to have to say the Western Open.

[This is why Tiger gets the big bucks. His actual one word answer: "Western."]

Q. You win the British, you win here, what does that do for your confidence level coming into the PGA?

A. It's tough, you know. I'm battling a lot of demons right now. Since I three putted the 18th at Hoylake and almost three putted 17 today. I'm only 42-under in my last two events, so I'm searching. But I'll regain the confidence soon. I'm sure of it.

Q. We watched you cross drivers and have good approaches and putts and also get in and out of trouble, and one fan in the gallery said you were only in trouble if you were in the water. Looking back, are they both as enjoyable when you look back at a tournament and seeing how you scrambled for par on 2 or had a spectacular hole? How does the enjoyment compare for you?

A. Great question. Lucid, succinct, really on point. But uh, just for clarification, when you say cross drivers, is that like on Entourage when Drama and Turtle crossed swords?

As for the rest of the question, it just doesn't make any sense and wow, look at the time! I really need to get to the airport as Citation X's aren't allowed by Federal Law to sit idling on Michigan runways for more than 30 minutes. Hey, it's been great.

Peter and Tiger XOXOXOXO...Next Up, Middle East Peace?

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With a major at Medinah looming, I'm under doctor's orders to limit this month's viewing of pro golf on back-and-forth, soulless designs. So I did skip most of Tiger's 50th (!) win at the Buick, though I did listen to portions of the telecast at the beach, and by golly, Bobby Clampett's bored tone did help induce my afternoon nap.

But more importantly, I understand from those who insisted on watching that Tiger Woods allowed himself to be interviewed by his favorite on-course reporter and swing commentator, Peter Kostis.

Whoever engineered this short-but-sweet reunion really should be included in any upcoming Middle East peace negotiations. If these two egos adversaries can patch things up for an exchange of inane post round comments, surely this middleman could help Condi and Koffi out too?

Huggan: "unfair to portray Woods as the poster boy for the relative mindlessness of top-level golf"

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In December we had way too many Tiger at 30 columns. Now it's Tiger 10 years later, with John Huggan joining the chorus.

Which brings us to the thorny subject of distance. Although he is obviously well aware of the benefits that long driving brings in today's game, it is a fact that Woods had to be dragged screaming into the 21st century: his unwillingness to embrace modern technology was legendary.

Yes, because of the fact that he swings faster than almost anyone, he is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the supercharged clubs and balls that have so transformed the game at the highest level over the past decade or so. But the world's best golfer is also well aware that the yawning gap between him and the rest would be even larger if most tournaments did not reduce the game to a simple equation: blast away off the tee boys, then hit wedges on to almost every green.

So it is grossly unfair to portray Woods as the poster boy for the relative mindlessness of top-level golf in the early part of the 21st century. As he demonstrated when given the chance at Hoylake, the world's No.1 is the best shot-maker in the game by an enormous distance, if you will pardon the pun. No-one else is even close when it comes to imagination, flair and creativity, attributes that used to mean something when golf was inspired by the golfers rather than by the manufacturers of equipment.

The Tiger Effect

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Golfweek's Gene Yasuda kicks off a "Special Report" on Tiger's impact 10 years after turning pro, with other contributions posted here. Meanwhile the Washington Times' Tim Lemke focuses on television ratings.

Over the years, tournaments with Woods in contention have 10 percent to 20 percent higher television ratings than those without. And the exposure for sponsors, particularly Nike, can be worth $10 million for a big tournament, according to one report.

But this year, Woods has played in only 10 events and just three since the Masters in April. Woods went nine weeks without entering a tournament as he dealt with his father's death. During his absence, several key tournaments Woods normally enters saw major ratings drops. Sunday ratings for the Wachovia Championship in May were down 32 percent, while the Memorial saw a 39 percent dip in viewers.

Overall, ratings for golf on CBS and ABC are down more than 10 percent from this point last year, and ratings on NBC are down 3 percent.

It hasn't helped that the non-Tiger events have been won by a host of relative newcomers with little following, including J.B. Holmes, Chris Couch, John Senden and Brett Wetterich. And in six of those nine events, the winner prevailed by five strokes or more.

But this year's ratings dip clearly has not scared broadcasters away from the sport. CBS will expand its coverage from 16 events to 19, and NBC will broadcast 10 events instead of five. Meanwhile, the Golf Network is locked in to a 15-year contract as the PGA Tour's exclusive cable provider, and ABC will show the British Open through 2009.

Golf Channel, Golf Network. Eh, what's the difference.

"There's no question that having Tiger on the leader board has an effect on the ratings," said Brian Walker, Sports spokesman for NBC Sports. "That being said, NBC is bullish on golf in general as evidenced by our recent extension agreements with the PGA Tour, USGA and PGA of America, which will more than double our golf coverage beginning next year."

"Right In Front Of You"

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tigerteeingoffnissan.jpgReader Sam wanted to know why I don't like it when Tiger Woods praises a course for being "right in front of you," (as he did again today with Warwick Hills and will inevitably do when he answers dumb questions lobbed his way by the inkslingers.) Oh, and check out the doozies he was asked today. No wonder he can't stand the media.

Anyway, the "right in front of you" thing is simple.

Woods, like Jones, Hogan and Nicklaus before him, thrives on strategic courses that reward local knowledge. These courses nearly always tend to contain mysterious design features. Even the ones that seem straightforward (Pebble Beach, Riviera), are loaded with subtlety and elusive qualities.

The elite players have always embraced this mystery and recognized that it separates them from the merely great player.

So for someone who adores the Old Course like Tiger does, it's hard to fathom why he also loves courses that are "right in front of you," when they have little to reveal after one or two rounds, and therefore, lack an intelligent purpose.

Then again, if Woods told the media that thoughts of Warwick Hills make for an ideal sleep aid, he'd be tarred and feathered as a negative, spoiled Tour pro. So he's probably wise to keep on repeating the same line.