Tiger Woods Will Miss Cut at Open Championship
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 17, 2009 2:21 PM EDT
16 comments
For only the second time in his professional career, it appears that Tiger Woods will miss the cut in a major championship. Woods finished the first two rounds of the 138th Open Championship at Turnberry in 145 (+5). The cut line in the Open is the top 70 and ties, but has no "10 shot rule." There are 75 players at +4 or better. Woods is now on the outside looking in at the weekend.
Woods got off to a decent start in his second round and played the first seven holes in one-under par. But consecutive bogeys at eight and nine, followed by a double bogey at 10, bogey at 12, and another double bogey at 13 put Woods too far behind to make the cut line. Consecutive birdies on 16 and the par 5 17th gave him a chance at the 18th.
His drive found the rough and his approach shot barely cleared the back of the green. Woods' bid at a miraculous chip-in for birdie fell two feet short.
This will be Tiger's first missed cut in a major since the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot - his first major following the passing of his father, Earl.
It is also the third time this season that Woods has won the event on his schedule leading into a major championship and then failed to convert the momentum into his 15th major title.
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sssoooooooooo….what now ? cancel the weekend rounds, burn the course to the ground, and just give him the trophy anyway ? re-program the TV coverage with re-runs of Tiger’s other major wins ?
I still like watching all of his shots – but this is when the coverage gets insufferable. when he’s not playing well is when these clowns start pulling out the impossible shot garbage. “WELL – all he has to do is hole this shot from 240 yards in knee high rough for par then finish with eagles on the remaining holes…”
They get on Ishikawa for hitting a fairway with his driver just 30 yards short of the green, but making bogie – yes – he should have played the hole like Tiger, hitting iron off the tee, then hitting his second shot over the green, flubbing a chip, putting on and two putting for….double bogie. Brilliant work, guys.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 17, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Very interesting.
Woods’ missed cuts in the Tiger Decade (2000-2009): 2
Nicklaus’ missed cuts in the Jack Decade (1970-1979): 1
Jack Nicklaus missed the cut at the 1978 PGA Championship. Guess who was the 2nd round leader at the ’78 PGA? Tom Watson.
by Cairo on Jul 17, 2009 3:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
That’s pretty spooky there.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 17, 2009 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Tiger’s group was even on the clock for a while ? Is that allowed in the rules ? :-D
oh my lord – “Sergio really hits his short irons a long way when there is a wind behind him.” Thanks Donna. Then Baker-Finch defines talking to your ball as an emotion. wow.
Great stat, Cairo – I’m going to point that out to my Tiger worshipping radio host this weekend. (lol)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 17, 2009 3:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I'm no Woods-hater, but here's some more.
Jack (1970-1979) vs. Tiger (2000-2009).
Worst finish in the Masters: Jack 8th, Tiger T22nd
Worst finish in the British: Jack 5th, Tiger MC
Worst finish in the US Open: Jack T49th, Tiger MC
Consecutive top 15 majors finishes: Jack 33(!), Tiger 9
Consecutive top 10 majors finishes: Jack 13, Tiger 8
Of course, Woods has had twelve major wins this decade to Jack’s eight in the ’70s—but I think Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and a host of others are a bit more impressive competition than Bob May, Rocco Mediate, and Chris DiMarco. If anything, this decade has shown a disappointing lack of 4th round competition between Woods and the likes of Mickelson, Singh, Els, and Harrington. Is that the fault of Woods? No, but neither is it the fault of Nicklaus that he was playing during one of the most competitive times in PGA history.
All in all, I think it’s even. Plus I know Nicklaus would have sawn off his own arm for an additional four major wins in the ’70s.
by Cairo on Jul 17, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The most telling statistic in the comparison between the two really is the number of runner ups that Nicklaus had. 19!
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 17, 2009 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
last one:
When Watson won the 1977 British Open at Turnberry he won £10,000. The first place “cheque” at this year’s tournament is £750,000.
by Cairo on Jul 17, 2009 4:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
It is quite amazing how – particularly in the last fifteen years – golf purses have absolutely crushed the rate of inflation.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 17, 2009 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
poor tiger
I don’t believe Tiger is even close to where he was before the ‘08 US Open. The layoff during recovery has messed up his competitive game. By continuing to play the same schedule he did prior to surgery, he’s not giving the game a chance to recover.
My solution: Woods needs to suck it up and go play 3, maybe even 4, weeks in a row on tour to get his competitive brain running again. He doesn’t have to because he’s Tiger Woods, dammit, but he needs to do something or he’ll never break Jack’s major record.
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
by dianemarie on Jul 17, 2009 6:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I think you are exactly right, D. You don’t get consistency and tournament toughness playing once a month.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 17, 2009 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I might agree
Except for a couple of things.
