Jack To Shark: “Quiet Greg, quiet. Down boy."

Thanks to reader Lloyd who saw GolfChannel.com's post on Jack Nicklaus' radio interview with Washington D.C.'s ESPN 980 that covered a variety of topics, including Greg Norman's assertion that Tiger Woods is intimidated by Rory McIlroy.

The full transcript is here:

“Quiet Greg, quiet. Down boy. I think Tiger had a pretty darn good year this year. It’s the first time he has gotten himself back into contention in the majors, he didn’t finish them and I think by his own admission he said he had a hard time finishing them. That’s like anything else. He had a pretty big event in his life that changed a lot of things and he has to learn how to go back and play again. I think he’s learned how to play again, now he has to learn how to finish again. I think Tiger has a lot of wins left in him. He does have a lot more competition. During the couple of years when Tiger wasn’t really there all of the sudden you have Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and I could probably name a half dozen other guys that have all won and learned how to win in Tiger’s absence. They’re not scared of him anymore. Before Tiger just showed up coming down the stretch and everybody said ‘oh there’s Tiger and I wilt.’ They don’t do that anymore. Tiger’s got his work cut out for him but I don’t think Tiger is by any means finished. I just think Tiger is too good of an athlete and too good of a player.”

John Strege reminds us that Norman's jab may be a result of an ego clash dating back to the early years of Bill Clinton's second term.

Whatever Norman's reasons for his latest analysis of Woods, it is an extension of a clash of egos that dates to 1996 and effectively ended a relationship that had begun five years earlier, when Woods was 15. Tiger was in Florida for a junior tournament, when an arrangement was made for the two to play golf together at Bay Hill Club in Orlando.

Tigeroy Bromance Update: Woods Makes Short Jokes, Rory Counters With Balding Remarks; Tickling Could Be Next

The Times' "Chief Sports Correspondent" Matt Dickinson scored some face time with World No. 1 Rory McIlroy who reveals how his bond with Tiger Woods has evolved.

McIlroy has embraced the rivalry, thrived on it, said his game improves by being paired against Woods. “It’s fun,” McIlroy says — a word you hear all too infrequently from leading athletes. And he recites the sort of conversation that takes place when world No 1 meets world No 2 on the tee; Woods calls McIlroy shorty and the Northern Irishman calls him baldy back.

“Tiger gives me stick about being short. He always asks me ‘seriously, how tall are you?’” McIlroy says.

“I’ll say, five nine”.

“Yeah, but without the hair? That’s five seven, right?” “He’ll ask me, ‘What do you do when Caroline [Wozniacki]wears heels?’ But I give him grief about all sorts. Getting old, getting bald. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, certainly not when I’m around.”

I believe Tiger would be referring to this infamous photo. A shame he didn't wait to pull that one out at the Ryder Cup!

Brandel: Since The Miceli Run-In, Tiger Has Become More Amiable, Even Pairable

From yesterday's Golf Channel/Ryder Cup conference call, Brandel Chamblee talking about the kinder, gentler Tiger Woods we've seen in the second half of 2012 and how Tiger might even make a semi-decent Ryder Cup partner for someone.

Brandel on Tiger for the team room bulletin board:

And also from the perspective that I think he's become more amiable.  I think he has a different perspective now.  He's looking around, to Johnny's point and saying, what is my legacy going to be, and am I going to have relationships with these people later in life.

It's been interesting.  It's been fun to watch Tiger Woods in his post‑round remarks, maybe since the Honda when he had that little tiff with Alex Miceli.  But since then, he's been a different guy, and I think the players recognize that.

I think that's going to help him in his Ryder Cup experience, because he's going to be more of the leader that Seve was that took lesser players like Manuel Piñero and made them getter; Gilford, made him better; José, made him better.

Tiger's never done that before in a Ryder Cup.  You've [got] to make rookies better in a Ryder Cup situation.

Johnny: I Declined Chance To Work With Tiger; But Now I'm Open To The Idea!

Johnny Miller says he was once asked to coach Tiger by Tiger's "people" but Johnny turned the job down.

From the October Golf Magazine:

"Not many people know this, but when Tiger had been on Tour for two or three years, his people called and asked if I would give him lessons on short irons," Miller said. "Jack Nicklaus told him I was the best short iron play ever—a pretty great compliment."

Miller said he declined to offer because of his NBC announcing work and his desire to spend time with his children and grandchildren.

"I was tired," Miller said. "I didn't think I could give him the time he'd need, so I turned him down, which I don't think many people have done."

And now?

