Everyone's always saying the Tour is becoming a bomber's paradise, but there are two things I think have always gotten sort of left out in the discussion about him: he has the best short game on earth, and he's the best putter on earth.
If you think either is untrue, let me ask you this:
A) With your life on the line, if you had to pick one player to get up-and-down from anywhere within 70 yards of the cup, who would you pick?
B) If you had to pick any player on earth to drain a 25-footer to save your life, who would you pick?
I was thinking of Faxon, but he's not been in all the pressure situations that Tiger's been in so I opted out for him, same thoughts on Loren Roberts...
Hmmm...it's easy to say Phil since the announcers are always bragging on him, but he's had plenty of mistakes with getting greedy using his masterful short-game. I have an example of this that I always think of when the announcers talk about him. At the 2002 US Open, a tournament he finished 2nd to Tiger in, he started off kind of miserably hitting some errant tee shots (which was normal for him at the time), but he also had one terrible flop shot attempt when he had a ton of green to work with and could have easily gotten it up and down with a normal pitch. Anyway, he tries this weird flop shot and it literally goes 5 yards when he needed to go about 15 or 20 to get to the pin. It even came back a bit. If anyone has seen the highlights of this (2002 US Open) that the Golf Channel shows every once in a while, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was in his first round of the tournament. It helped take him out of it before he even really got "going" so to speak.
He made a valiant comeback on the weekend, but goofing off with flop shots like that whether it's in the first or final round isn't very smart at all. Having said this, if it came down to it I don't think I could pick between Tiger or Phil. Both are awesome with the short game (although I think Tiger has more long shots in his bag than anyone...2002 PGA 3-iron out of the bunker over the tree or 2003 Buick Invitational low hook with a 4-iron through the trees and getting both shots to stop within 15-20 feet are just a couple of obvious examples). Phil couldn't pull off shots like that. Plain and simple. Around the greens, however, I'd say they're about even so I really couldn't pick one. If you were to pose the question, "Who would you want from in the trees 150+ yards out needing a birdie to stay alive?" I would definitely say Tiger is #1 for sure in that category. If I had a clutch putt that needed to be sunk, at least among today's golfers, I'd probably take Tiger on that one. All-time I would have to take Jack.
Hmmm...it's easy to say Phil since the announcers are always bragging on him, but he's had plenty of mistakes with getting greedy using his masterful short-game. I have an example of this that I always think of when the announcers talk about him. At the 2002 US Open, a tournament he finished 2nd to Tiger in, he started off kind of miserably hitting some errant tee shots (which was normal for him at the time), but he also had one terrible flop shot attempt when he had a ton of green to work with and could have easily gotten it up and down with a normal pitch. Anyway, he tries this weird flop shot and it literally goes 5 yards when he needed to go about 15 or 20 to get to the pin. It even came back a bit. If anyone has seen the highlights of this (2002 US Open) that the Golf Channel shows every once in a while, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was in his first round of the tournament. It helped take him out of it before he even really got "going" so to speak.
He also hit that low runner from the rough to a green protected by water in the Ryder Cup last year. Remember that, paired with Tiger? Maybe he thought his new Callaway balls floated...
Did either of you guys ever see Phil flop the shot (with a full swing) over Dave Pelz on the practice green a few feet in front of him? Who has that skill?
Did either of you guys ever see Phil flop the shot (with a full swing) over Dave Pelz on the practice green a few feet in front of him? Who has that skill?
Yeah, I did. It's not a question of skill - Phil's got mad skills. It's a matter of performing under pressure. One guy's got 10 majors, one's got 2. One's got 20-something wins, one's got nearly 50.
If I had to pick a guy, from 40 yards out in the deep rough on the short side, to get up and down for my life, it's Tig, hands down.
I was thinking of Faxon, but he's not been in all the pressure situations that Tiger's been in so I opted out for him, same thoughts on Loren Roberts...
What pressure situation? He's putting for your life....not his!
November 18th, 2005, 02:48 PM
He's putting for your life....not his! 
Linear Mode
Similar Threads
