Golf-Tiger still in the Woods as Open challenge fizzles out

Golf-Tiger still in the Woods as Open challenge fizzles out

Like
Dislike







July 21, 2013 3:23 PM


By Martyn Herman

GULLANE, Scotland, July 21 (Reuters) - Tiger Woodsresorted to technical jargon and gripes about slow greens as his long major drought continued on Sunday with a disappointing final round at the British Open.

The American, who has been stuck on 14 majors for five years, never looked like restarting his collection at Muirfield despite beginning the fourth round just two shots off the pace.

Woods has never won a major when starting from behind in the fourth round and from the moment he bogeyed the first at Muirfield on Sunday that sequence was destined to continue.

Despite climbing back to the top of the world rankings after his career was blighted by knee injuries and a messy divorce, Woods seems a mere mortal these days when it comes to the majors.

Gone are the days when he would lead from the front and gring his rivals into submission.

Quite what his inner thoughts are, however, no one knows because the 37-year-old American prefers to talk about club selection and wind speeds.

He offered these thoughts to one question about yardages after finishing tied sixth on Sunday, meat and drink to a player seemingly reluctant to talk about raw emotions.

"I'm very surprised. Because I had 48 front yesterday on 15 and I hit sand wedge about 40 feet past the hole, went about a buck 70," he said.

"Today I had 51 front, it was actually more downwind today at one. And I hit sand wedge and it stopped, just like it did at 15 today.

"We hit two good shots in there and they both stopped. It was a very different golf course today."

HARD TIME

Woods said he thought he had played well throughout the week but said putting was difficult especially as the greens at the weekend had slowed down considerably from the lightning fast speeds seen on Thursday and Friday.


"I had a hard time adjusting to the speeds. They were much slower today, much softer," he said.

"I don't think I got too many putts to the hole today. I really had a hard time and left myself a couple of long lag putts early on when it was really blowing and left them way short and didn't make those putts.

"Hit a couple of bad shots at 10 and 11 and that was about it and at three. But other than that I really hit the ball well. Just couldn't ever get the pace of these things."

Woods said he was not the only one who thought the conditions had changed drastically over the four days.

"A couple of the guys were mumbling to their caddies and saying some things," he said. "You could see it. I saw a few tossed clubs here and there as the balls were checking up."

Woods said he wasn't surprised fellow American Phil Mickelson took the title with a sparkling 66.

"It's certainly gettable out there. The greens are slower and if you have, I guess, the feel to hit it far enough up there into the greens you can get it done," he said.

"I think if it does feel any better, it's that Phil got to three (under-par). If he would have posted one it would have been a different story.

"I think a lot of us would be a little more ticked than we are now. But he posted three. That's a hell of a number."

Woods managed only three birdies on Sunday, compared to six bogeys, but refused to be down-hearted at fizzling out in another major despite being in contention.

"I've won 14 and in that spell where I haven't won since Torrey (Pines), I've been in there. It's not like I've lost my card and not playing out here," he said.

"I've been in probably about half the majors on the back nine on Sunday with a chance to win during that stretch. I just haven't done it yet. And hopefully it will be in a few weeks."

Woods's next attempt will be at the U.S. PGA Championship at Oak Hill in New York next month. (Editing by Tony Jimenez)

Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/

Golf-Mickelson savours journey from agony to ecstasy

Golf-Mickelson savours journey from agony to ecstasy

Like
Dislike







July 21, 2013 3:28 PM


(Adds details, quotes)

By Ed Osmond

GULLANE, Scotland, July 21 (Reuters) - Phil Mickelson reflected on the emotional roller-coaster of the last few weeks after timing his run to perfection to scatter the field and win his first British Open on Sunday.

Under the radar most of the week, the 43-year-old American shot a brilliant 66 at Muirfield to secure an emotional victory just over a month after finishing runner-up at the U.S. Open for the sixth time.

