Yeah but I was too much of a Tiger fan for too long, and I’m pretty confident he’s not racist and Trumpy in his politics. But you never know I guess.
Crazy coincidence you managed to have a Cam Smith picture in there!
Wait what?
I don’t think Tiger is racist, sexist, hates immigrants, hates LGBTQ people, pro life, etc.
Pretty sure he’s not turning down a president, a former president, or a candidate for president for a round of golf.
I kinda like the ironic bogan look, it’s somewhat of thing in Australia. I just don’t like Cam because he putts too well, you can’t like someone that makes every putt.
Cam’s putting was completely outrageous. He gained 8 shots on the greens relative to Rory. Complete outlier and totally unsustainable. Bleh. Rory didn’t go get it, 14 in particular was a disaster.
The crazy thing is, Rory’s approach was pretty similar to what won Jack a bunch of majors: don’t blow it, let everyone else make mistakes. He finished at -18, but if he needed -19 instead he probably gets it by putting from off 18 green instead of chipping, and leaving himself a shorter birdie putt.
Tiger told the broadcast crew via text before the round that -19 would do it and his approach in that spot would be: no three putts, no bunkers, get your birdies on the par 5’s and drivable 4’s.
Yea it’s hard to fault Rory too much for his game today, pretty bad luck that he can’t get any putt to drop while Cam was the opposite. But he also seems to never be able to get a clutch putt to drop…
This is golf in 2022 with a lot better technology. Waiting for other guys to blow it is still likely to be somewhat successful but not as much. The PGA was an example where it still worked for JT. The other 3 this year not so much.
And ya hovland should take way more heat but he won’t. Rory didn’t play that bad but but obviously didn’t make any putts. Cam Smith did. Some of that is variance and some of it is that Cam Smith is a way better putter on a course where putting is probabaly the most important skill.
Yeah Rory not getting another birdie on 9, 12, or 14 and not driving the green on 18 were the real killers. I guess that’s bad luck on his drives but both Cams basically outdid him on the drives that made the most difference in scoring
That’s a good point. But today the odds the winner came from the Rory/Hovland group had to be like 90% and Hovland blew it, so Rory was in this weird spot where he was just in protect mode all day then had to flip the switch with like 6 holes left and that’s sooo hard to do.
I mean i honestly feel bad for Rory. Becauae I think he thought he was going to cruise to victory absent any big mistakes. And he executed and didnt make any. In the situation where he shoots 70 and Hovland implodes his win equity is probably close to where you say. 80-90%. He ran into the bad end of variance where at least one (and two in this case) had a long tail outcome and it wasn’t enough. Honestly if he could have the choice to replay the round or take the given that he would shoot 70 and Hovland wouldn’t compete then I would think he should definitely take it.
Yup, agree with all of that - and I think he shoots 69 if that’s what he needs instead of 68. Put him in that same position short of the green on 18, but he needs birdie instead of eagle, and he’s going to end up inside 10 feet ~always and often inside 6 feet.
I think golf is just insanely sick right now too both with talent and the obvious tech advantages. Riverman rightfully says Cam Smith’s putting isn’t sustainable. And he is right. BUT in 2022 with 25-30 legit superstar players being the hottest putter is often going to be how you win one of these. Rory not being (at least recently) capable of having a super hot putting week is why he has had a hard time winning majors.
Prime Tiger wouldn’t dominate these fields. Im not sure anyone realistically can.
Yeah that’s definitely true too. The equipment advances have made it a lot easier to reduce the big misses with long clubs and also allow the guys with less swing speed to somewhat keep up in distance. You could also fine tune your equipment heading into a given week to have certain clubs set up to spin less, be flighted lower, etc. So the best putter under pressure who is losing edge elsewhere can minimize those gaps, whereas there’s not much you can do about putting under pressure - with the exception of certain drugs, which I assume to the extent they’re allowed, they’re all using.
Pretty strong rumor that Cam Smith is going to LIV golf now, and he wouldn’t dismiss it. Can I hate him now?
Everyone gonna be on LIV in like 24 months so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.