It is hard enough winning one tournament on the PGA Tour, let alone two in a row. So, is winning a week before a Major a blessing or a curse?
How many times have we held up a pre-Major winner as one of the favourites only to see him fail to make the cut.
Then again, there is Tiger Woods, who cruised to an impressive victory at the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, Ohio.
His five-under-par 65 in the final round silenced Sabbatini, who Woods also beat in Wachovia earlier this year, after which the South African said the world number one looked as “beatable as everâ€.
Woods finished at eight under 272 for an eight-stroke victory, with Sabbatini and England’s Justin Rose finishing tied for second at 280.
Tiger brushed off Sabbatini’s challenge both on the golf course as well as in his words. He was quoted in an AP story as saying:
“Everyone knows how Rory is, and I just go out there and just let my clubs do the talking. I won both tournaments.â€
It was Woods’ third Bridgestone title in a row and sixth overall. He goes into this week’s final Major of the season, the PGA Championship, as overwhelming favourite, which is a bit of a redundant statement given the fact that he’s a favourite to win any tournament he plays in.
But it all points to Tiger at Southern Hills this week, not only because of his victory at Firestone but also because he doesn’t want to go a season without at least one Major title.
Woods failed at the US Masters, US Open and British Open this year and would be eager to close out the Major season with number 13 and bring him closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18. Woods said:
“The whole idea was obviously to win this event but to be playing well going into next week. I feel I made some nice strides this week, and I feel very good going into next week.â€
While Woods goes for yet another Major title, Mexican Lorena Ochoa celebrated her first when he won the Women’s British Open at St Andrews, the first time the Home of Golf opened its fairways to professional female golfers.
She closed with a one-over-par 74 to finish at five-under for the tournament, beating Lee Jee-yong and Maria Hjorth by four strokes.
Her victory also hit home in Mexico, with the country’s president Felipe Calderon offering his personal congratulations and hailing Ochoa as a role model for Mexican youth.
It was her fourth victory of the season and 13th on the LPGA Tour and silenced the critics who said she would never win a Major title. She said in an AP article:
“This is my fifth year on the tour and my first time ranked number one in the world. And there were a lot of people saying that I wasn’t good enough or that I couldn’t win a Major or when am I going to win a Major. And I have always taken all the comments and understood very well because I didn’t win. I think that now it’s a big step forward. I did it and there’s no more to say.â€
Yes, we are seeing history being made….
Tiger Woods is now showing all the rest just how big the gap is between him and them…
Perhaps it is a good job that he still keeps driving into the trees, God only knows what his scoring would be like if he consistently hit it 320 along the fairway, instead of having to make all those miraculous escape shots from the trees and long rough !
Sometimes, I have to admit to a slight amount of Boredom when watching the very best players in all the top sports, including Snooker, Pool and Darts. They just ‘do it’ But not with our hero….How does he do it ? week after week, crushing the other top players.
It does not matter what game the others play; Bomb and Gouge, Delicate and Accurate up-the-middle stuff….Just very glad that occasionally he lets them get away to a good start, usually leaving himself too much to do to catch up. Otherwise he would win every comp that he enters….and that would be boring, very boring.
I suppose that one day Rory’s words may come true, but I just cannot see it yet.
I hope that the technically minded coaches are working out how Tiger can manage to hit a 9 iron 200 yards or a 2 iron 280 yards.. I also hope that he does not hit himself into Ruptured Vertebral Disc problems. Someone close to him should be telling him not to do these things, just to prevent injury ( also to prevent the others from biting their lips ! )