"It's a huge difference in emotions as you can imagine," he told a news conference.

"Being so down after the U.S. Open, to come back and use it as motivation, to use it as a springboard, it really feels amazing. It's a day that I'll always cherish, always remember."

Mickelson has learned the importance of being resilient as a golfer - a useful attribute around a concrete-hard links course like Muirfield this week.

"After losing the U.S. Open, it could have easily gone south, where I was so deflated I had a hard time coming back," he said.

"But I looked at it and thought I was playing really good golf. I had been playing some of the best in my career. I worked a little bit harder and in a matter of a month I'm able to change entirely the way I feel."

The big left-hander did not make a concerted effort to spark himself into life.


"The wow factor just kind of happened," Mickelson, who warmed up by winning the Scottish Open last week, told a news conference. "It wasn't like I was setting out thinking, I need to make birdies or I was trying to force birdies. I was just trying to hit good shots. And I made a bunch of putts today."

Mickelson, who started the day on two over, birdied the fifth, ninth, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes and had just one bogey on his card at the 10th.

He holed a 10-footer on the final green to make virtually certain of victory even though several players were still out on the course and he raised his arms in the air before hugging his long-serving caddie Jim 'Bones' Mackay.

"We did a good job together," Mickelson said. "Bones was exceptional. This is a really special time and as fulfilling a career accomplishment as I could ever imagine."

Mickelson British Open triumph came at the 20th attempt having earlier in his career struggled on links courses.

"It's been the last eight or nine years I've started playing it (links golf) more effectively," he said.

"I've started to hit the shots more effectively. But even then it's so different than what I grew up playing. I always wondered if I would develop the skills needed to win this championship."

He will now try to complete his set of majors by finally ending his U.S. Open jinx.

"I think that if I'm able to win the U.S. Open and complete the career grand slam, I think that that's the sign of the complete great player," he said.

"I think there's five players that have done that (won all four). And those five players are the greats of the game. You look at them in a different light. I'm very hopeful that I will the U.S. Open." (Editing by Martyn Herman)

Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/

Tiger Woods' legend continues to fade

Tiger Woods' legend continues to fade

Like
Dislike







Pat Forde July 21, 2013 4:01 PMYahoo Sports





Tiger Woods shot a final-round 74 to finish five shots off the lead. (Getty Images)GULLANE, Scotland – They gave Tiger Woods a standing ovation as he walked down the 18th fairway Sunday, because that's what the golf fans do here.



They honor their legends.

Even the fading ones.

Woods' final walk at Muirfield was just a walk. Not a coronation, not a victory lap. He lifted his cap to acknowledge the applause, but nothing was at stake. The British Open was over – Phil Mickelson was already in the clubhouse with an insurmountable lead after a brilliant closing 66.

On the holes leading toward the finish, the gallery following Woods and Adam Scott had steadily dwindled, taking the noise and enthusiasm with them. Most fans had followed the roars up ahead, flocking to Mickelson. Woods plodded forward under the leaden sky with his hands shoved in his pockets, cold wind whipping his black trousers, with the remaining fans watching him seeming almost melancholy.

Woods was playing out the final strokes of a dispiriting 74 – a frustration-filled round that took him out of contention for his 15th major championship and extended his streak to 17 straight majors he's played in without winning.

There was no Sunday magic. Again.

And as another major slid by with someone else's hands on the hardware, the window of opportunity to win five more majors and surpass Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 closes another crack. There is still time – especially over here, where Mickelson became the third straight Open champion in his 40s – but one more chance has come and gone.

In what has become a familiar media dance during The Great Five-Year Drought, Tiger stubbornly tried to minimize the big picture. He wanted to talk about the difficulty getting a handle on the changing speeds of the greens, not on another in a series of lackluster weekend rounds in a major. He insisted that his game is in good shape, while never addressing how much more fallible his game has become.

"I'm very pleased with the way I'm playing, there's no doubt," he said.

