2 shots off the lead

yep but he wasnt playing horseshoes or hand grenades so.....

When is he going to do this with consistency again, this is so tilting seeing he has amazing game like this still.

Hopefully he can bring some of this over to doral, hopefully....

FYP

I mean we are going back to arguments from previous rounds and retroactively changing them to reflect the current days performance right?

yea Rory is no Trevino

You beat me to it. I looked for the strokes gained after 4 rounds immediately and it wasn't there yet.


eta: I thought GOAT Tiger was .7 (from that paper).

No wasn't from paper. I went back and looked at Tiger's strokes gained putting to see what it was from his best season. Thought it was .7xx but must have missed 2009's .874.

Tiger just ran out of holes. Give him 18 more, I'm sure he overtakes Gillis.

eta: I didn't keep talking about the first 36 holes, because it seemed kind of stale. I thought RM was simply better at everything over 36. Obviously, TW played super yesterday. And then, of course, he went off today.

That is an interesting statement considering Tiger was leading in total driving.

They both drove it exceptionally well, or or near the fairway all day (Thur & Fri). Tiger had by far the worst miss. If you want to give him a slight nod, I don't have a problem with that.

This is what happens in full field events, a shame this wasn't just the Tiger 'n Friends Open, otherwise he would have lapped the field.

Tiger drove it further and straighter Thursday and Friday, but I see how that is a "slight nod"

I guess Rory gets a "slight nod" on approaches the first 36 holes because he hit it a little closer on average but hit less greens.

So that leaves putting/scrambling as the separator(conveniently enough it was also the only thing Rory did better than Tiger all week when everything was said and done), though I see how you reached "RM was simply better at everything over 36"

I don't think you appreciate just how hard that course was playing.

Rory was -3 on the par 5s compared to Tiger's E, because he didn't have to scramble. Rory was -3 on the par 3s compared to Tiger's +4, because he hit it a lot closer.

Tiger made a couple bombs for birdie on par 4s. If Rory would've made anything...

I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.

Keep what up? Ignoring all the data?

They were both 5 under on the par 5s for the week....

Rory hit it closer on the par 3s?

Tiger hit it closer on average to the par 3s....
Tiger hit 6 inside 20 feet, 3 to at least 10 feet
Rory hit 5 inside 20 feet, 2 to at least 10 feet

Rory putts gained for the week 1.566/round. Tiger .569/round...

Rory Won

Tiger Lost

Rory so much more likeable than Tiger Woods

We were talking about the first 36 holes.

This is why I didn't want to continue a conversation about the first 36 holes.

You are no longer talking about the first 36 holes. I knew that would happen.

Over a short stretch, I'll balance what I see with data.

I got to catch the back 9, and I'll say that Tiger was insane good - the shot on 18 was stupid good - to hit it right of the hole and stop it was crazy. However, no one can say he was better than Rory this week - only one person gets to hold that big cardboard check, and that's the one with the lowest score for 72 holes. Congrats to Rory on his #1 ranking. Very impressive. I wondered how he would handle seeing TW running up the leaderboard, and responded well - hit smart, safe shots and won the tournament.

FWIW, I think TW's swing looks awesome, I think his putting stroke looks awful - I can't figure out what they are trying to do with it, but there is a ton more movement in the handle then his old days - he made some putts, and maybe it's working, but I liked his "old" stroke much better.

Noob question but how "hard" was Rory trying today?

Was he playing fairly conservative, thinking the young English and the journeyman Gillis wouldn't pass him if he played for pars?

Like how worried was he about Tiger? Tiger would have had to shoot a 62 today and Rory a +1 for it to go to a playoff with Tiger.

I guess what I'm getting at is if Rory felt more pressure on him today does he shoot like -3 instead of -1? Or is Rory just Rory and always gamble for the high-reward shots because he's that good? I do recall him flag-hunting on a water par 3 which was pretty ballsy..

