I never quite thought of Tiger's chase towards Jack's record like this. A guy on MSNBC.com has an interesting article where he points out that Tiger is 11 for 39 in the majors as a pro. He refers to it as a batting average of .282. He says that for hypothetical's sake, let's say Tiger "only" bats .235 over the next 17 majors. He'd win 4 in that stretch. He points out that Tiger would be at 15 majors and only 34 years old and hitting the prime years for a golfer. I guess I never really realized how fast he really is moving up on Jack. Pretty crazy to think that he might be less than 5 away from owning the record and less than 35 years of age.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here's the article:
Tiger is certainly back on track to surpass Jack's record but past performance is no guarantee of future success.
Of course it isn't, but I personally think this week will finally convince him that he doesn't need to worry about trying to keep up with the other bombers on Tour and maybe he'll start playing more "thinking man's golf" like he did in 1999/2000. I'm not saying he'll be winning tournaments by ridiculous margins, but I am saying that if he stays away from the driver more often than he has the last 3 or 4 years, he stands a good chance to win majors at a similar pace to his past performance.
I think Tiger is going to play the game the way Tiger wants to. Not the way his fans think he should. Today's courses are set-up to bomb it and wedge it and 200 yard approaches aren't going to win Tiger many events outside of the Open.
Tiger may hit less drivers in the future but I think it's more likely that he will find a way to hit more fairways with his driver before he resorts to leaving it in his bag.
It ain't just the fans that want him to do it or think he should do it. Azinger said the exact same thing today, and Andy North made a GREAT point that Tiger even in his prime during 2000 would spray some drives around the course, but the difference now is he has been hitting MORE drivers per round than he did back then. He would pick his spots more often rather than just trying to bomb it on every hole.
take Fred Funk for instance, very accurate with the driver, but the lack of distance really hurts him at times. hitting 6 irons into greens that many players are using pitching wedge, puts him at a significant disadvantage.
take Fred Funk for instance, very accurate with the driver, but the lack of distance really hurts him at times. hitting 6 irons into greens that many players are using pitching wedge, puts him at a significant disadvantage.
Tiger has the ability to hit the ball a lot higher than Funk (a medium to low ball hitter) and he gets a lot more spin on it.
Ah, but don't you mean if he gets there really early (like let's say age 38 or earlier)? Cuz he could get there, but then stay there, by winning one at a late age like Jack did. Lots of if's still have to be played out. But I completely agree with you that I don't even have confidence in him getting to 18. If he does it, I'll be very pleased but I won't be shocked at all if he stops around 14 or 15. Ya just never know with golf. It's so fickle.
Interesting article, but simply speculation, I suppose. He could go 0'fer his next 10 again or win the next 5. Either way, it should be great to watch for the next 10 years or so as Tiger chases Jack.
July 23rd, 2006, 11:12 PM
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