First, this is the first time he finished outside the top ten since the WGC match play. That’s ten events, 8 top tens. That also includes 3 wins, including two weeks ago, at his previous tournament. So he’s hardly playing poorly prior to this week.
Second, he’s not really playing much less than in previous years. In 2007 he had ten events prior to the Open Championship and this year it was nine. And he won three times in that span, the same as this year. In 2006 he played 9 events prior to the Open and won twice, but ended up winning the Open as well.
Looking at his previous years (and not counting 2008 where he won almost everything, but only played through the US Open), it’s hard to see any difference in either his performance or his schedule, with the exception of the big black mark at the Open this week. Something went wrong this week, but I’m hesitant to blame it on too few events because he typically plays 16-20 events in a season (with a couple of 21-event seasons in there) and he’s on pace for that this year.
My bet is more swing fiddling is taking place. He has said this year that he’s now able to get into his left side because his knee is better now and “do the things Hank wants” him to do. To me, that screams of swing tweaks. This is his first bad week this year, and certainly he’s not blowing away fields like he does some years. But his workload and results are right in line with the last several years.
by Double Eagle on Jul 18, 2009 1:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
A couple of very important things to consider…He had never taken 9 months off, most of that time without being able to make a full swing. That’s a lot of time away from having your mind in tournament mode. Yes, he has a couple of wins, but they are on courses that he regularly dominates – and we all know that there is a huge difference in winning and finishing second. Remember that he started his career playing a lot of tournaments. Once he found his rhythm, he cut his schedule back.
He isn’t swing “fiddling”. He has had to make a few serious changes because of the knee. He isn’t snapping against it like he used to, so he is having to figure things out while playing a short schedule after 9 months away. Remember, at The Memorial, he admitted that he is still having to protect the knee.
He’s in a tough spot. We don’t know if he wants to play more tournaments or not – but we do know he still has to be a little careful on the knee. (that surgery is a 2 year healing process) Combine that with the swing changes that obviously aren’t 100% ingrained…yet…and he’s bound to have problems.
Luckily for Tiger, it takes a major stage for him to feel the pressure.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 18, 2009 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I agree on the 9-months off. However, if he hasn’t gotten back into tournament mode after 9 events, which include two majors already (both of which he finished T6), then something is wrong. If this was the Masters we were talking about, then I’d say you were on to something, but at this point, I’m not feeling it. When you’re rusty, you don’t go 5 months playing pretty much up to regular standards, then suddenly become seriously affected at the Open.
I have no doubt he’s still feeling his way back with the knee. I had the same exact injury and I had the same exact surgery, and you’re right that it really takes two years, but after a year, you’re really just dealing with soreness and stiffness. However, no matter what kind of soreness and after-effects he’s feeling now, it doesn’t even compare to what condition he was in when he won the US Open last year.
As you said, he had to make knee related swing changes. Now, he’s got to undo that. Maybe we’re talking semantics, but to me, making adjustments is fiddling, not for frivolous reasons, just because it’s necessary.
by Double Eagle on Jul 18, 2009 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Exactly the point – you don’t get tournament tough playing once a month or every three weeks. His 9 events started before the Masters and we’re in the middle of July.
You don’t think soreness and stiffness is a detriment to a good golf swing ? When he won the US Open last year, he was in sync with his abilities and able to make the adjustments he needed. With the new swing and the sore knee and the lack of play – he’s not making those adjustments under pressure…yet.
Why does he have to undo the swing changes that are designed to take the pressure off the knee ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 18, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Compensations
Of course stiffness and soreness are detriments to a good golf swing. My point was that they’re not in the same ball park as a broken leg and blown ACL which certainly gave him soreness and stiffness before, as well. Now he’s only got some soreness and stiffness, so he should be on cloud nine, comparably speaking.
The way he stated it was that he was making compensations before that kept him from getting on his left side like he wanted. Not sure what the details are on that, but he definitely said this year that he’s able to do the things Hank wants him to do now, and that means changes of some kind, even if it’s just a matter of dropping those compensations.
by Double Eagle on Jul 18, 2009 11:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
You’re right that he is feeling just a touch better than he was a year ago. :-) He played on the knee because he was playing great and the doctors said that he couldn’t do any more damage to it. Now, he has to protect the knee for a while because he CAN do more damage to it. Completely different state of mind.
He has made some big changes to his swing – they are permanent changes, not just the compensations he was making to protect the knee. You could really see them falling into place at The Memorial when he switched to the 10.5 degree driver and stopped falling back to get the high launch angle.
Then again, Haney said that Barkley’s swing problems were all physical…hmmm. :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 19, 2009 7:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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