Kenny Perry's misplay at the Masters? Sad, but not much of a stretch for the career journeyman (4 top ten finishes in 20+ years of majors)...
David Duval and Phil Mickelson's close but no cigar performances at the U.S. Open? Given their near miss careers--it was as much a given as the group Big Country singing "In a Big Country" in concert...
Tom Watson's collapse after leading the British Open for 71 holes? The 59-year old stopped winning majors and tournaments in general back in his mid-30's because of a faulty putter-- and it was only fitting his flat stick came back to haunt the Hall of Famer one final time.
But Tiger? Tiger? Woods was supposed to be immune to golf's whimsical fortune...turning a contender into a pretender and back again depending on a slice, hook, sandtrap or pond. In his career after leading for 54 holes, the game's #1 player locked up the trophy with Mariano Rivera-type precision. Death, taxes and Woods winning with a fourth round lead.
Give credit to Y.E. Yang for not backing away--and attacking the course without getting intimidated by Woods...more often than not Tiger's playing partner implodes in some manner- and the world was waiting for the other shoe to drop...
But Yang did not falter. Eight straight pars in marked the middle of his round-- the time when Tiger's opponents press, falter or make the fatal mistake...and the South Korean made the shot of the day on 14--eagling a the par 4 and turning Tiger from leader to chaser. If this had happened earlier in the round Woods may have been able to ramp things up...but he wound up bogeying the last two holes to finish a runnerup for the sixth time in his career.
It was probably only a matter of time--some will say. Others will point to the law of averages--even the best golfer of his generation can't be perfect forever. Looking back at Tiger's career, there were five Majors he could have lost but came through in the clutch:
He's won three playoffs--the 2001 PGA against Bob May, the 2005 Masters against Chris Dimarco and the 2008 US Open against Rocco Mediate. In a one-hole (M), three-hole (P) or eighteen-hole (U) playoff there's always a little bit of a chance for disaster-- and Tiger was able to come through each time. Two more instances had Woods tied for the lead entering the final 18--and he outpaced Retief Goosen at the 2002 Masters and pushed past Shawn Micheel at the 2006 PGA. Out of those five instances, Goosen is the only one with what would be called a stellar career. You put him against Els or Singh...and maybe he loses one of those.
In Woods' career he's had two distinct eras of dominance: 1997 to 2002 (8 majors) and 2004 to 08 (6)...just like Jack Nicklaus. I fully expect Tiger to have one final dominant stretch-- just like Jack. It's only a matter of when.
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