Tiger Does it Again

WOW! All I can say is WOW. I thought I had seen Tiger Woods do it all, but this weekend he proved me wrong.

Coming into Thursday's opening round in San Diego there were questions marks surrounding Tigers bid for his 14th major. Many felt that coming off the third knee surgery of his career, Tiger was not going to be 100%. Those people were right, however what this weekend taught us was Tiger Woods does not need to be 100% to win tournaments.

Woods started Thursday as he usually does in a major. He was consistent the whole day with three birdies and two double bogeys, feeling out the course and leaving himself in a position go on a run. Friday started really slow for Tiger shooting 2 over on the front side which left many to think that the knee was really bothering him and it may not be his weekend.

WRONG! Tiger responded in a way only he can by shooting a 30 on the back 9 leaving himself one back of the lead heading into the weekend. I find this to be maybe the most amazing feat of the week. People do not just go out and shoot a 30 on the back 9 of a US Open. Most players struggle to shoot par at the Open, but Tiger birdied 5 times to bring himself back into contention.

Saturday started the same way Thursday and Friday did for Tiger, shooting over par on the first 9. However on moving day at the US Open, scores tend to go up as the USGA really make players earn their pars. Of course Tiger looked the USGA right in the face and laughed at their meager attempt to stop him.

The turning point of Woods' tournament was undoubtedly the ridiculous putt he made on 13. In trouble with his drive (as he had been all tournament), Woods hit a second shot about 70 ft from the cup setting himself up for a two putt birdie. Instead Tiger stepped up to the ball, and in true legend fashion, drilled the bomb of a putt posting an eagle 3. After another bogey on 14, Woods finished up par, par, birdie, eagle after a ridiculous chip in on 17 and another long distance putt on 18. After seeing a 30 on the back 9 on Friday, I did not think Woods could do anything to top it, but he came pretty close with his magical short game on the back 9 on Saturday. Woods was the leader heading into Sunday and was on track for his 14th major win; after all Tiger does not blow Sunday leads, right?

To my surprise Tiger did not run away with it as he usually does. Again he started out with a double bogey on the first and followed that up with a bogey on 2 leaving himself a hill to climb. Tiger obviously was not going to blow up on Sunday at a major, but the question of weather he had enough in him and his knee were coming back into play. Normally on Sunday at a US Open, a player can shoot pars and put himself in a good position to win, however Tiger would have to do better than that to come back from his disastrous start.

The reason why things would be different this time around is because the relatively unheard of Rocco Mediate was playing extremely solid golf. Mediate was doing something that most golf fans are not used to seeing done anymore; he was hitting fairways and greens, giving himself makable birdie putts and assuring par almost every hole.

The contrast in styles between the aggressive Woods and the consistent Mediate made for a memorable close to the 108th US Open. Of course, I would sound ignorant if I did not mention Lee Westwood's performance...so there I mentioned it.

After a great par save on 17, Mediate went into the 72nd hole of the tournament with a one shot lead on Woods and looked to become the first player to ever to catch Tiger on a Sunday at a major. Rocco started the par 5 18 by driving the ball into the rough and was forced to layup. After knocking it on the green in 3, Mediate missed his birdie and tapped in for par. This would come back to hurt the underdog, as he left Woods with an opportunity to tie or even win with another eagle of 18.

Tiger hit his drive into the fairway bunker ruling out any chance of attacking the green in two, leaving himself a very important layup shot. If Woods did not put his second shot in the fairway, he would risk trying to control his approach out of the rough to a very difficult pin placement. Maybe in need of a challenge, Woods did exactly what he wasn't supposed to do and hit it in the thick stuff. That however did not stop Tiger from his usual greatness, as he hit an amazing third shot out of that rough, unbelievably putting enough spin on the ball to stop it about 10 ft from the hole.

Mediate looked on knowing he had to dodge a bullet from the greatest clutch putter in the world (Westwood also had a chance to tie with a birdie putt, but I think every one will agree with me in saying that he had a slim to none chance of making sinking it), and everyone was waiting for one more piece of magic from Tiger. Watching Rocco pace back and forth, it was very easy to feel bad for him. It almost seemed as if he was more nervous than Woods and everyone knew what the outcome was going to be. Tiger stepped up to the ball and confidently drilled the birdie breaking the heart of Rocco and extending the Open to another 18 holes on Monday.

Going into playoff round, Rocco Mediate seemed more like Rocky Balboa fighting the immortal Apollo Creed. Mediate played very consistent golf again all day and allowed Woods to play his normal aggressive style, forcing him to have to make more birdies than bogeys to win. Mediate even acted like Balboa coming from 3 behind on the back 9 to actually take another 1 stroke lead heading into 18.

Rocco was at a disadvantage on the par 5 18 because Tiger is a longer hitter than he is, and this is what cost him. Rocco actually had a birdie putt to win it again, but pushed it just a little bit, leaving another open window for Woods. Tiger of course birdied to tie Rocco and forced sudden death. On the first hole of sudden death, it was Woods this time hitting the fairway and green, while Mediate was battling to make par.

In the end, Mediate was unable save his par missing a long putt thus giving Tiger Woods his 14th major title and 3rd US Open. Mediate has emerged from this weekend as a very likeable character, but in the realm of Tiger he is just another notch on the legends belt.

Tiger may have done more damage to his knee by playing hurt this weekend, but time will only tell on that. What I do know is this Open had the legend of Tiger Woods making memorable shots trying to fight off the scrappy underdog in Mediate all while barely being able to walk. All those factors led to the 2008 US Open proving to be one of the greatest in the tournament's 108 year history and will be remembered by me as one of the greatest sporting events I have ever seen.