"He's the guy I'd like to help most," Miller said. "I've been watching him since he was in junior golf. I know all the swings he's had. I think I could help him get back to his natural swing, not the swing someone else wants him to make. I'm open to helping him."

Tiger, have your people call Johnny's people and let's make this made-for-TV goldmine a go!

From The Archives Of Mr. John Daly: Awkward Teenage Photos Edition

This shot with Tiger should make up for the family Labor Day photo John Daly posted on Facebook.

Thanks to reader Tom for the tip.

Tiger And Rory Now Doing Joint Post-Round Interviews; Gym Sessions And Wine Country Weekends May Be Next

The signs have been there but longtime watchers of Tiger looked away: he's in love!

The Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy bromance went public Thursday at the BMW Championship when the two lovebirds gave a joint Golf Channel interview after an impressive scoring duel over Crooked Stick Golf Club.

Randell Mell writes:

“It's fun to play with him, and he's just an amazing talent,” Woods said. “You watch him swing the club and watch him putt and play, he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. You can see that, in the next decade or so, as he really matures and understands some of the nuances of the game, he's only going to get better, and that's kind of fun to see.”

Huh? Lions don’t share their turf, do they?

Bob Harig also noted the burgeoning romance in his round one story.

They ate breakfast together Wednesday morning, bumped into each other in the media center after their pro-am rounds, managed to poke fun at one another, and were mostly all smiles during the first round of the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick. Afterward, they yukked it up together for a TV interview.

It helps when you are playing well, as both did on a warm, humid day with a water-softened course in the opening round of the third of four FedEx playoff events.

Accompanying Harig's story is a revealing image from Getty's Scott Halleran (right).

Look at how those two gaze at each other!

Let's be frank here. Tiger does not like anyone who is a threat to his game, holds grudges and it's one of the reasons we respect him. Unlike some of his peers, who are gentlemen to the point that they will never achieve greatness, Tiger wants to win and win big. Anyone who gets in the way is the enemy, just as was the case for all-time great predecessors like Ben Hogan. (I know it's hard to believe, but by all accounts the Hawk could be a real beauty when the gates opened.)

But now as Tiger gets older and much, much shorter off the tee, he has become openly smitten with young Rory, cooing over "the kid" in a joint post round interview with Steve Sands, viewable in Golf Channel's first round highlight package. 

I, not normally a cynic, have a few theories on why Tiger has taken such a liking to someone who so clearly stands in the way of reaching the much-vaunted goal of 19 majors.

• Rory is about to sign with agent Steiny (example: Stricks, Kooch...Rors next?)

• Rory mentioned that he saw the aerial videos and might be interested in buying Privacy for him and Caroline. To which Tiger, tired of the $1 million in annual upkeep, realized he's found a sucker buyer he needs to be nice to.

• Rory wondered out loud about playing at Sherwood in December and Tiger is trying his best to lure a box office draw to help save the sponsor-less event he hosts to help fund his foundation.

• Rory is about to sign with Nike (rumored but doubtful since this could eat into how much Nike pays and markets Tiger).

• Rory heard Tiger knows a lot about designing courses, wants to learn from Tiger and Tiger doesn't want to tell Rory the bad news that even the purveyor of a lowly golf blog has more design credits to his name than Tiger.

Or maybe Tiger is just setting the lad up, only to go all gamesmanshippy and glaring-stare Tiger when they meet in Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup?

I hope it's that. Because if this Mutual Admiration Society stuff goes on much longer...

The lovefest continues Friday at 9:39 a.m. ET with Golf Channel coverage at 3 p.m. ET.

**This from Golf Channel: Golf Channel will now air the second round coverage LIVE from 11:30am - 3:00pm. There will be a taped re-air immediately following the live telecast on Golf Channel from approx. 3:00-6:00pm.

Tiger Says Little Has Changed As A Short Hitting Old Guy

There was some interesting stuff in today's transcript at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where Tiger Woods talked about changes in the game and what it means for him as part of the second-tier players distance-wise. You can watch the video of the presser here.

TIGER WOODS:  Well, probably mid 2000s I wasn't the longest one out here.  I mean, the game has certainly changed.  When I came our here in '96 and '97 I was long, and I averaged 296.  I think there's like 30‑some‑odd guys who are averaging over 300.  So it's a totally different game now.

You know, the bigger hitters can hit the ball 320 in the air.  I don't really have that.  I can carry it 300, but that's a different gear.  They're taller, they're bigger, and most of the longer guys are 6'3".  When I was coming out here, if you were six foot you were pretty much average height, big height.  Look at Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Watson, they're all short compared to the big guys now, and they were long hitters at the time for their era.  But these guys are just bigger.

