It's really unbelievable, isn't it? He looks like he's shooting 80 and he ends up with 72.

Immelman had the week of his life, and deserved to win.

However, I'll say that Tiger showed again that he's in a league of his own by playing that badly and finishing second.

WW

Two years in a row he's finished second. It's almost as if he's just not motivated enough until the weekend.

I almost think he tries too hard to start the tourney then he settles down on the weekend. Also he didn't play bad, his ballstriking was great for the most part. He just got out putted by Immelman. Who'd of guessed that? He also was just 1 of 6 from the bunkers, heck if he was 5/6 he wins the tourney. It all came down to him (TW) not making the putts and Immelman making his.

Putting!!! His putting was off. When he makes all those short makable putts he kills the field. When he does not make those putts, he does not win.

Hands down he is the best putter on the planet. When he is on he dominates. When he does not putt well, he does not dominate. IMO

Dan

As Immelman says in his news conference: " It's (scary or frightening) what this guy is doing "

If he makes a few putts ... he wins ... It must be hard being TW

nobody plays for second
nobody remembers second

It does not matter...and most of all it does not matter to Eldrick.

His long game wasn't bad, his recovery shots were amazing (see #18 saturday and #13 sunday). His putting this week, and especially today, was the worst it has been in a while. Think about it, if Tiger makes 50% of the easier putts he missed sat and sun., he wins the masters by at least 2 strokes.

I think if anyone should complain about putting it was Phil. Tiger did not give up, while guys like Flech and Casey got down very quick at the first sign of adversity. How about not talking about Tiger for once and giving Trevor credit.

I'm glad you put almost in that post. Tiger and the phrase "not motivated enough" never...never...never...never...never...never should go together.

His putting was amazing early...he's cold right now. Do the math...if he avoids the three putts and makes the short birdie putt on 13...fifth green jacket.

Trevor did exactly what he needed to do...played great golf!

-mini

IF IF IF come on guys - If the Dog didn't stop for a Sh*t, it would have caught the rabbit !!!!

The guys good, but obviously he can't win everything. Lets give Trevor his dues, he played 3 great and 1 average round of golf! We all love seeing Tiger win, but isn't it nice to know he too is human.

Good topic ,plays like crop and gets second ,amazing .He is the only one on earth that does that .

Agree......

Don't get me wrong...i'm a TW fan...he is awesome. But i feel like theres gonna be a tendency to examine when he doesnt win, and view the Champion in the light of Tigers failings. All this talk of 'if he'd putted half decent' and even his statement "i holed nothing". He holed a bomb on 11 and a pretty long one on 18 - and thats only refering to the sunday back 9. (i didn't see his front 9). Yes he missed one or two tricky knee knockers....but everyone does - we just analyse his. Obviously the 18th was irrelevant in context....but it isn't over the course of a round ! Phil had more total putts
Even the slam talk was a bit annoying (i think to his credit he's acknowledged how the press have had him on this).... if u considered his Major winning ratio to be say 30% (its not actually as high as that, but given the level he' splaying at NOW and probably a good reflection of his mormal win ratio) the probability of a Calendar Grand slam in any given year is upwards of 1 in 100 !

Immelman deserves the plaundits..simple as that

Imo Tiger really let one go this week, and it wasn't really even his driving that cost him. Sure he hit a few wayward drives which he will always do because he tries to hit it too hard but they didn't really cost him. It was more his short game and putting that cost him. He had several poor shots around the greens, like on friday on 2 he is like 40 out and puts it in the bunker, and only 1/6 from bunkers, his bunker shot on 10 today was very average. Then besides the putt on 11 he made nothing of substance that I saw, missed a short one at 4, 13, 15, 16, three putt on 14. Just not a typical performance around the greens for Tiger. He easily hit it well enough to win in my opinion. Trevor deserved the win and he probably wouldn't have dunked it on 16 without such a big lead, but he certainly didn't get Tiger's best shot and I don't think anyone can argue that.

I think this is not about giving Trevor not the credit.
To me, it is still amazing what Tiger does. If he plays poorly it is still as good as a decent day for 95% of the guys on tour. Playing a "lousy" as he did and finishing in 2nd place at the masters is just sick. Mind, when you listened to the commentators you really had the impression that he was hitting is poorly. Yes he putted poorly, yes Trevor very much deserved to win but to see Tiger play like this - 6 starts, 4 wins, one 5th and one 2nd place - please name one player that comes even CLOSE, just a little CLOSE to this kind of steady performance. And people are talking about Cink and the guys being consistent - its not even close. What we are seeing - even thou he does not win every single one he enters (and he shouldn't for the sake of the game and viewers) - is by far the most advanced golf ever seen. If he can keep this kind of "average" game (which is by far and away better than his average game in 2000/2001) - god lord, we are in for a ride.

But congrats to Trevor for playing 3 perfect rounds and one good-enough-one. His win was well deserved but to me, tigers consistency is more impressive than a masters victory.

Tiger himself said he was hitting the ball very well (that is not playing like crap). It was his putting that let him down.

Sheesh...some days they drop, some days they don't. Golf doesn't care if your name is Tiger Woods or Joe Six-Pack. That's golf.

He didn't play like "crap". Immelman played great. Give the guy his due.

Not true. Jack has a ton of seconds and is remembered for that. when it is all said in done, he'll be compared against Jack on seconds, too.

Hey if Phil had putted well he would have won.


Well would have , could have , should have.