But really, there has to be doubt. Plenty of doubt.

He may be too proud to admit it publicly. But he's too smart not to feel it gnawing at his uber-competitive insides.

Tiger Woods didn't become an international sensation with plucky iron play that merely kept him in the mix to win the big tournaments. Tiger Woods didn't become the richest athlete in the world by hoping he could luck into an occasional long putt. Tiger Woods didn't set his sights on becoming the G.O.A.T. of golf by hanging around on the leaderboard and hoping everyone else blew it.

He knows all that.




Tiger Woods shakes hands with former caddie Steve Williams. (Getty Images)He can still play well – well enough to win PGA Tour events and well enough to contend in the majors. But can he still play well enough to win those majors? Can he still seize the big opportunities, master the pressure moments, make the clutch shots when he has to?



"I've won 14, and in that spell where I haven't won since Torrey [Pines], I've been in there," Woods said. "It's not like I've lost my card and I'm not playing out here. So I've won some tournaments in that stretch and I've been in probably about half the majors on the back nine on Sunday with a chance to win during that stretch. I just haven't done it yet."

Actually, whatever chance Woods had to win on the back nine Sunday was fleeting and far-fetched. He was never closer than two shots to the lead, and even then only briefly. Five bogeys in the first 11 holes – some attributable to bad putting, some to bad iron play, some to awful drives – marginalized his chances.

Which should make this major all the more frustrating. Because in the five years since winning the U.S. Open on one leg, this was Tiger's best chance to end the streak.

He'd played steady golf on a course that was destroying ordinary golfers, executing a conservative gameplan and avoiding major disasters. While others were blowing up, he hit fairways with irons off the tee, then hit greens in regulation, then dropped in the occasional putt. Even after a pedestrian Saturday round left him 1-under par and two shots off the lead, Woods was a popular pick to overhaul fragile leader Lee Westwood and win the thing with just one more solid round.

"I always feel good about his chances," said caddie Joe LaCava. "I thought 1-under was the number. I didn't see anybody getting lower."

Mickelson got two strokes lower, as it turned out. ("Pretty salty," was LaCava's description of that 66.) That at least allowed all the guys who moved backward – the final three pairings of Woods, Scott, Westwood, Hunter Mahan, Angel Cabrera and Ryan Moore combined to shoot 23-over – to feel a little better.

"If he would have posted 1 [under], it would have been a different story," Woods said. "I think a lot of us would have been a little more ticked than we are now. But he posted a 3. That's a hell of a number."

The dazzling low numbers used to be posted by Tiger in the big tourneys, while Phil was the guy who often came up short on Sunday. But those days continue to recede into the distance.

If there was something gained by Woods on Sunday, it was the apparent healing words exchanged with former caddie Steve Williams. The former friends were in the same pairing, since Williams is Scott's caddie, and according to LaCava the two had a conversation on the eighth fairway during the round. Then when the round was over, Williams spoke to Woods while clasping his hand, then patted his shoulder.

"Life's too short, right?" LaCava said. "I'm glad Stevie's making the effort, and Tiger's accepting the effort."

But the look on Lindsey Vonn's face when her boyfriend walked off the course made clear that the pain of this defeat was palpable. Fred Couples' girlfriend, Nadine Moze, reflexively gave Vonn a hug.

When the champion skier caught up with Tiger after his post-round interview, the exchange was brief: a quick kiss and a half-hug. Then they were escorted to a waiting Mercedes-Benz courtesy vehicle, climbing in the backseats. After LaCava put Woods' golf bag in the trunk, they were driven off the premises.

They left behind a celebration – Mickelson cavorting around the 18th green with the claret jug, flashing his goofy smile for everyone who wanted to take a picture.

The celebrations always belong to someone else these days. Tiger Woods is always the one leaving early and moving on, hoping the next major will be the one where he reconnects with his glorious past.

Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/