For many of you the return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf this week at Torrey Pines (was originally called "The Andy Williams San Diego Open Invitational " back in 1968 when Tom Weiskopf won the first one, it's now on it's 9th title " The Farmers Insurance Open" ) will be the first time you pay any attention to golf in 2011, it isn't of any interest to many of you unless Tiger is playing...
No number of great stories, like Jhonattan Vegas overcoming the odds to become the first Venezuelan to win on the PGA tour to qualify for the Masters, or Martin Kaymer's stunning 8 shot win over a world class field in Abu Dhabi etc etc are of any interest, just Tiger.
For those of you who read all my stuff or listen to me on the radio you will know that I say there is good and bad in that. Good that Tiger draws attention from all fans to our sport, bad that our sport does not matter unless Tiger is playing and you know that my stance is that is bad for golf now and in the long run.
However the recent well documented change in power in world golf from the PGA tour to the European tour and the emergence of the best players in the world from that tour has only added spice to the ballyhoo you will experience with Tiger's return on Thursday.
It was of great enough interest to see how he is driving it, pitching and putting it, especially on 2 courses and in a tournament he has won 6 times, but more importantly now he has a mountain to climb.
No longer does he strike fear into the heart of the rest of the field, in fact at times last year there was empathy from his fellow pros, many of whom like Martin Kaymer this weekend still call him "the greatest player in the world"
No longer does he command our unmitigated respect and admiration for him as a man and all he stood for as his all too human personal life and his gradual recovery from it unravels in front of us.
No longer is he #1 or #2 in the world and guys he is not even close to being #3 or even #53..
Here are some facts from 2010.. Driving Accuracy 165th, GIR 167th, Scoring Average 138th, Sand Saves 123rd, Total Driving 192nd, Putts per round 58th, GIR fron fairway bunkers 149th, Total Eagles 122nd, Total Birdies 184th, Money List 68th etc etc..
Any of that sound like a world #3 ? In 2009 he was 1st in many of these categories.. How far his game has fallen.
Here is the new top 10 in the world
1 Lee Westwood, Eng 8.69 399.85 46 -25.10 0.00
2 Martin Kaymer, Deu 8.09 388.43 48 -23.37 56.00
3 Tiger Woods, USA 7.13 285.03 40 -30.23 0.00
4 Graeme McDowell, Nir 6.42 359.24 56 -13.85 39.60
5 Steve Stricker, USA 6.02 258.94 43 -23.84 19.98
6 Phil Mickelson, USA 5.99 263.63 44 -26.57 2.02
7 Rory McIlroy, Nir 5.93 319.96 54 -21.41 33.60
8 Jim Furyk, USA 5.65 271.04 48 -21.99 7.00
9 Paul Casey, Eng 5.63 247.73 44 -21.51 3.92
10 Luke Donald, Eng
None of them except for Phil Mickelson are in the field this week ( incidentally all 5 of our Canucks are ) and we won't see Tiger up against the likes of McDowell, Kaymer or Westwood for 3 weeks when he goes to the middle east to play in Dubai. After that, they come over to play in the WGC Matchplay in late February or the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral in the 2nd week of March when the European tour guys start their run over here for the Masters..
Remember how Graeme McDowell stuffed Tiger right in his own Chevron tournament late last year.!!
You see he has a mountain to climb now, and with the new world order it is going to be fascinating to watch him climb it, or fall on his arse trying...
Note : Congratulations are in order to Rod Spittle our Canuck on the Champions Tour for his T16 at the Mitsubishi in Hawaii... John Cook birdied 5 holes in a row to beat Tom Lehman., and to Dion Sirianni of Kamloops who tied for 25th place at the Asian Tour’s qualifying tournament in Thailand on Saturday to earn full playing privileges for 2011
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