Redstate Sports

Posted at 9:19pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Granted, I Know Rather Little About Golf

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

But I have to think that Tiger Woods is nothing short of superhuman after having read this:

Tiger Woods has decided to have surgery on his left knee, which will end his 2008 season.

Woods said on his Web site that he will have surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament. He also wrote that he needs time to rehabilitate a double stress fracture of his left tibia, which he said was discovered just before the Memorial Tournament in late May.

And he revealed that he originally ruptured the ACL in 2007 while running at his home in Orlando after the British Open. He said he decided not to have surgery at that point, and he went on to win five of the next six events he entered (through his Target World Challenge in December).

"He's been playing way less than 100 percent for a long, long, time," his swing coach, Hank Haney, said. "It has limited him a lot in practice. He's going to come back better than he's ever been."

Considering what Woods has been able to achieve while injured, Haney's comments have to be terrifying for other players on the professional tour.

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Posted at 9:39am on Sep. 4, 2007 PGA Playoffs.

By Paul J Cella

We saw some of the best golf of the year yesterday outside of Boston. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, paired together for the third time in this second round of the PGA Playoffs — the Deutsche Bank Championship — did not disappoint. For a time it looked as though Mickelson would just run away with it, but Tiger gave him a good run — good enough, indeed, to make this viewer wonder whether Mickelson would choke against Woods yet again. In the end he did not, putting markedly better than his rival and capturing the top position in the Playoff standings as the Tour moves to Chicago for its third leg.

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Posted at 9:13am on Jul. 20, 2007 'Roid Rage and... and golf?!?

By Mark Kilmer

Something has been bothering me. Steroids in baseball – you know, this fellow, this Yankee, and this guy -- hurts. I destroys heroes and ruins what would have been a thrilling season in which one of the game's most spectacular records was surpassed.

We have non-cheaters like Alex Rodriquez and Grady Sizemore, so the game will be fine, but the ugliness is still there. The bigger story than Bonds's chase might be the plight of trainer Greg Anderson and his family.

I've been meaning to ask for a few days, though: What's this steroids and golf nonsense?

I'm serious. Gary Player says so.

Read More...

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Posted at 10:17am on May 7, 2007 Tiger wins in Charlotte.

By Paul J Cella

Tiger Woods took home another tournament trophy Sunday, ninth in his last twelve events on Tour. 9 of 12 — the statistic is mind-blowing in this game. But the really astonishing thing is this: he wins now by means quite different, and more admirable, than he used to.

In this victory in Charlotte, on the superb and mysterious Quail Hollow Club, with a loaded field — I believe the CBS anchor said 27 out of the top 30 players in the world — Mr. Woods won by two strokes and it could have been more. He played several poor or unimpressive shots, or just unlucky ones, first on a wild stretch on Saturday’s rain-delayed third round, which included a hole-in eagle by Vijay Singh, and then again, improbably, on Sunday. But in the end, Tiger Woods won this up-and-coming event by his mastery of what is most succinctly called the Tough Par Putt.

Read on.

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Posted at 7:50pm on Jan. 28, 2007 Tiger Woods: Yup, still quite good

By Kevin Holtsberry

It's been while since we have had the pleasure of watching Tiger Woods play golf. Looks like it is a "riding a bike" kind of thing for Tiger. For the seventh straight time in a PGA official tournament Tiger won. That is 55 wins and more money than god. I think Buick is pretty happy with having Tiger as a spokesperson don't you?

Seriously, did any one doubt the outcome when Tiger was chasing down a bunch of no-names on the back nine? (Talented no-names for sure, but still Buckle and Quinney?) Charles Howell hung in there, but when Tiger knocked his approach on 17 to within 2 1/2 feet and made birdie, everyone knew it was a done deal. Not even coming a little short on 18 could add much drama to the ending.

I hope Vijay, Lefty, and the others crank it up a notch and give Tiger a challenge. If not it will just be Tiger versus the record books. Anyone care to bet against Tiger?

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Posted at 11:09am on Nov. 3, 2006 Open thread

By Jeff Emanuel

It's "Tour Championship" weekend, and neither Tiger nor Phil are on the course.

Can we call this the "Tour Thirdplacemanship" instead?

Open thread.

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Posted at 7:20am on Sep. 29, 2006 Tiger Woods = Still Quite Good

By Kevin Holtsberry

UPDATE 9/29/06:
Yes, still good. Tiger shot 64 today to take a five stroke lead over Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink and David Howell into the weekend. Same old, same old for Tiger:

For the second straight day, the signature shot was a fairway metal into the 567-yard 18th hole that set up an eagle and gave him the lead, although some of the details changed. Woods started Friday on the back nine, so this came in the middle of his round. It was a 5-wood from 246 yards that landed softly 10 feet behind the flag. Instead of capping off a great round, it sent him on his way.

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Tiger Woods may have had a mediocre Ryder Cup (although he did contribute 3 out of a possible 5 points), but he hasn't suddenly lost his ability to go low. He shot an 8-under 63 in the first round yesterday to grab the lead of the American Express Championship. Looks like typical Tiger:

He finished with his best shot of the day. On the 567-yard closing hole at The Grove, which is uphill and played into a breeze, he hammered a driver down the middle and followed with a 3-wood from 267 yards that landed 20 feet from the cup.

Yep, simple as that. 300-yard drive, 250 plus yard second shot, 20 foot putt, and you have an eagle and a one shot lead over Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter. Ernie Els and Stewart Cink are another shot back and Jim Furyk and Adam Scott are four behind Tiger.