I certainly can't carry the ball that far, but I'm still one of the longer ones but not the longest by any stretch of the imagination.

And...

Q.  Following up on the length, when was it that you realized I'm not the longest guy out here anymore?  Was there a specific moment?

TIGER WOODS:  Even when I was long on TOUR, Daly was still longer.  Daly was the longest.  I believe he's the first guy to average over 300 yards.  But now that's kind of average now.  Most of the guys can hit the ball 300 yards.  Granted, we've changed equipment.  It was balata balls, 43?‑inch steel‑shafted drivers.  Now the standard driver is 45, graphite.  You're taking 60 grams out of a shaft, and the balls are much harder than they ever used to be.  You add that and the guys are bigger and stronger and faster, it's a significant jump.

From a design point of view, this is fascinating and hopefully shows how difficult it is to design strategically interesting holes for today's game.

Q.  Given that, how much have you had to maybe reinvent yourself, and how much has that gone on this year, and how gratified are you to see their results now with the wins that you've had?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, I can still get to the par‑5s.  The longer par‑4s now are, instead of being 460, now they're 520 and 540.  Those are the stout par‑4s now.  So that's changed.

What has changed, I think, quite a bit is the carry, the cover number over corners or over bunkers.  They used to be staggered at probably about 260, maybe 280 at the tops.  Now they're 300 to 320.  Those are our carry numbers on most of the holes that have been lengthened or bunkers repositioned.  So that part has changed.

But I really haven't had to reinvent how I played because I've always been one of the longer hitters on TOUR, just had to be efficient at what I do.  Having this‑‑ hitting the ball far‑‑ I hit the ball far enough to where I can get to the par‑5s, and if you take care of the par‑5s and you take care of a few more along the way, you're going to have a pretty good tournament.

Where's Privacy When You Need It Files: Some Poor Hotel Manager Spent Friday Night Running Around Trying To Get Tiger A Firmer Mattress

Tiger docked his yacht at Kiawah for the PGA but didn't have Privacy shipped up to New York for this week's event at Bethpage, even though he had it there for the '09 U.S. Open and--even more startling--this is the Playoffs(C)! He's getting careless in his old age.

Hank Gola on Tiger's wrenched back caused by a soft mattress.

“There’s a difference between being in pain and injured,” Woods said afterward when asked about ’08. “This is just a little bit of pain. That was an injury.”

Woods blamed the soft bed in his hotel room — he said he’d be sleeping on the floor Friday night — for his back woes.

“Must have slept funny on it,” he said. “Woke up this morning with it stiff. You know, as I warmed up, it got progressively worse, and then you saw what happened on the golf course. It hurt all day.”

Actually, Wood played his best golf after the back got worse. He began with back-to-back bogeys but made three out of four birdies beginning on No. 4 and added another on the back nine on No. 14. That came just a hole after the hill got him as he walked into the bunker on the 13th.

Jim McCabe found the performance impressive in light of his ballstriking stats.

Time after time, Woods was shown wincing, though the agony didn’t translate into misery. Woods matched his Round 1 stats – 9 of 14 fairways and 13 greens in regulation – and played bogey-free for the final 16 holes.

One of his biggest winces came at the par-4 10th. The pain was so bad that he walked slowly into a tent next to the tee where players can collect snacks, fruits and drinks. Woods stayed there for nearly a minute before proceeding to walk to his drive some 322 yards away.

That’s right. In pain, he unloaded it 322 yards, one hole after driving it 310, and a few holes before toasting it out there at 311 and 315.

Bamberger: "At Kiawah, Woods dabbled in some new material, and it was kind of weird, experimental and New Agey."

Michael Bamberger isn't knocking Tiger's "too relaxed" suggestion because he wants to "encourage his artistic growth" but it also means he isn't buying the 2012 PGA postmortem.

Some odd thing was going on as he played on Saturday. He did seem to be ­approaching the round in an uncharacteristic way. He looked almost detached. Now and again he stared out at the churning ocean. He stayed last week on his yacht, Privacy, and he clearly did come to shore on Saturday with some sort of different approach. But not relaxed.

The guy must get sick of hearing the word major. Major, major, major. But it’s a conversation of his own making. He set the bar higher than anyone ever has. Big Jack had 18 majors, and Tiger was going to first match and then pass. He has been stuck at 14 for four years and two months.

It will only get harder and more intense.