Farmers Insurance Open

Yah nervy end

Think he jus playing safe .. Sitting on the lead

Awesome win... though he was wobbly over the last 4 holes. Still, a great start for Tiger. I heard the commentators say that when he's won the Farmer's Open, he's gone on to win at least 4 times on the season in 7 or 8 years.

Interesting to examine why the finish was so untidy, especially by Tiger's standard. Remember, this was the same course where he beat Rocco Mediate for the 2008 US Open on one good leg in a playoff.

By the time he birdied the 13th hole, Tiger was leading by 8 shots with 5 holes left to play. So, where's the pressure? If there was no pressure, why did he proceed to drop 4 shots including a double bogey?

The 11 holes took 4 hours to play. Broadcast by the Golf Channel actually ended because they did not plan for such a long airtime.

The flight before Tiger's flight was the hold up. Those players, including Compton who is on his 3rd heart transplant, were an entire hole behind their preceding flight, instead of one shot behind. Meaning their preceding flight left the green and they were not even on the fairway yet.

Tiger and his flight mates were waiting... after... every... shot....

A hooked tee shot on the 15th resulted in a lost ball, leading to the double bogey.

This report sums it up nicely.

Woods entered Monday's final 11 holes of the fog-delayed final round at Torrey Pines leading by six shots. By the time he birdied the 13th hole, Woods had lengthened that advantage to eight shots -- which would have matched his fifth largest margin of victory ever had he been able to coax it home.

He wasn't, but it really didn't matter. Woods admitted he became impatient with the glacial pace of play and uncharacteristically let it affect his game. He made two bogeys and a double bogey over the last five holes but by then he'd built enough of a "cush," as Woods likes to say, that he "just needed to stay upright and I was going to be fine."

Other notable points:

He's done something no one else has ever done, too -- winning a third tournament seven times in his career.

He has won his season debut on the PGA TOUR seven times now -- and in the other six years, Woods has gone on to win a combined 37 titles, five of which were majors. For the mathematically challenged among us, that averages out to prodigious 6.16 wins per season.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2013/01/28/ross-column-tiger.html

Been covered before, but some may have missed this, so here is the major implication of his win.

Clearly to me, he still has mental block. A few bogeys in the last few holes tell the tale; from tees to greens he was seen uneasy and unsettled. Even his iron shots and short game i.e his strongest department failed in the last few holes. He chose to tee off the last hole with wood was the sign of "fear" or uncomfort. Plus, the was not a strong field.

It should be auto cruising given the cushion of the big lead, and managing pars were sufficient for him to win, yet he produced so many uncharacteristic mistakes.

However, a win is a win. Way to go, Tiger! Keep it up! And keep winning!

Before Tiger lost his ball from the 15th tee, his driver was not actually total perfection. He found himself in trouble more than a few times.

His stat:
Driving Distance 292.0
Driving Accuracy 35.71%
GIR 50.00%
Strokes Gained - Putting 1.768
Putting Average 1.889
Average Distance to Pin 46' 7"
Sand Save Percentage 50.00%

So, finding the fairway only 35.71% of the time, which means he only found 5 out of 14 fairways.

As at yesterday, playing the first 7 holes, his driving accuracy was worse, 33.33%. How many fairways did he find in the 7 holes (6 holes, not counting the par 3)? He found 2. So this morning, he found another 3 in the remaining 11 holes. Thus, he actually drove it slightly better in the last 11 holes than the first 7 holes. But overall, still missing a bunch of fairways since yesterday.

The key was, whenever he had missed the fairway, he either missed them in the 'right part' or he would somehow manage to escape with a par or better regardless. Some of his impressive escapes are captured on video at the PGA tour site. But this time on the 15th, no chance because the ball was lost.

Subsequently, his fairway misses caused him to hit approach shots from the rough into bunkers from where he was unable to convert.

Overall, here's where he lost those shots.

4:39 p.m. ET -- Tiger makes his first bogey of the final round when he finds the left greenside bunker at the 14th hole. He blasted out to 25 feet but missed by inches to go back to 17 under.

4:58 p.m. ET -- There's more trouble for Woods at the 15th hole where he drives left again. The ball catches a tree and drops down into the hazard and disappears into the ice plant. He takes his penalty drop outside the fence but will need to shape his third shot around a tree. Not to worry -- Woods' ball settles short of the green. Woods' chip ends up 10 feet short, though, and he ends up two-putting for double bogey. His lead is now five over Brandt Snedeker.

5:16 p.m. ET -- Finally back to pars. Woods comes up just short of the green at the par-3 16th. He chips to a foot for the tap-in par and heads to the last two holes with a comfortable -- if not completely satisfying -- five-shot lead.

5:35 p.m. ET -- The lead is now four after Tiger makes another bogey at the 17th hole. He found the right greenside bunker and blasted out to 16 feet, then had to make a 3-footer to stop the bleeding. Woods has dropped back to 14 under which is where he started the final round.

For the last hole, I was anticipating he would take less than driver because it would be the smart thing to do. It was a par 5. and he was getting cold and starting to snap hook, no need to go for eagle or birdie to win. And indeed he chose to do so. Decades of course management (self management?) discipline. And regardless, a simple tap-in par at the end.

