The Tiger Thread

[GBOGEY]

I've always had the unpopular opinion that Jack's major record is more impressive than Tiger's but the 82 PGA wins is beyond compare. I think the depth of the fields during Tiger's time is much tougher than Jack faced and Tiger's win percentage is incredible on top of the number of wins. On the other hand, it seems like Jack had to beat more truly great Hall of Famers in majors than Tiger did, that and Jacks 2nd place finishes. But in general I believe it's silly to compare different players from different eras.

[jasonfish11]

My favorite tiger stat is his close rate when holding or tied for a 54 hole lead.

I don't know what it is now but around 2014 it was 94% win rate. So he closes out the win more often than my Yankee hall of fame closer Mariano Rivera had a close rate of 92% and he only had 1/9 of the game left.

[jasonfish11]

My favorite Greatest PGA TOUR Champion of All-Time Tiger stat is his close rate when holding or tied for a 54 hole lead.

I don't know what it is now but around 2014 it was 94% win rate. So he closes out the win more often than my Yankee hall of fame closer Mariano Rivera had a close rate of 92% and he only had 1/9 of the game left.

So I looked it up tiger 44/46 when leading or tied after 54 holes.
96% save rate

Mariano Rivera has an 89% save rate when sent in with the lead or tie* to pitch as the closer. He only has to close the last 1/8 of the game I would assume this close rate would decrease if he had to "close" the last 25% of the game.

*I'm not positive losses if the game is tied going into the 9th count against a closer in baseball?

[legitimatebeef]

I agree, that is one of Tiger's greatest stats. What's the win rate for ALL golfers holding the 54-hole? I think I remember it being less than half.

[legitimatebeef]

I'm still marveling at 1) Tiger achieving all these recent wins without a coach and b) nobody really making a stink about it. After years of media and pundits picking apart every swing offering all kinds of so-called critiques, and I-told-you-so's, he should stop dipping his head, he should go back to Butch, etc. Suddenly mum's the word. It's almost like the golf establishment is loathe to a) give Tiger proper credit for swing-coaching his own ass back to the top, and 2) acknowledge that it is possible to succeed in golf without a golf coach/instructor/teacher. It's probably the latter notion that freaks people the fuck out. I know people are just trying to make a living and they mean well but I am about ready to declare the whole occupation of golf instructor to be a stupid, pointless, wasteful and ultimately--if we are being brutally honest here--a destructive occupation. That is to say on the whole golf instructors probably add more misery to the world than they take away.

[legitimatebeef]

Swing looks pretty freakin magnificent lately. Still no coach.

[legitimatebeef]

Tiger reached the ultimate performance heights with his swing back in 2000 and again around 2007 but goddamnit, visually this is as good as his swing has ever looked.

[legitimatebeef]

He is now in Ben Hogan territory IMO.

[legitimatebeef]

Back in the good old days of golf on TV, the so-called Golf Channel used to air "T𝗂ger Week"--a 'Greatest Hits' marathon of tournament highlights spanning T𝗂ger's whole career--during the final week of December which coincided with the man's birthday. But after Mr. Woods and his peepee got in some trouble around 2009, the GC thereafter put the kibosh on the annual tribute.

I have a hunch that "T𝗂ger Week" will be back this year. He has done so much for TV in 2019. Surely he is out of the doghouse by now.

[GBOGEY]

I read a Butch Harmon interview a few years back where Butch talked about trying to convince Tiger to just put the ball in the fairway and that you're "the greatest iron player of all time so that's enough to win." The implication was that Tiger wanted to be the "baddest driver of all time" in addition to the greatest iron player. I don't know if this is the case or not, but I feel that since coming back this last time Tiger realizes he's the greatest iron player of all time and he's learned to lean on that heavily. Beautiful to watch.

[srogers13]

I am not sure he was wanting to be the "Baddest Driver of All Time" as much as he was chasing perfection. When he came out on tour, he was killing the field with his driver, along with everything else.

[legitimatebeef]

Kids these days

[GBOGEY]

So I hadn't seen that - was that two putts for the win?

[jasonfish11]

So I hadn't seen that - was that two putts for the win?

It's fake.

In the real clip he goes to grab his hat with about 6" left

[legitimatebeef]

Happy Tiger Day everyone.

Looking back on this great year, I believe that beating Rory in the match play was a major event, whose significance has been forgotten in the time since. As Tiger was not able to do his usual preparation leading up to the Masters, this one win gave him some big time confidence going into Augusta.

[legitimatebeef]

[legitimatebeef]

Truly magnificent Golf Digest article from the pen of the man himself. It has been a while since he's done one of these, I believe the first since the comeback. I give Golf Digest so much crap but this here is real gold.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tiger- ... -his-irons

[DougE]

The link is not taking me to the story, but only to the Golf Digest site. What's the name of the story so I can search it on their site?

[legitimatebeef]

Sorry Doug. I am a moron. My auto correct done f'd up the URL. It's probably time for a bit of self-reflection on my part.

[legitimatebeef]

[DougE]

Yikes!...and the precision is unbelievable to boot.

[legitimatebeef]

Greatest PGA TOUR Champion of All-Time Greatest PGA TOUR Champion of All-Time Greatest PGA TOUR Champion of All-Time indeed.

[legitimatebeef]

I watched most of today's round. Turning back the clock. Current TW starting to resemble past TW. Able to compete without absolute best stuff. Long as this guy can tee it up, golf will be interesting. In and out of the ropes he seems super confident. Looking forward to the year in TV golf.

[legitimatebeef]

Wow, this is just like old times. Tiger's working his way up the leaderboard yet we have to wait for an NCAA free throw contest to wrap up.

College is supposed to be for learning

[bkuehn1952]

Too many ahead of Tiger but … only two players are more than 2 strokes ahead. He has the potential to pass the cohort 1-2 strokes in front and then hope the leaders falter. A long shot but it would be exciting if El Tigré has a strong front nine.