The Wyndham Championship

[killerleft]

Tiger Woods is tied for the lead at the Greensboro PGA tournament. The locals (including my wife and I on Thursday) have suddenly gone bonkers over golf. It's like it was the 1960s again and Arnie was leading his Army around Sedgefield Country Club, where the ACC was born over sixty years ago. Unbelieveably, there were a reported 30,000 spectators on hand today. A usual Friday may top out at 5,000-7,000.

Tiger was a late entry into the event, hoping to win and become eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs. He could possibly qualify with a second-place finish.

Here's a link to the eyewitness report from Ed Hardin, reporter for the Greensboro News and Record:

http://www.greensboro.com/sports/pro_sports/wyndham/ed-hardin-this-is-going-to-get-insane/article_f34a433f-5697-5fb1-9c57-34ed6e57705b.html


[Co-leader Tom] "Hoge will find that there's nothing more unnerving than the sound of 30,000 people holding their breath, which they were when Woods stood over his putt at the par-5 15th late in the afternoon. Nothing moved. Some of the marshals didn't bother to hold up their hands. They were watching Tiger, holding their breath like everyone else."

"When the putt went in for an eagle, the reaction was so sudden, so loud, the water on the lake rippled from the noise. Woods had tied Hoge for the lead."

There's a long way to go, but a large story is brewing. And it may not be Tiger. 51 year-old Davis Love is only one behind. The Wyndham is the center of the golfing universe. Lots of people work hard to keep it going, and this attention is a real boost for the last regular-season stop on the PGA Tour.

[Jarhead]

Welcome back, Tiger. You have gotten everybody except the DBR excited about your return to form. Tiger is now tied for second place with two other guys two strokes behind Jason Gore going into today's final round. It should be interesting, but personally, I have no idea who those other guys are. Good luck to them.

[killerleft]

Here's the N&R's Powell Latimer's take on Tiger Woods' Saturday round:

http://www.greensboro.com/sports/pro_sports/wyndham/holes-in-woods-game-show-through/article_4867a7d8-9eae-5305-9b4d-6bc69fc9e0ef.html

I think it's a bit harsh. His iron play certainly let him down. But most tournament winners have a round when just grinding it out and staying in contention is the order of the day. Tiger did that, and only a near miss put him two down for the start of play today.

The Wyndham is up for grabs. The winner won't be leaving himself many of those fast downhill putts like Tiger had most of his round Saturday.

I'll go with Sneeeedeker shooting another 61 and winning over three playoff opponents, and I put a Colonel Sanders giggle at the end.;)

[BD80]

Pull a drive into the rough, chunk the approach, skull the first chip off the hozzle, chunk the second chip, putt, putt, putt. (Sounds like every other hole I play)

Tiger hunt over at 11. Now we can watch the leaders.

[SoCalDukeFan]

A Tar Heel but a good guy. Roots for the ACC teams, including Duke.

SoCal

[Tripping William]

A Tar Heel but a good guy. Roots for the ACC teams, including Duke.

SoCal

*Fifty-one year old* Tar Heel Davis Love III. That is utterly remarkable to me, on a number of levels.

[BD80]

*Fifty-one year old* Tar Heel Davis Love III. That is utterly remarkable to me, on a number of levels.

So you're telling me there's still a chance ...

[Tripping William]

So you're telling me there's still a chance ...

I also shot 64 today. And then I made the turn.....

[royalblue]

i do like to see golf winners have on Royalblue or close to it when they capture a win on the PGA tour.

[ricks68]

My CC is part of the group of courses including Sedge. Now I will have to play it since it doesn't seem as hard as the one I play on, another Donald Ross design from 1928. Since I am going for bogey or better, I am used to putting a lot from off the greens. It would be great to post a better score on the hole that did Tiger in--heh, heh :p (It just has to have the Old Man tees like we have and I got it made;))

ricks

[ricks68]

i do like to see golf winners have on Royalblue or close to it when they capture a win on the PGA tour.

