Sunday, June 7, 2009

Roar of the Eldrick

It’s safe to say that Tiger Woods is ready for Bethpage Black where in two weeks he will be defending his U.S. Open title. Woods roared back to shoot 7-under 65 in the final round on Sunday to defeat good buddy Jim Furyk by one stroke at Muirfield Village. Most impressively was that for the first time in more than 5 years, Tiger didn’t miss a fairway in an entire round. Amazingly, he only missed 5 fairways the whole tournament. I even noticed the precision in every tee shot. Even the joe casual of golf would have noticed that something special was happening during Tiger’s final round this afternoon. I’ve been a fan of Tiger since the ’97 Masters so it’s nothing new to feel a sense of confidence in the fact that when the red Nike polo comes out on Sunday, it’s EA Sports time. As in call Kyra Sedgwick or Trevor Hoffman, because it’s time for the closer. His final round was eerily similar to that of a video game. Perfect on the fairways, outstanding iron play, chip-ins from the rough, and closing it out with birdies on 17 & 18 to win. There is no prevent, play not to lose mentality with Tiger. Similar to Kobe Bryant, Woods goes for your throat. The performance that I witnessed on Sunday was reminiscent of many a Sunday I spent in college playing his video game. Only with all the attributes at 99, or “juice monkey status” as my friends eloquently coined it.

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