***Official PGA Championship Thread***

[tuq]

shemp,

1999 and 2000 were totally different birds. In the former you had a largely unproven Tiger, in the latter you had a guy who had won the previous two majors. It was interesting to an observer that BOB MAY should prove to be his foil in the PGA, but that didn't make it any less interesting. Tiger had to earn that title, whereas some of his other majors have been handed to him. It was a great day for golf.

[shemp]

[ QUOTE ]
It was interesting to an observer that BOB MAY should prove to be his foil in the PGA, but that didn't make it any less interesting.

[/ QUOTE ]

How true that is.

[HDPM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"once Bob May surrendered the lead on the back nine, Tiger was done playing catch-up."

I'm sure you remember that Tiger led Medinah pretty much wire-to-wire -- not disputing the point it was exhausting battle/good theatre.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have no idea what you're looking for from me here. I don't recall the 1999 PGA probably b/c it wasn't that memorable. That said, it did come down to the last putt. And that's the complaint most contemporaries have had w/r/t Tiger - people get out of his way. Annoying. To date, only a 19 (?) YO Sergio Garcia and a journeyman (Bob May) have deigned to step up to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Rich Beem played pretty well down the stretch of a PGA where Tiger made a million birdies coming in. DiMarco didn't exactly fold. In other majors nobody was close enough to either get into or out of his way, a la 2000 US Open. Can't criticize Tiger for utterly demolishing the course and the competition.

[HDPM]

Hogan had some comments along these lines. He was a good putter before the accident BTW, and obviously still had his moments afterwards. His eyesight after the accident hurt his putting and he would get mad at people like Casper. Other comments I hear sometimes seem to imply that the winner should just be judged on GIR and distance from the hole. Forget getting it in there. I just think golf is a good sport in that different players can go about getting the ball in the hole different ways. It adds to the game and I don't like things that tend to skew the balance in the game, whether it is the hot equipment or ridiculous course set ups or whatever.

[Boris]

Shemp - I support eliminating putting. It is so freakin boring to practice.

[BadBoyBenny]

[ QUOTE ]
To date, only a 19 (?) YO Sergio Garcia and a journeyman (Bob May) have deigned to step up to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris Dimarco says hi. If not for that ridiculous chip on 16 he would have taken Tiger down at Augusta.

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
To date, only a 19 (?) YO Sergio Garcia and a journeyman (Bob May) have deigned to step up to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris Dimarco says hi. If not for that ridiculous chip on 16 he would have taken Tiger down at Augusta.

[/ QUOTE ]
Beem and DiMarco are interesting names to bring up, but neither fit the criteria of coming back against Tiger. DiMarco did a GREAT job of sticking around while Tiger gave himself enough rope to get hung with bogeys on 17 and 18, and Beem simply clung to his slim lead.

From a pure WTF standpoint, May takes the cake, seeing as nobody had ever heard of him (and nobody has since for that matter) and he managed to force a playoff in a memorable way.

[thedarknight]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
To date, only a 19 (?) YO Sergio Garcia and a journeyman (Bob May) have deigned to step up to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris Dimarco says hi. If not for that ridiculous chip on 16 he would have taken Tiger down at Augusta.

[/ QUOTE ]

WOw...great analysis

[thedarknight]

The Tournament hasn't even started, and everyone is thinking Tiger has clinched this. Let's see after round 2, then we'll start making some conclusions. Tho Tiger won there 7 years ago, I don't think the course exactly shapes up for him nicely. He can't just sting off 2 irons on this long course. Will he be able to put the driver in the fairway?

[HDPM]

Anybody notice this, I think Tiger may have changed his driver shaft. I saw a clip on the golf channel of him playing a prctice round at Medinah and he had a steel shaft in his driver. I may have remembered incorrectly, but I thought he went to graphite finally in 2005. He had that new 3 wood at Doral then went back to steel in that. Might be that Tiger is going for a little more control with the driver. Even though the course is long though, he won't have to hit 12 drivers a round. I would expect to see 5 or 6 a round. He will have to control it a bit though. The thing is, the course is said to favor a draw. Tiger tends to play a higher spin ball than most out there and obviously has more ability to make shots than others. So with a more controllable driver and a draw, which he likes, he may hit more fairways that some may expect.