Oops, he did it again, didn’t he? He captured all your hearts back with one shot, didn’t he? He made you wait a whole three years for a magical, suspenseful, hold-your-breath moment. Most devoted fans have probably been blue in the face waiting for that to happen. Well, y’all can exhale now because he finally gave you what you have wanted since Elin took a nine iron to his face.
Allegedly. Probably. Most likely.
Yep, Tiger Woods won again on Sunday and for a few holes it looked like he was going to slowly fade away like a rookie on the Nationwide Tour, trying to win for his first time. But he didn’t. He actually did the complete opposite of that. The old Tiger came out of the proverbial bag, and Woods showed us some of his old tricks. Apparently, Tiger likes to wait till, say, the 16th hole of tournaments to close the door on the tournament. For those who forget easily, I will remind you of what Vern Lundquist said way back in 2005 at The Masters: “In your life have you seen anything like that?”
Well, Vern, we saw it again on Sunday at The Memorial. In Jack’s house, of course. Tiger picked a perfect time to clutch up, and in my humble opinion, hit a shot that was tougher than what he had at The 2005 Masters. Hitting his tee shot over the green on the 215 yard par three, Woods was faced with an extremely difficult up and down for par. With the green running away from him and towards water, Woods had to land his ball on a dime. Woods has been known to chip in at The Memorial before, but this was no picnic. Or, I guess you could say it was. With lots of ants ruining his lunch, and clouds moving in, ready to pour down rain. But this time, it was perfect weather for the perfect storm.
Woods hit the perfect shot, quietly rolled down the hill and into the cup. BAM! Pandemonium struck and the town of Dublin had experienced a 2.9 tremble on the Richter scale. Tiger didn’t look back, parred the 17th and threw his nine iron to, well, nine feet for birdie on 18 to wrap up his second victory of the season. The intriguing thing about this victory, is that it comes two weeks before the next major. Well, Tiger won at Bay Hill, which was also two weeks before a major. He then went on to produce a club-throwing, scattered ball striking, tie for 40th.
Oh, Tiger, your timing couldn’t be more perfect. The U.S. Open is in two weeks! Will history repeat itself? Tiger always talks about, ‘peaking for the majors.’ Well, he better not peak too early. Olympic Club won’t take anything but near perfect driving accuracy and precision iron play. Last I checked, Tiger’s not the straightest driver of the golf ball. When asked if he’ll put a 2 iron in the bag, Woods replied, “absolutely.” Well, it better be absolutely straight. And long.
Olympic Club will play about 7,170 yards but will feel much longer than that. Golf’s toughest test will again make the pros feel like weekend hacks, scrounging around the course trying to find a par. Get ready for cliché statements from players who are just “trying to shoot around par.” Players who find themselves “around par,” will also find themselves near the lead on Sunday. That’s just how it goes during the U.S. Open.
For those youngsters and adults who are trying to find par themselves, “summer” is in full swing here in San Diego. Now I put summer in quotes because, let’s be honest, it’s always summer here. I laugh at myself every time I find myself checking the 10-day forecast. My point is simple: get out and golf! If you’re a newbie to the game, the JC Intro2Golf program is perfect for you. Summer golf camps start next week at Oaks North. As an instructor, I love this time of year. All the kiddos come out in their stylish little outfits and display their innocent but boisterous personalities. It’s a lot of fun to see the future of golf and be able to be a part of molding these kids into future golf stars!
I hope to see you all out on the course this summer!
Hit ’em straight!
Eddie
Chip Shotz with JC Golf 