Tiger Fires 66, Talks About Getting His Game Back
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 19, 2010 11:00 PM EDT
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Tiger Woods' third round of 66 in the US Open at Pebble Beach has him in position to win his fifteenth major championship. Woods began his round poorly, playing poorly on the opening seven holes - considered the easiest stretch of holes on the golf course. He made bogey on two after a poor drive. After a 370 yard drive at the downhill par 4 third, Woods was left without an angle and made bogey.
Woods' round began to turn around with a birdie at the par 4 fourth whose tees were moved up for the third round to entice players to go for the green. It led to a run of birdies on four, five, and six that got Woods into red figures for the round.
After a bogey on eight, Woods went out in even and further from the lead than when he started.
It was on the back nine that Woods made his move. An unlikely birdie on 11 against a tough pin resumed his momentum. A birdie at the susceptible 13th got him closer.
The final stretch of holes, though, were what made Woods a contender for his fourth Open title. After a birdie on the short downhill sixteenth, Woods hit his tee shot on the iconic and devilish seventeenth to about fourteen feet above the hole.
Woods said of the putt that he was simply trying to leave himself without a difficult second putt.
"I told myself to not mess up the momentum, the great round that I had going," Woods said.
He didn't. He curled in a putt with six feet of break to get back to even par. It was evident from his stride to eighteen that he would challenge the par 5 finisher in two. After a tee shot that left him near a tree that could scuttle those efforts, Woods said he arrived at his ball happy.
"I thought I had a shot at it, and I was hoping Stevie would give me a good number. When he said 260, he did."
Woods went for it, curling his ball onto the green within twenty feet of the hole. Tiger said he psyched himself out of making the eagle that would have been deafening to the competition behind him. Nonetheless, Woods is clearly happy that his game is back.
"In all of the Opens that I've won, I've had a stretch of nine holes - not just front or back nine, but nine holes - where I made my move," Woods said.
He will have to duplicate the feat, but play 18 solid holes tomorrow to steal the US Open, his fifteenth major, and his first in which he did not have a share of the Saturday night lead.
Video: How Tiger's Third Round 66 Was Defined
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 19, 2010 10:30 PM EDT
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Ryan Ballengee reports from Pebble Beach where Tiger Woods' amazing third round comeback was shaped at the 3rd, 4th, and 17th holes.
Tiger's Memorial Was Less Than Memorable: T19 (-6)
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 6, 2010 9:10 PM EDT
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To some extent, Tiger Woods' performance at the Memorial Tournament is a vast improvement over what the current world number one showed in his last two starts. He made the cut, and he finished the tournament. That is where the positives come to a halt. While Woods exhibited some better mechanics, Woods was clearly still off of his game. That game, though, is still based almost entirely on the methodology of one Hank Haney.
Woods told reporters that he is effectively "retracing his steps" back to Haney's most effective instruction. Compared to a year ago, Woods does not appear to have been too successful in that regard. Last year, Woods his nearly 90% of fairways en route to his Memorial win. This year, he hit about 60%. The winner Justin Rose his 82%. Woods hit 62.5% of GIRs Almost every player in the top 10 his at least 73%.
Tiger is still clearly seeking his way. He's struggling from tee to green, but starting to improve with the putter. Woods has been saying that he needs to become more consistent with the flat stick if he's going to gain anything from improvements in ball striking and accuracy. More important to Woods winning the US Open again, though, is his accuracy. Playing at a seaside links course in Pebble Beach will require Woods to be accurate off of the tee and hit small greens. If he can't do that, putting on poa annua really won't be an issue.
Tiger Woods Is Now His Own Golf Instructor
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 2, 2010 12:35 PM EDT
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In his pre-tournament press conference at the Memorial in Columbus, Ohio, defending champion Tiger Woods briefed the media on his game and his health. Prompted by a question about the break up between he and Hank Haney, Woods revealed that he is diagnosing his own swing problems now.
"That's the great thing about technology. We can use video. That's what I've been doing and been working on it that way."
When Woods ceased working with Butch Harmon at the British Open in '02, Woods was beginning to implement some of Haney's swing thoughts on his own. Technology has evolved such that he can now create and try to implement his own swing ideas Asked about plans to hire a new swing coach, Woods simply said, "No plans."
