Monday, June 16, 2008

Tiger Woods is good at golf

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal.

That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

That Tiger Woods is just that much better than any athlete in the world.

I'll admit, I don't watch golf much, but today's US Open playoff had me entranced.

Call it David and Goliath if you want. People had heard of David before and Goliath battled on two good knees. This was like Mike Tyson in his prime taking on Joe from your local gym. Jay-Z versus a one-hit underground wonder. Not to take anything away from Rocco Mediate, who has to have some sort of talent to be on the Tour as long as he has, but Tiger with two bad knees would normally putt circles around him.

In the end, that's what it came down to. Well, that and an ill-timed bunker shot in sudden death. Blur your eyes for a moment, and Mediate and Woods looked alike early on. Mediate was wearing black pants and a red polo, a Woods staple when he goes in for the kill. In the end, Mediate was nothing more than a sheep in wolf's clothing. Tiger was hungry, eating up clutch putts like endorsement deals. Mediate, with putter in hand, looked like a guy trying to tap one in under the windmill.

If he could've sunk even one of those necessary putts on Sunday, there's no playoff. With Tiger, there's seldom an "if." It's "when."

Sure, Mediate had his moments. The near-hole-in-one on 3 and the long putt he sank on the 15th hole to give him the lead. But no athlete in the world can turn it on like Tiger when it counts. Not Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez or Roger Federer — the alphas in their respective sports.

What made this playoff so special was that the shock wasn't that Mediate had pushed Tiger to it, it was that anyone did. Imagine going to a game and being shocked when A-Rod didn't hit a home run, or seeing Kobe not drop 50. Tiger, on one good knee, came back and whipped the USGA's best with two.

1 comment:

KleoPatra said...

Well done, Justin! That's a great read there.

Was really hoping Rocco would come through. Winning one for the 40 and over crowd. One day you'll understand!

But he still made out pretty good financially, Mr. Mediate did. And imagine the ads he might get to do now... Viagra, Depends, Efferdent, Lipitor, Geritol...