I noticed that, but did you also notice the ugly blue hats he was signing by the scoring tent? Yuk.:rolleyes:

ricks

[killerleft]

My CC is part of the group of courses including Sedge. Now I will have to play it since it doesn't seem as hard as the one I play on, another Donald Ross design from 1928. Since I am going for bogey or better, I am used to putting a lot from off the greens. It would be great to post a better score on the hole that did Tiger in--heh, heh :p (It just has to have the Old Man tees like we have and I got it made;))

ricks

Virtually all of Donald Ross' better designs are very tough on the average golfer. Chipping is especially challenging. Sedgefield had a redo in maybe 2008, restoring the course to be the diabolical journey Ross intended. Some of Ross' courses are now very different, and easier, because both the mounding and undulations of the greens have been softened. Golf technology and just people being bigger and stronger than in the 1920s-1930s have, sadly, made many of the old masterpieces obsolete as far as the pros are concerned.

[Mal]

I had two takeaways from this tournament, of which I watched zero shots, other than a Woods chip-in that was shown I kid you not 6 times during one hour of Sports Center:

1. It's interesting, although I don't know what it means, that our upcoming Ryder Cup captain can still win a non-senior PGA tournament. I was highly critical of Love after Medinah, and he's still a Tar Heel, but that's a nice accomplishment for him.

2. Related to No. 1, I think this result tells us a lot about how to gear expectations for Tiger Woods for the next several years. This was as well as he's played in 24 months of competitive golf, and he finished T-10. In a tournament won by a 51-year-old. With a field that featured not a single top 10 player, 3 of the top 20, and perhaps a dozen of the world's 50 highest ranked golfers. His game still needs to improve dramatically for him to even be a factor in the bigger tournaments going forward. I wish this result would be read that way by casual fans and TV execs, but I'm pretty confident it will instead be treated as evidence we still need to spend 10 minutes a night before the Majors forcing Brandel Chamblee and Frank Nobilo to discuss whether Tiger's someone to watch out for.

[elvis14]

I had two takeaways from this tournament, of which I watched zero shots, other than a Woods chip-in that was shown I kid you not 6 times during one hour of Sports Center:

1. It's interesting, although I don't know what it means, that our upcoming Ryder Cup captain can still win a non-senior PGA tournament. I was highly critical of Love after Medinah, and he's still a Tar Heel, but that's a nice accomplishment for him.

2. Related to No. 1, I think this result tells us a lot about how to gear expectations for Tiger Woods for the next several years. This was as well as he's played in 24 months of competitive golf, and he finished T-10. In a tournament won by a 51-year-old. With a field that featured not a single top 10 player, 3 of the top 20, and perhaps a dozen of the world's 50 highest ranked golfers. His game still needs to improve dramatically for him to even be a factor in the bigger tournaments going forward. I wish this result would be read that way by casual fans and TV execs, but I'm pretty confident it will instead be treated as evidence we still need to spend 10 minutes a night before the Majors forcing Brandel Chamblee and Frank Nobilo to discuss whether Tiger's someone to watch out for.

I wish, and have wished for years now that ESPN would cover golf properly. For years all they have covered is Tiger and whoever is kinda hot (Phil, Rory, Jordan). It's going to be hard for golf to keep the casual fan interested when they can't get their players covered properly. For example, Jason Day's story is fantastic. But he had to win a major before the casual fan heard much about him.

Anyway, I'm happy for DLIII (didn't even know he was a UNCheat), gives us older athletes hope :-)

[killerleft]

I take away a couple things, too.

1) Golf enables a good number of pro golfers to make many millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements. How much could it hurt them if they were required to play at each regularly scheduled tournament once every four years or so? Rory, Phil, Dustin, Bubba, etc., could help a lot of smaller events like Greensboro's shine a little brighter. The overall tour would possibly benefit. Most (if not all) tour stops use the profits from their events to fund charitable giving.

2) Maybe Tiger should put more of the smaller events on his schedule. He was treated like royalty at Sedgefield, and it must have felt good for him to have a crowd solidly behind him. His "brand" could use the good publicity as well.

[BD80]

...

Anyway, I'm happy for DLIII (didn't even know he was a UNCheat), gives us older athletes hope :-)

DLIII is OLD!

How old?

He went to unc BEFORE they were cheaters!!!!