I don't know if he was content with pars today or if he just couldn't make birdies... I'm not wise enough to tell the difference.

FWIW in the interviews I saw with Rory from this week, he's saying consistently saying stuff like "on this course you have to stay patient and take what you can get" and "on this course you have to remember that par is a good score" so I would think that he was just trying to play patiently and have a few putts drop for birdie.

I don't believe that he just goes out and shoots -3 if he needs to, but what do I know.

I would say Rory was in 3rd gear at best yday, I think he's that good he just did what he needed to do. Sure Tiger made a move but it was never in doubt, Rory had done all the leg work the first 3 days which enabled him to cruise home on the Sunday.

Only 22 and now officially the World's best. I can see him staying here for quite some time, he seems to be contending every time he tees it up.

In his interview after his round, Rory said that he felt par golf would win today and that was his thought the entire day.

Am I missing something or didn't Rory have a 1 shot lead standing on 4 tee over Gillis? How on Earth would you think the tournament on one of the hardest courses on Tour was never in doubt? I know many of you aren’t familiar with Gillis, but that dude can flat play and win. He had conditional status in 2009 on the Nationwide and once he finally got a start he reeled off 3 top 25’s in his first 4 starts and the went 1st, 31st, 2nd 3rd, 9th, 5th, 9th, 7th and made $364k in 15 starts. Prior to those starts in 2009 he won 2 of 3 events on the Egolf Tour which is a good mini tour which has like 250 players start each week on 2 courses and then cut after 36 holes. To win back to back weeks on that tour with the size of field is ridiculous. He has struggled with a few injuries in the last year, but a guy like him when in position is just as big of a force as a Mahan.

No, Rory wasn’t “worried” about Tiger as even if/when Tiger shot 62 all he needed to do was shoot even, but there were players early who had pressure on him, and Tiger then posted his score in time for Rory to have to play the Bear Trap knowing he couldn’t F up a shot. Getting it up and down on 15 was the biggest part of the event. That allowed him to still make a bogey and win. If he doesn’t get that ball up and down he has to take a more aggressive line on 17 and anything can happen. 16 is hard, but for a guy like Rory playing his A game he can hit 3 wood 5 iron on the green pretty often and 2 putt.

What Rory means by be patient doesn’t mean keep it in 3rd gear. It means just keep hitting greens and taking holes off the board by hopefully not making bogeys and giving the field shots, make them come get you. But the thing I think is important to understand is that was his game plan the first 3 days as well while building the lead. On that course you can’t just force birdies via unbridled aggression anywhere. You have to sit back and keep giving yourself 20 footers on the fat side of the green and wait for a few to fall. If you start attacking holes you will eventually short side yourself and cost yourself tenths of shots of expectation.

If he doesn't hit a spectator on 11 he has a 1 or 2 shot lead or less at that point and the Bear Trap is a mother ****er, I don' care if you are the #1 player in the world. My point is that this tournament was never in the bag until his tee shot on 17 was dry. Having to play those last few holes +2 is almost the same as just having to play a normal stretch +1 to win. The wind did help a ton to be able to hit a shorter iron to both par 3’s, but this baby was never simply in the bag from the start.

Golf is exciting again. Rory vs. Tiger!

What do you guys do when you get a boner in the middle of the night and you have to take a leak?

A good summation of Woods' round yesterday:

Given how hard the wind was blowing, particularly on his front nine, Tiger's Sunday score was astounding, right there with the 64 Phil Mickelson shot at Pebble in the finale to win. It takes a really agile golfing mind to play a course you don't know that well in a stout breeze that's out of a direction you haven't seen all week. The Sunday wind at PGA National was more like a September wind in Boston. You could see Tiger's superior golf mind at work, and you could see every facet of his golf game coming together. Now, one round of golf is just that, but Woods will surely build on what he did at the Honda.
- Source - http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/ro...runneth-over-0