And predictably, he still missed the fairway, but no issue because it was a par 5.

Thanks for sharing the info, Bro!

He simply needs to capitalize on par-5s and make birdies at worst.
That is key to win.

The fun part is when TW miss the fairway. Thats the time we can see his magic shot!!!

He played spectacularly for the first 3 rounds, but stumbles on the fourth. This is not the first time TW stumbled on the final day. Sometimes I wonder if it's the "Sunday Red" that's jinxing him...

He does look good in Orange though :-)

"Woods admitted he became impatient with the glacial pace of play and uncharacteristically let it affect his game"

Was he in a hurry to meet someone after the game...?

chien wrote:

"Woods admitted he became impatient with the glacial pace of play and uncharacteristically let it affect his game"

Was he in a hurry to meet someone after the game...?

More like someone is waiting for him in bed???

enwee wrote:

chien wrote:

"Woods admitted he became impatient with the glacial pace of play and uncharacteristically let it affect his game"

Was he in a hurry to meet someone after the game...?

More like someone is waiting for him in bed???

Enwee !!

Wasn't thinking about that ok !! Tsk Tsk..

Professional golf is much more exciting with a guy like Tiger in the mix. As he has shown, once he gets a new swing locked in it can get ugly for the rest of the field.

Could be an interesting 2013.....

Even after this win, Tiger really is not the same....as far as his mental strength and putting. The bar he set was so high.

He used to be invincible on Sundays. Now his recent sunday record seems to be just about the same as other top pros. I think Rory/Snedeker/Bradley are more fearless on Sundays. Even Garcia Looks better on Sundays sometimes.

TDO wrote:

TW is lucky to have a commanding lead to be able to afford the slight collapse. If his lead is only 1 or 2 strokes, I doubt he can win. But congrats to him anyway.

Not sure if luck has much to do with a commanding lead...

"Not sure if luck has much to do with a commanding lead..."

I think his skill is still there. Mental wise maybe not so tough as previously.

TDO wrote:

TW is lucky to have a commanding lead to be able to afford the slight collapse. If his lead is only 1 or 2 strokes, I doubt he can win. But congrats to him anyway.

+2.....plus it wasn't a strong field.

Whether he choked or got impatient, time will tell.

Would love to see him kicking ass!

TDO wrote:

"Not sure if luck has much to do with a commanding lead..."

I think his skill is still there. Mental wise maybe not so tough as previously.

Not questioning that. But to say that luck has anything to do with creating a 5 plus stroke lead on the PGA tour is selling the talent level short.

He is clearly not as mentally tough as he was and his skill set may have even slid slightly. But he is one of the greatest competitors this game has ever seen and his "will" to win and hit shots is better than many will ever know.

Being a former professional golfer at the highest level I know what it takes to compete at that level and to essentially equate his performance to luck is not giving him his full credit. At the end of the day it is 4 rounds of golf...does not matter how you do it to win, all that matters is how many it takes you to win. Some guys blaze early and dominate or fade, some guys like to surge from behind. Tiger is clearly a better front runner than surge from behind guy..but to be honest is that a bad thing based on his resume? If this is how he plays for 2013 the field is in trouble as it is reminiscent of his runs before.

To me, many choose to equate his last 1/2 day in the 4th round as his performance the week. We fail to note the fact that the 1st 4 1/2 days he shown a lot of his re-surging form with consistent putting and chipping. He create such commendable lead until day break and he has to play another day.

If 4 1/2 days is the outlook of his performance and what we can expect from his this year, then Rory better buck up, because Tiger is back! I am looking forward for great of golfing from TW.

IGT wrote:

+2.....plus it wasn't a strong field.

Brandt Snedeker 2012 Fedex Cup winner led after Day 1.

Khorkar wrote:

To me, many choose to equate his last 1/2 day in the 4th round as his performance the week. We fail to note the fact that the 1st 4 1/2 days he shown a lot of his re-surging form with consistent putting and chipping. He create such commendable lead until day break and he has to play another day.

If 4 1/2 days is the outlook of his performance and what we can expect from his this year, then Rory better buck up, because Tiger is back! I am looking forward for great of golfing from TW.

A lot of wisdom in those words.

DRGjr72 wrote:

TDO wrote:

"Not sure if luck has much to do with a commanding lead..."

I think his skill is still there. Mental wise maybe not so tough as previously.

Not questioning that. But to say that luck has anything to do with creating a 5 plus stroke lead on the PGA tour is selling the talent level short.

He is clearly not as mentally tough as he was and his skill set may have even slid slightly. But he is one of the greatest competitors this game has ever seen and his "will" to win and hit shots is better than many will ever know.

Being a former professional golfer at the highest level I know what it takes to compete at that level and to essentially equate his performance to luck is not giving him his full credit. At the end of the day it is 4 rounds of golf...does not matter how you do it to win, all that matters is how many it takes you to win. Some guys blaze early and dominate or fade, some guys like to surge from behind. Tiger is clearly a better front runner than surge from behind guy..but to be honest is that a bad thing based on his resume? If this is how he plays for 2013 the field is in trouble as it is reminiscent of his runs before.

Well put.

Based on stats, Tiger at his best was still better at surging forward and keeping his lead rather than coming from behind and overtaking the lead.