Tiger’s going back to the minor leagues of the PGA Tour. He announced Monday that he’ll play the Frys.Com Open in October.
I guess that was part of the deal for Fred Couples preemptively putting him on the President’s Cup team.
He’ll be the favorite there for sure. But what if he doesn’t win, place or show? I still stand by my prediction that he’ll never win another major—and that its unlikely he’ll win a regular Tour event. I’m not sure how a Fall Series event fits into that bill.
Discover more from GolfBlogger Golf Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I would look for a little more talent than last year. Players will know that with Tiger in the field, that a good showing from them will get some coverage. Granted, if Tiger makes the cut – he could be 70th on Sunday and you won’t see the leader pairing all afternoon so they can show you replays of what happened with Tiger at 9am – but still you get coverage, and a chance to beat Tiger.
There may also be a little “stick it to Freddie and Tiger” by either Keegan or Rickie, if they don’t make the cut. Rickie played last year anyway and did well, so he will probably be back. 2-Gloves wasn’t there last year I don’t think, but this would be a great opportunity for him – he is going to pocket that first PGA win soon. And you could have some other President’s cup guys looking for a competitive round to tide them over.
Tiger will probably be the favorite, and he might go T4, but I would say out of the top 10 is the most likely result, with missing the cut as likely as T4.
It’s good to see Tiger playing, although I still believe he needs to play a few more golf tournaments to prove himself to Freddie.
I wonder what Fred will do if Tiger enters and stinks up the joint. The assumption seems to be that he’ll play well enough to justify Fred’s pick. What if he doesn’t?
In my book those are the same assumptions that had Tiger as the favorite going into every major last year. Every analyst up to the stinker at the PGA still just expects Tiger to be back in winning form the next time we see him. I just can’t see that.
Tiger played at a level nobody had witnessed. Even if Bobby or Jack or the Morris’s played at the exact same level – we never SAW it in the same way we saw it with Tiger. For all the things we have talked about, he isn’t playing there now. But they all expect since he was on that tier he will at least reach a level just below that again.
If he truly played at a way nobody has seen before, why is it that his falloff won’t be just like none seen before?
I am reminded of the conversation between Tyrell and Roy Batty in Blade Runner –
Roy – “I want more life, father” (in all versions but one, it is another f word)
…..
Tyrell – “A light which burns twice as brightly can only burn half as long, and you have burned so very, very brightly Roy. Look at you, you’re the prodigal son”
Roy – “I’ve done questionable things”
Tyrell – “Also extrordinary things. Revel in your time!”
IMO – Woods is Roy Batty. He burned twice as bright. His career is almost dead.
Ahhh …. Blade Runner. One of my favorite movies.
None of this would be an issue if Woods had made a habit in his prime of spreading his fame around to the tournaments that could use a little help. Then it would just be Woods doing what he’d always done, rather than Woods playing the minors to find his groove.
True. But Woods made a strategic decision when he and (more likely) his ‘posse’ decided to play only venues that he had a chance of winning, was familiar with, or suited his playing style. And it worked, up until the meltdown.
Maybe he should consider doing the Hooters Tour or a year on the Nationwide as well.
Tiger needs to stay away from the Nationwide and he needs to be careful with the minor PGA events.
If he plays an event with no big names, or where the big names are limited to Rocco Mediate and John Daly and he fails to win – then he will begin losing an even larger portion of the fan base’s support and probably put in danger his remaining sponsors like Nike and EA Sports.
Even if he were to win on Nationwide – won’t that make him a joke? It won’t be as bad as say Henrik Stenson losing his club championship this year, but it will be pretty close.
Earlier I wondered about Bloggers statement that Tiger is unlikely to win again – period. But now that I think about it – if Tiger were to finish low, or especially miss the cut at Frys, and then fails to perform at the Australian and then doesn’t win at least 25% of his points in the Presidents cup, I wonder if he won’t retire right then.
I also wonder if Tiger fails to make the cut at Frys and then fails to perform in Australia if Freddie will have to remove him from the cup team, and if that may not push him to retirement. Alternatively, if he doesn’t retire, look for an “injury”. He hasn’t laid the groundwork well for having an “injury” since he has stated he is in the best shape ever.
If he plays an event with no big names, or where the big names are limited to Rocco Mediate and John Daly and he fails to win – then he will begin losing an even larger portion of the fan base’s support and probably put in danger his remaining sponsors
Which puts him right back in his original event-playing strategy. And that’s hardly been a success.
I think he might win kudos (or for the cynically minded – sympathy) for trying to rebuild himself.
Yes, indeed. I love comparing Tigey to Roy Batty. Blade Runner is my number one or two fave.
Great catch!
It bothers me that he’s on the team and only committed to Fry’s Open and not also the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic Monday Oct 17 – Sunday Oct 23, 2011 which is nicely before the Presidents Cup in November and might actually prepare him. One tournament is NOT ENOUGH.
Goodness gracious. I was listening to Morning Drive today while doing some work before work, and I think I heard one of the analysts say that “Tiger is primed and apparently ready, he should be performing well for the Frys.com”
It could have been a delusion just thinking someone said that, I didn’t even want to rewind to see if that is actually what was said.
Do I think he could perform well? Yes. It is possible. 19%
Do I think it more likely that it will be a stinkfest? Yes. 60%
Is it possible there will be another injury reported and possible drop out if he is stinking it up? Yes. 20%
Could he win? 1%
And I will put $10 on him winning if someone wants to give me 100 to 1 odds.