Normally, I don’t have the time to watch the early rounds of the Majors due to work requirements. However, I was able to have the First Round Coverage in the background yesterday, and was glad I didn’t miss it. Although I haven’t seen any of Day Two yet, plenty of interesting tidbits so far…
Scrambler Instruction Manual – During our visit to Kaluhyat earlier this year, I managed to card an Eagle and Birdie in the first 6 holes, before the reality of my Golf Game set in. I don’t know how Tiger found a copy of it, but based on yesterday, he must have read my instructional piece entitled “How to Go From -3 to +7 in Only Two Hours.”
If Looks Could Kill – As if Tiger wasn’t steaming enough about his reversal of fortunes, there was a montage of around 6 or 7 Steve Williams-related questions posed to Tiger. He gave the stock non-answers we’re accustomed to hearing, but the look on his face screamed out “I can’t #*&!@ing believe I need to answer questions about my former caddy!” I almost felt bad for him….. but I got over it quickly.
Pros Wouldn’t Last At Elma Meadows – It was fascinating to see how much the world’s best struggled with the softer sand at Atlanta Athletic. These guys are accustomed to the perfectly uniform, slightly wet sand which provides little additional challenge. Watching them hit fairway bunker shots heavy into water or run greenside explosions 25 feet past their mark made me feel a little better about my game. Elma’s sand is just as soft with “fried eggs” everywhere, plus the additional hazard on unraked footprints. Welcome to my world, Pros!
Rory – I’m pretty aggressive at taking risks on the course, and always assume there’s a “theoretical” way to pull off any recovery (on paper – executing the plan’s a whole different story.) But even I couldn’t imagine what Rory was thinking with his swing on #3 yesterday. I wonder if he was influenced by watching Sergio Garcia in 1999 in deciding to attempt the shot, and then called upon memories of Tiger at Torrey Pines in deciding to soldier on.
Watching the “Continue or Withdraw” drama unfold was good television, and his efforts in holding the round together were another reason to like the youngster.
Viagra Trumps History – While the Rory Saga was good television, TNT needed a Mulligan for their treatment of Steve Stricker’s opening 63. Stricker had a chance to make history as the first to record a 62 in Major History. After sticking his final approach to 10 feet, TNT cut to commercial. The Twitterverse was abuzz waiting for the potential historic moment.
And then TNT decided they would air a few extra commercials.
Twitter followers knew that Stricker missed his putt several minutes before TNT decided to air the attempt at History. It was a sad moment in broadcasting, especially since we were treated to watch all of Tiger’s final hole unfold live for 15 minutes just before that. I would have preferred to watch Stricker line up his putt for 62 rather than Tiger circling his 25 foot par attempt to save 76.
