Lesson On Golf Blog: The Tiger 44
By: Jeff Lesson
Prior to The Memorial, Tiger Woods had won 26% of his starts in PGA Tour sanctioned tournaments. He had already won four events this year- the earliest he had ever done so- and was far and away the number one ranked golfer in the world.
Some were even calling his game the best it has ever been.
Then came his outgoing nine on Saturday at The Memorial. It wasn't so much the triple bogey and the fact he shot a 44- his worst nine holes as a professional- enroute to his second worse tournament score as a professional. A bad round can happen at any time, even if Woods performed more like a weekend hack than the top golfer in the world.
The bigger concern is this round happened on the eve of The U.S. Open which starts a week from Thursday. With Woods already somewhat fragile confidence at the Majors (the result of not winning one in five years), one has to wonder how this will impact his play at Merion next week.
Any way you slice it, I cannot see how this will be positive.
A U.S.Open course requires the most precise ball striking of the year with its notoriously narrow fairways placing an emphasis on ball striking. " Precise" was the last way you would describe Woods ball striking at The Memorial-especially on his approach shots- witness two triple bogeys.
It will be more than a little interesting to see how Tiger responds. Not just when he sees Sergio Garcia for the first time since Sergio's ill fated remarks a couple of weeks ago, but on the golf course as well.
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