Tiger Misses Quail Hollow Cut; World Braces For Extensive Overreaction

After all, this is how he should have played at the Masters, no? Or is this the beginning of a different era, the post-accident Tiger?

Bob Harig's report features Woods' post-round interview and this:

Among the issues: Woods hit just six fairways over two rounds and had back-to-back double bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes.

Now it's on to the Players Championship next week, although Woods first has a weekend off.
"I'll get to watch how it's done," he quipped. "I'll get to see how real golfers do it."

Asked if his problems were due to lack of practice, playing or mechanics, Woods said: "It is what it is. Whatever it was, it wasn't good enough."

Steve Elling writes:

At times, it looked like Icelandic volcano ash was leaking from every orifice, and Woods couldn't get off the course fast enough. For the first time, he mailed it in over the last few holes when any chance of making the cut was history. Woods has repeatedly professed to giving every shot his best effort over the years, but this time, he flat-out quit.

When he four-jacked the 14th hole, he barely waited for the ball to stop rolling before he slapped at it again. When he dunked a ball in the water hazard beside the 13th green with an awful lob shot, he hit a pair of wedge shots without bothering to take a practice swing.

"How many pairs of jeans do you own?"

I'm not sure what's more disturbing, this revelation about today's PGA Tour players from the annual SI Golf Plus players poll, or that someone knew to include the more than 10 option.

How many pairs of jeans do you own?

1-3: 25%
4-6: 31%
7-10: 23%
More than 10: 21%

“(The Ryder Cup) is the most important event of the year to him."

That's Anthony Kim who Rex Hoggard is writing about, according to his swing coach Adam Schreiber. When was the last time you heard of an American circling the Ryder Cup on his schedule? Especially as he faces hand surgery.

The math is simple, at least to a 24-year-old with a bag full of Advil. He wants to play all four majors, secure his spot on captain Corey Pavin’s team and, when the pain becomes too unbearable, have surgery on his thumb, a procedure that will take between two and three months to recover from.

They may not have believed in excuses in the Kim childhood home, and they must not have been big on calendars, either. Not when the last putt at “Glory’s Last Shot” drops 45 days before the United States and Europe resume the Transatlantic grudge match.

Even if he skips the PGA Championship and has the surgery following July’s British Open that would leave little time to rehab his thumb and his game for what is clearly the Super Bowl of Kim’s year.

“(The Ryder Cup) is the most important event of the year to him,” Schreiber said. “So for him to find this out in a Ryder Cup year, it’s pretty challenging.”

For an entertaining look at this week's SI Golf Plus cover shoot of Kim, check out snapper Darren Carroll's blog post and gallery (embedded below) recounting how he got his shots. It's becoming clear that AK has watched one-too-many episodes of Entourage.

Monty Identifies Vice Captains; World Can Now Go Back To Less Important Matters

And he's only going with three (Bjorn, McGinley and Olazabal), compared to Captain Pavin's four. For now."

Europe captain Colin Montgomerie identified Thomas Bjorn, Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal as his ideal choices to be vice captains for the Ryder Cup.

That’s assuming none of them qualify to play.

Montgomerie said Wednesday that he wants Bjorn and McGinley, who have competed in a combined five Ryder Cups, to focus on perhaps making the team over the next couple of months.

“The Americans are having four vice captains. I shall have three, maybe four,” Montgomerie said at the Real Club de Golf in Seville on the eve of the Spanish Open. “But I will not be naming them until after The Open at St. Andrews in July because, with Bjorn and McGinley, I want them to have every chance to make the team as players again.