Date Written: August 17, 2009
So, what are we to think on this day after Tiger loses a Major with a lead?
Is Chicken Little right, "The Sky is Falling?"
From Wikipedia:
The Sky Is Falling, better known as Chicken Licken, Henny Penny or Chicken Little is an old fable about a chicken (or a hare in early versions) who believes the sky is falling. The phrase, "The sky is falling," has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.
I thought the Chicken Little metaphor apt because some are asking if Tiger is washed up? Has the order of the golfing universe turned on it's axis? Has the sky truly fallen?
OF COURSE NOT. According to me and the more literate, Brandal Chamblee of The Golf Channel, "Tiger just had a bad day." Angry John Hawkins switched gears nicely and said simply that, "Yang was suberb." Semi-shaven Frank Nobilo came to Yang's defense and said, "Y.E. is not the Jack Fleck of our time. He's a good player." (More on Jack Fleck later). Bow-tied Alex Miceli suggested, "Y.E. WON the PGA as much as Tiger LOST it. Sir Nick Faldo said it best midway through the last round, "Tiger's having a day like all of us have." The merry pranksters (the clown outfit of Feherty & McCord of CBS-TV fame) who have never known the concept of having an "internal editor," wondered aloud if Tiger was lacking an aggressive game plan. NO AGAIN!
Tiger, ever so gracious in defeat, said he hit the ball great all day and just didn't make any putts. "I had plenty of chances and didn't make a thing." 33 putts in the last round pretty much tells it all. I re-watched the telecast on Monday and as they say on Tour, he didn't make shit. It just shows to go that in this stupid game, as in life, anything can happen. As they say, (whoever they are), "You don't play golf on paper." Even Chicken Little might be right one day. And maybe a virtual unknown, in this case a pretty good "unknown" can de-claw a Tiger on any given day. As my young friend Mikey says, "That's golf!"
What happened was that someone...anyone by God...stood up and beat Tiger straight-up and gave him a dose of what he's been dishing out for years. "In this age of Tiger predictability, yesterday was interesting because it was so unpredictable," offered Tim Rosaforte. That "someone" who turned the order of the golf world upside-down, (up until yesterday), was a virtual unknown outside the golf-nut world. I follow this sport like a hawk and I didn't know until yesterday that Y.E. Yang was a three-time Q-school participant, an ex-weightlifter and an actual MALE South Korean. I do know that there's plenty of FEMALE Korean golfers. I see their names peppered in print at the top of the ladies leaderboard, every week.
O.K., O.K., Yang did win The Honda earlier this year but he's not exactly a household name. We are told that the Yangster didn't take the game up until he was nineteen. Tiger started at age two. Now that he's 37 and he's climbed one of the highest mountains in the Golf Kingdom, it would be very dramatic if he should retire. Can you imagine the public response? He's won a Major against the most famous golfer of all time. How's be gonna top that?
Most golf nuts including Tiger thought that the other weightlifting Korean, K.J. Choi, would be the first Asian to hoist a Major trophy. Digressing a bit, what is it with this weightlifting thing? When did time-in-grade in a smelly old gym become a training ground for success on a professional golf tour? Conventional Western wisdom has always suggested that hand-eye games like baseball and hockey were the cauldrons that produced good golfers. I guess I better re-think my stretching routine and start pumping some serious iron. Now where did I put those foam-covered, three pound dumbells? Mr. Yang even "one-upped" Tiger's obnoxious fist-pumping, I-told-you-so routine by bench pressing his golf bag three times in victory. What's next, unzipping your pants and showing your "stuff?"
What was shocking about Yang's emergence was that he wasn't named Els or Singh...Mickelson or Furyk...or Stenson, Paddy or Geoff. Just last year, Tiger spotted "Everyman" Rocco one leg and won the US Open. Now this medium-sized (5'9", 195 lbs), happy-go-lucky, Asian hero-to-be becomes the answer to a new Trivial Pursuit question: "Who was the first golfer to beat Tiger Woods when he was leading or tied for the lead in a Major?" Shades of Jack Fleck? (For those lucky to be born in the 60's, Jack Fleck was the virtual unknown who won the 1955 U.S. Open in an 18-hole playoff by three strokes over his idol, the legendary Ben Hogan, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.)
Other news of note from the last Major of '09:
The best of the "Wunderkids", Rory McIlroy, finished off a solid year in the Majors ending with a T-3.
Lee Westwood just missed the playoff at The British by one shot. Yesterday he finished T-3.
Lucas Glover backed up his win at the U.S. Open with a nice 5th place finish.
In the spirit of everyone loving a train wreck, I'm sure you all saw the TV show called "Paddy's Weekly Snowman." His "quint" on the par three eighth was a doozy. I loved Paddy's response: "These things happen," said Harrington, managing a smile. "In the course of your career, you're going to mess up sometimes, as I did." Yesterday's blow-up hole reminded us of his triple on the par 5 16th the week before at The WGC/Bridgestone which handed Tiger his 70th PGA tournament win. From the LA Times:
Harrington was six under par when he stepped to the eighth tee, alone in third place. With 167 yards into a strong breeze, he chose a knock-down six-iron, but it landed in the pond, short and right of the green. "If I fly it five more yards, I'm on," Harrington said. He took a drop and hooked his third shot so badly, he nearly beaned playing partner Henrik Stenson, standing near bunkers to the left of the green. Harrington then caught a pitch flush, sending his fourth shot into the water. His sixth shot landed shy of the green. Finally he got up and down for eight, effectively ending his day. He fell to a tie for 11th, dropping five shots. "I've hit plenty of great pitches," he said. "That's the strongest part of my game. I've had plenty where I got up and down to win tournaments, so I'm not going to mull over [this]." A good attitude, but not enough to avoid a bogey here.
Five SV Pool players hit the double-money jackpot with Tiger's second place dough. Glenn Marzion and Charlie Tuna were among the five betting on Tiger but made the most of it with quantum leaps into the two top spots. Longtime Pool leader, Bill Sundali, is now looking up...just a few bucks behind in third. It's going to be a dogfight over the last five events which count for our money title. No-Shows now for the leaders are a definite no-no. The Wyndham in Greensboro, NC is up next. Nine of us made the lazy choice to bet that NC State grad, Carl Petterson, will repeat.
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