No Weekend For Tiger

Big news. Tiger Woods won’t be playing in The Open at Turnberry this weekend. This is only the second time that Tiger has failed to make the cut for a major event. The first time was back in 2006, at the U.S. Open, which many have attributed to the fact that his beloved father had passed away only a short time before.

Overall Tiger has only missed six cuts in his entire professional career, and mind you, he’s played in over 200 events. He has missed a few other cuts, but those were during his years as an amateur. According to PGA.com Woods has played in 245 events, and made 231 cuts, I’m assuming this is amateur and professional combined.

But the stat that sticks out for me isn’t the cuts made, which is astounding, it is the “Top 25″ finishes, 205. In the 245 events Woods has played in, he’s finished in the Top 25 205 times. Now for fun, I looked at Phil Mickelson’s profile, he’s played in 396 events, once again still assuming professional and amateur, and he’s finished in the top 25 only 14 more times.

So in 151 more events, Mickelson has finished in the top 25 only 14 more times, that is amazing to me. It’s statistics such as these that make Tiger’s career so impressive. Its not only the wins, the comebacks, the unbelievable shots, the breath-taking putts, but his overall dominance of the sport.

Not just his dominance of the sport, but his dominance over the audience as well. You can almost bet your life that ABC/ESPN was holding every breath throughout Tiger’s horrendous back nine. Just envision the panic running rampant in the minds of sports producers everywhere.

Because they, like almost everyone else, knew that without Tiger playing this weekend, their ratings would free-fall. The chance to get a glimpse of Tiger performing his magic on the course, is after all, what pulls viewers in. Heck, I’m one of those people. Is Tiger in contention? No? Time for some video games. Tiger is in contention? Flip to the channel.

I always root for him, I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for him to pull the “rabbit out of his hat”. He’s fun to watch, and he makes a game that generally lacks a lot of excitement, very exciting.

Of course, now that he’s missed the cut, many are questioning everything about it. Is he finally losing his touch? Is he done dominating? He doesn’t look comfortable, this just isn’t Tiger.

I have this to say. It’s golf, and even Tiger is human. Michael Wilbon said it the best. “It’s golf”. He’s not losing his touch, he’s still Tiger Woods, but this is golf, not everything can go your way every tournament every year. That just doesn’t happen, even guys like Palmer had their off-tournaments.

And you can bet anything that Tiger is taking this harder than anyone might imagine. I just can’t visualize him sitting on his couch at home watching Watson hold on to the lead. He’s practicing, working on his swing, and preparing for his next tournament. Still trying to get back to 100%.

I’m rootin’ for ya Tiger, you haven’t won your last major, you’re not over the hill. You’re just playing golf, one of the most frustrating games in the world, and every once in a while you get beat. Welcome to the world of everyone else, where golf beats us all the time.