I grew up being a Texas Longhorn football fan from a young age (probably about age 9-10 when I moved to Austin). One of my first memories of Texas football was attending a freezing Cotton Bowl in Dallas (1982, I think) where Texas beat Alabama, using some sort of draw play to get the winning TD. I recall crying because my grandfather, who has since passed away, was talking some smack with me while Alabama was ahead because he was a Crimson Tide fan. There would be many more seasons of crying left to come!
However, I think it is possible that I have become an even bigger fan of Tiger Woods than of the Longhorns. Maybe it's just because the number of astonishing, jaw-dropping, jump-off-of-my-couch moments that Tiger has produced greatly outnumbers the number of moments Texas football has produced in my approximately 28 years of being a sports fan. But I think it's more than that. With Texas football, one of the only times I really had that transcendent moment was when Vince Young scored the game-winning TD on 4th and 7 in the Jan '06 Rose Bowl. But Tiger creates moments like that for me seemingly 1-2 times a year.
In 2005, I recall yelling (scaring my wife who was working in our office) when Tiger chipped in on 16 at Augusta at the Masters, probably the greatest single golf shot I have ever seen. It has been a while since Tiger had done anything quite that dramatic, but this season the excitement ramped back up significantly.
Before the US Open, my favorite moment of the season was Tiger’s 25-ft birdie putt to beat Bart Bryant by 1 at Bay Hill. Tiger just hit 3 perfect shots on that difficult par 4, finishing with this very difficult, huge-breaking putt that no one had made all day. (Side note: I really want to know how Tiger / Stevie often READ those putts better than anyone else in those pressure situations, much less execute the putting stroke). He slammed his hat to the ground and did a two-arm / chest flexing yell.
But that was nothing compared to the US Open. Most of the tournament, I had been frustrated because Tiger wasn’t playing that well. We didn’t know that he had a torn ACL and stress fractures at the time. But I was watching the 3rd round on Saturday upstairs in my bedroom (because my kids were hogging the big high-def TV in the living room to watch Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Veggie Tales, or something like that). On the 13th hole, a par 5, Tiger hit a long drive but right into the rough. He got lucky and caught a good lie, and had a shot (albeit a difficult one) at the green in 2.
As a side note, I really like Johnny Miller’s commentary, and he has occasionally been prophetic when it comes to Tiger. Back in his second US Amateur win, Tiger was tied (in match play) with Buddy Marucci on the last hole. Buddy hit a decent shot to the green, and it was Tiger’s turn to hit. Johnny said, “I bet he knocks it a foot from the hole”. Tiger hit an 8 iron right over the flag that spun back to 18 inches. When Buddy missed his birdie putt, Tiger had his 2nd US Amateur in a row.
Johnny had another prophetic moment here. He said right before Tiger hit, “You know, if Tiger makes eagle here, it could totally change the whole complexion of this tournament”. Well, Tiger hit a beautiful long iron to the back of the green, then drained an impossibly long 60-ft bomb for eagle. There were many more awesome moments after that (the chip-in on 17, another eagle on 18, the must-have birdie to tie Rocco on 18 Sunday and resultant primal scream, another must-have birdie to tie on 18 on the Monday playoff), but that first eagle that really got him back in the tournament was probably my favorite moment this year.
The British Open was great this year, with Norman turning back the clock and Harrington hitting that clutch 5 wood Sunday on the 17th, but it’s just another level when it’s Tiger doing his thing. Get well soon, Tiger!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment