A few weeks ago Tiger Woods added to his already phenomenal career with an incredible win at the U.S. Open. I began watching the tournament on Friday. Because it was at Torrey Pines on the West Coast I had the luxery of being able to take advantage of the 3 hour time difference to watch most of the round in full at night on the east coast. Tiger had a few incredible birdies on the back nine to put himself in contention. Mind you he was playing on bad knee and leg...Saturday was more of the same. Woods held strong and stayed in contention by continuing to hit incredible shots at opportune times.
Then we come to Sunday...Woods was on the 18th hole and was down one stroke to Rocco Mediate. If he made the birdie they would go to a playoff round the next day and if he missed the birdie putt Rocco would be the U.S. Open champion for 2008. Talk about pressure!! Anyways Tiger took his time, studied the putt and buried it. The roar that he let out along with the crowd was priceless. Seeing him yet again in the clutch come through really brought a smile to my face. It's really awesome to see great athletes perform at their best under pressure. Rocco said as the putt went in, " I knew he'd make it." Tiger just has the knack for making the key shots time and time again.
Watching the playoff round on Monday was soo exciting. Tiger was in control for most of the round until Rocco started hitting key shots on the last few holes and Tiger had some bogeys. With a couple of holes to play Tiger was down one to Rocco. Yet again Tiger made a key putt on the 18th hole to push the playoff into a sudden death overtime where Tiger was able to beat Rocco on the first hole.
Rocco put up a valiant effort and for that he should be applauded. However Tiger should be applauded as well. He basically won the U.S. open on a broken leg. It's incredible that he was able to fight through it and still beat the best players out there when he was far from at his best. It just shows the true champion and how much better he really is than everyone else on the tour.
Tiger announced he will be getting surgery to fix his leg/knee and will be out the rest of the season. This is sad in a sense because Tiger is such a big draw for the Tour and him not playing for the rest of the season will definitely hurt TV ratings. However it is a chance for others to step up and make a name for themselves in his absence.
This surgery will only make Tiger better as he stated he hasn't felt healthy in 10 years! He really is an exciting player to watch and I enjoy every moment of it. I liken him to Michael Jordan as he has that "it" presence about him where you become entranced by every shot he take and it can be really exciting when he is in contention for a major.
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