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Posted at 7:16am on Sep. 22, 2006 The Ryder Cup begins.

By Paul J Cella

The Ryder Cup has begun in Straffan, Ireland. As I write, all four matches are close. This morning they are playing fourball format, popularly known as best ball, which means that both players hit a bal and the team takes the better of the two scores. This format, similar to “scramble” format familiar to most amateurs at their company or family tournament, lends itself to some fascinating strategy. Later on in the day, they will move on to the foursome format, with the players alternating shots. A whole new strategy enters here.

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Posted at 5:46pm on Sep. 4, 2006 Clutch? Tiger will give you clutch.

By Gerry Daly

I mean no disprespect to Kahne, but clutch, thy name is Tiger right now.

He entered today's play three strokes behind the man who, a few years ago, wrestled away the #1 ranking from him. Vijay Singh had just set a course record 61 yesterday to start today with a three stroke lead.

Singh went out, and made no mistakes early. It did not matter. Within 3 holes, his lead was gone despite the bogey-free performance by the former leader.

By the seventh hole, Singh had played very consistent golf, parring every hole... and fallen from a three shot lead to a three shot deficit. Tiger eagled 2 and 7, and birdied 3 and 5.

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Posted at 8:09pm on Sep. 1, 2006 You know Who Leads Deutsche Bank Championship

By Kevin Holtsberry

If you had one guess as to who might be leading a PGA golf tournament these days who would it be? I'll give you a hint, it isn't Phil Mickelson.

Prepare to be shocked folks, Tiger Woods is leading a golf tournament! Of course, unless you have been living in a cave, you know that Tiger is on one of his hot streaks again. He is attempting to win his fifth in a row at the Deutsche Bank - a tournament he hosts and which he has never won.

Tiger shot a 66 to lead playing partner Aaron Baddeley as well as Bob May, Justin Rose, Joe Ogilvie and Australian rookie Nathan Green.

Before you give Tiger another win, it is worth noting he has some bad history at the TPC of Boston.

Read on...

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Posted at 8:29pm on Aug. 27, 2006 Guess Who? Yup, Tiger Again.

By Kevin Holtsberry

The question coming into the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational was just when would Tiger Wood's hot streak end. Woods has been playing such beautiful golf of late that fans were wondering if he might challenge his 1999-2000 streak of six wins in a row. After his PGA Championships victory last week, Tiger had won three straight including two majors.

So when He shot a 64 on Friday to take the lead, the feeling was "here we go again." After all Tiger had already won at Firestone four times - including last year. Surely, he would cruise to yet another victory. But Saturday and Sunday were anything but a stroll in the park for the world's best golfer.

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Posted at 10:39pm on Aug. 24, 2006 Sport And Its Greats

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

I really don't follow golf all that closely, but this excellent appreciation of Tiger Woods brings to mind what a Chicago sportswriter said about Michael Jordan. He called Jordan "a supremely talented overachiever." So it is with Woods.

(Thanks for the link, Johnathan.)

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Posted at 1:47pm on Aug. 21, 2006 USA Ryder Cup team set.

By Paul J Cella

Tom Lehman picked two solid veterans to round out the USA Ryder Cup team. Here is the full team, followed by their current world ranking:

Tiger Woods, 1st.
Phil Mickelson, 2nd.
Jim Furyk, 4th.
Chad Campbell, 21st.
David Toms, 12th.
Chris DiMarco, 13th.
Vaughn Taylor, 55th.
J. J. Henry, 72nd.
Zach Johnson, 36th.
Brett Wetterich, 57th.
Stewart Cink, 39th.
Scott Verplank, 34th.

The last two were Lehman’s picks; both are veterans, known for solid putting and good iron play. Cink in particular used to be one of the top putters in the world, but he has fallen off of late.

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Posted at 8:05am on Aug. 21, 2006 PGA Championship wrap-up.

By Paul J Cella

Well, it was a pretty boring final round. On Saturday at 4pm EST, there were about 10 guys tied for the lead. By the same time on Sunday everyone competitive had folded in the face of Tiger Woods’ relentlessly excellent play. In retrospect, only Luke Donald had much of a shot to unseat Woods after the latter’s masterful round on Saturday, and he, in the end, did what most players do when paired with Woods in the final round of a major. Tiger’s putting was particularly demoralizing for anyone trying to make a run at him, but more than that, he simply made no mistakes of any consequence. Shaun Micheel and Adam Scott played well on the final day, but neither was in the running.

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Posted at 9:59am on Aug. 19, 2006 PGA: day three.

By Paul J Cella

The cut was at even par, and the leaders are at eight under. That’s a pretty remarkable bunching of scores. Verily, anyone could win this thing. Tim “Lumpy” Herron is among the leaders, along with veteran Billy Andrade, who got in as an alternate, Englishman and artist Luke Donald, and the Swede Henrik Stenson. Right on their heels are three big names: Tiger, US Open champion Ogilvy, and Davis Love III. A big group at six under includes some interesting names: the lovable Fred Funk, who is in the midst of a late career renaissance, the steady David Toms, and Billy Mayfair, who only two weeks ago underwent cancer surgery. Mickelson is four off the lead at -4. Neither he nor Woods drove the ball well, and both were forced to grind out a decent round; but of that marquis threesome of Woods, Mickelson and Ogilvy, the latter impressed the most. His long irons in particular were masterful, and he was often alone in the fairway, with the world’s number one and two players craning their necks and calculating ways to get to the greens out of the long roughs at Medinah.

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