Even if he win 8 it's still not as dominant as Tiger's 1999. Tiger had a much better win % and won 2 WGCs. Vijay still has a chance at a WGC, next week in Ireland.
Well, any way you slice it, Vijay is still having a superb season. I find it very impressive that Vijay just keeps going out there, week-in-and-week-out, and getting the job done. He is just so committed to what he's doing.
Also nice to see Jonathan Byrd and Zach Johnson right up there. These guys are fresh, relatively new faces who should be around for many years to come.
Well, any way you slice it, Vijay is still having a superb season. I find it very impressive that Vijay just keeps going out there, week-in-and-week-out, and getting the job done. He is just so committed to what he's doing.
Also nice to see Jonathan Byrd and Zach Johnson right up there. These guys are fresh, relatively new faces who should be around for many years to come.
I still think this is the best we'll ever see from Vijay, He'll come back to earth with 2-3 victories next season and Tiger will be back with 5 wins and another POY.
No matter how you put it, Vijay's two year run (or more like 1 1/2 year run) is pretty spectacular. I don't think it stacks up to Tiger's 2000 accomplishments, mostly because of his dominance in the majors but this run is still amazing. I'm curious to see Vijay's tournament stats since the PGA Championship. It seems that he's won almost every tournament he's entered since then.
Now Vijay is within $9 million of Tiger. Maybe he can close the gap before retiring.
It'll take Vijay a few more seasons like this to catch Tiger for the Career Money list lead. A "slumping" Tiger Woods still has managed to win around $4.5 million this year. That might be around $5 million below Vijay for the year but it would take about two years of spectacular Vijay and two years of "slumping" Tiger at that rate
It would be great to see Vijay continue his level of play but I'm hoping Tiger ups his game, too. We'd see some great battles if that were the case.
We certainly could paul. The game needs some stirring rivalries now. For the past few years it was Tiger scorching everyone's rear, now Vijay has picked up where Tiger left off. Plus it seems like they are never both in contention, with the exception of the Deustche Bank Championship.
Rivalries in today's golf are a media creation. Everyone wants to see this big battle between the top guys every week and it isn't going to happen. The "big guns" rarely play the same tournaments, except for the Majors and the WGC events. Look at the Majors the last 3 years. Some big gun battles huh? Ernie and Phil at Augusta was great, but would you seriously consider that a rivalry? We all want Tiger, VJ, Phil, and Ernie to be in contention on the back nine on Sunday. Ain't gonna happen!
Golf rivalries are a thing of the past. The closest thing to a rivalry you're going to find in modern golf is the race between Tiger and VJ for the #1 ranking. How many events do they play together? (I could look it up, but you get the picture)
My theory on why the average golfer wants to buy into the rivalry thing is simple. We all have our own rivals. We all have someone we compete with on a regular basis that we love to beat, can't stand being beaten by, and consider them our own personal rival. I don't think it works that way on the PGA Tour. Sure, they all want to win, and they probably do get a sense of satisfaction when they beat the other top guys, but I don't think it's personal like it is with us. We want it to be personal between Tiger and VJ, or VJ and Ernie, or Phil and Tiger...but it's not. It's a business, it's their livelihood, but I don't see personal when I watch them play. Do you?
Rivals? I guess they all are, in a way, because they all play the same game. Rivals the way we want them to be? Not today, or anytime soon.
Great point leaguegolf, I'd tend to think of them as coworkers. Even the old rivalries back in the day between Nelson and Hogan, Palmer and Nicklaus, were generally friendly. The only true rivalry where they might truly dislike each other would be Sergio and Tiger if Sergio ever steps it up big time. I really don't think they like each other at all. I think Sergio loves to beat Tiger more than anything and Tiger gets irked at some of the antics Sergio pulls and some of the things he's said pertaining to Tiger, such as those at the 2002 US Open. But it's not like we'd see fistfights or anything out there!!
I'm not sure there's any love lost between Tiger and VJ either. Remember VJ's caddie's hat at the President's Cup..."Tiger Who?" You forgot to mention Sergio's gloating over beating Tiger at the "Battle of Big Horn" TV event a couple years ago.
Sergio is not in Tiger's league but I just know Tiger wants to step on his throat everytime they play. I know I would!
VJ, Ernie, Phil, Davis....they're all great players, but none of them is chasing history the way Tiger is. I think Tiger's biggest rival is still Jack, and that's another reason these other guys just don't measure up to "Rival Status."
September 25th, 2004, 07:04 PM
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