Woods has been working on his driver, which is now a half-degree lower than he had been using since last year's Memorial, when he had the driving week of his career.
"[T]he other driver's good, but in the wind I wasn't getting full benefit. I was spinning a little bit too much. So I changed it about a half degree."
The problem plaguing the long stick is the same as the other clubs in the bag.
"Club's behind me, just like it was when I was working with Butch, just like it was when I was working with Hank. That's just my fault, and that's just one of the things that I tend to fall into." He added, "When a club gets out in front of me, I hit the ball pretty good, and I just need to get back to that."
Tiger Woods Building Oxygen Tent to Give Him Sexual Powers
by Ryan Ballengee on May 25, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
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This next one is one of the funniest Tiger stories in some time, but only if you connect the cultural dots. And, if you're like me and seen every single Simpsons episode on multiple instances, you already got it.
According to papers filed for Woods through his lawyer Christopher Hubman and acquired by TCPalm.com, Tiger Woods is planning to build an oxygen chamber in his Jupiter Island mansion still under construction.
(Tip: TCPalm.com went to the public records site for the state of Florida, typed in "Christopher Hubman," hit Search, and found some records explaining details about the home. Have a fax machine? You can get them sent to you for about $10. Also, apparently there is some kind of mortgage arrangement between Tiger's press secretary Glenn Greenspann and Woods' ETW Corp. Ta-da! Buried lede!)
The only reason that this story is funny is a pull from a classic Simpsons episode, "Homer Bad Man." Homer is accused by their babysitter of sexual harassment after pulling a gummy Venus De Milo off of her ass when he drops her off at her home. Rock Bottom, a TV newsmagazine with the same shoddy record as the likes of A Current Affair, deceive Homer is saying they want to do a story on his side of the story to help him. Turns out that through some very lousy video editing, Homer's story is twisted to make him seem like a total perv.
The next day, the local news has footage from a helicopter outside of Homer's shower and says, "Homer sleeps nude in an oxygen tent... which he believes gives him sexual powers!"
Homer - like Tiger would say - replies, "That's only a half-truth!"
Woods' oxygen chamber is likely to give him a place to continue hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which Woods says was part of his treatment with Dr. Anthony Galea - the now-indicted Canadian doctor that treated Woods to speed up his recovery from 2008 knee surgery.
Named Tiger and/or Woods? A Free Ticket Awaits You in North Carolina
by Ryan Ballengee on May 20, 2010 10:03 AM EDT
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Oh, minor league baseball. When will you ever cease to amaze me with your theme nights? Who could forget such classics like Nobody Night, countless cheap beer nights, and other middle-paragraph-of-a-round-up-story stunts?
The Class A Hickory Crawdads are trying to make their own foray into such nights with Tiger Woods Night this evening. Named Tiger? Or Woods? Or both? Then you, my friend, have a free ticket to tonight's ballgame. And this is no crap ticket, either. The Crawdads are in first place in their division and - AND - a guy dressed in a Tiger suit will throw out the first pitch. Also, there will be "on-field promotions based on Tiger's fall from grace," according to the team site.
And I cannot forget one crucial selling point. It's dollar beer night!
Woods' Doctor Anthony Galea Indicted by FBI
by Ryan Ballengee on May 18, 2010 1:16 PM EDT
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Dr. Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor that used his blood-spinning techniques to aid Tiger Woods in recovery from '08 knee surgery, has been indicted by the FBI for supplying three NFL players with HGH. The filing was made in federal court in Buffalo, NY, on Tuesday.
According to the court documents, charges against Galea include lying to federal officials, smuggling, unlawful distribution of HGH, introducing the unapproved drug actovegin into interstate commerce and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Actovegin injections are similar in many ways to blood spinning, but blood spinning is considered WADA compliant and legal. Woods has indicated that actovegin was not a part of his regimen with Galea. In an interview with Golf Channel, Woods' now former coach Hank Haney said that he never saw the injection of any performance-enhancing drugs in his time observing Woods and Galea together.
Tiger's Playing the Open Championship (Duh.)
by Ryan Ballengee on May 17, 2010 1:50 PM EDT
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Tiger Woods made it official today that he will play in this summer's Open Championship at the home of golf, St. Andrews. Woods has won both Opens he has played there (2000 & 2005). With that track record, his place in the field was automatic despite the clamoring of R&A head Peter Dawson in April.
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