Tiger lost this one because he did not play well enough . I also agree second means nothing to him. Its like kissing your sister .

Be sure to bring this up when people mention Jack's record of second places.
On one hand, I agree, second is the first loser. On the other hand, this shows how close Jack and Tiger came to adding yet another first place finish.

I actually think that he focuses a little too much (if there is such a thing). Maybe I should say that he's too deliberate. Have you noticed in the last couple of years, particularly at the Masters how Tiger seems to play a lot slower than normal? Maybe it's just me, but I don't remember him doing that. Also, if there is anything that gets to him more than anything else, it seems to be swirling winds. As others have said, it was his putting that costed him, but those winds, not only make him grind harder, but forces him to a more precise shot.



Tiger easily should've been in a playoff with Immelman if he makes those short putts that he normally doesn't miss. Again, not taking anything away from Immelman, but the story could be a whole lot different.

Augusta National coupled with mother nature beat everyone in the field except Trevor simple as that.

No



Yes!



I really would have loved to see it the other way around. Immelman playing in front of Woods, and Woods trailing by 4 with 9 to play. Tiger makes some birdies coming down the stretch.. then we'd see what Immelman is really made of.

But, that scenario wouldn't happen....

Trevor is getting "his dues" in all the Trevor threads... This thread is talking about a guy that started 6 shots back with 5(?) people ahead of him... putted incredibly poorly in his standards, and STILL came second...

This is a thread TALKING/DISCUSSION about Tiger still coming second... its NOT about taking anything away from Trevor...

If it wasnt "TIGER" we were talking about would this thread be OK in some peoples eyes??? Hmmm....

If it were anyone else saying they would have won had they made the putts we would be laughing at them. If Snedeker would have made some putts he would have won, same with anyone in the top 5. I mean this is like me saying if I was faster and stronger I would be a professional football player. In fact if it had been any other player on tour we would be talking about how the choaked by missing all of those "makeable" putts.

Truth of the matter is, he shot one of the better rounds of the day and the field came back to him. The difference is, he usually does somthign like this on Saturday and that is when he dominates.

I did talk about his choking and he was

Ken

Sorry, I have ADD and don't read 99% of the posts before I rant.

Once again Tiger didn't play like crap, tee to green he was great (he even said so himself), just like Immelman. He flat out putted poorly, that 4 footer on 13 didn't even scare the hole. How many times do you see that from Tiger? Immelman putted great and Tiger (although he made a couple bombs on 11 and 18) putted poorly, that was the difference. I should say Tiger putted poorly for him, his standards are obviously the best if not one of the top few in the world in putting.

13 was awful and how bad was the putt on 16? He didn't seem to read the greens well at all. He had numerous putts that were WAY off line.

When all is said and done, tiger had one of the more impressive masters compared to the rest. All of his rounds were par or better, that is pretty impressive. He made up some shots the last day, and honestly it looked like trevor was on the verge to collapse after he had a bogey or a double(dont remember) on either 15 or 16. However, he held it together. There were what, 3 or 4 others ahead of Tiger going into the final round and he caught all but one. I think its about time someone doesn't fold when the pressure is on. Tiger finishing second honestly could be better for him in the long run, it will motivate him to get even better.

I found it amazing that Tiger, who played poorly for his standards, still pulled off second. He missed numerous birdie putts that he would normally make and he had quite a few shots off of the pine needles, through the trees due to errant drives and yet he still came in second. I do not want to detract from Immelman's win, as he had an amazing week and came in first, but Tiger had a lousy week and came in second.

Dont forget the roundes played by Snedeker, Flesch and Casey who shot resepctively +5 +6 and +7 the last round. So yea, Tiger reached 2. with a round on Par, but had the above mentioned players played on par, Tiger would finish 5th. This can go on for hours on end, but point being that Tiger didnt get to 2nd by his own play, but rather because of others bad play

That shows hard conditions too, not just inexperience

GIR's

T. Woods 11 / 18 = 61.11% 12 / 18 = 66.67% 15 / 18 = 83.33% 12 / 18 = 66.67% 50 / 72 = 69.44% Tiger was seventh

Driving accuracy

T. Woods 10 / 14 = 71.43% 8 / 14 = 57.14% 11 / 14 = 78.57% 9 / 14 = 64.29% 38 / 56 = 67.86% I think this is 34th

Driving Distance
T. Woods 298.00 280.00 287.00 270.50 283.88 Eleventh

Note Phil beat him in each of these Categorys and Trevor destroyed him


Putting
T. Woods 1.56 1.72 (1) 1.72 1.67 (1) 1.67 (2) hey Tiger was 35th He finally beat Phil at something

The bottom line was tee to green was about average Tiger and Immelman destroyed him there (please do not make me post Tigers year to date stats they would be similar to this)

Tiger being out played tee to green by several players was pressing with the putter and the magic said no.

I honestly believe he was choking like a dog the back nine with the putter, which only proves he is human .

Please try and get over it Tiger fans he finished second its like close . Good in only horseshoes and hand grenades.

You know what Tiger would agree with me.

Here are the facts!!

Tiger did not play horrible!

7th in greens in regulation with 69.44%, and that is barely 1% less than Mickleson who was second. If that is horrible than he is horrible every week.

He may have only hit 67.86% of the fairways, but that is about the same as other so called bombers like Cabrera, Mickleson and such.....

Tie for 29th in putting with 1.67 per hole and only 2 three putts, only 4 guys who made the cut had fewer 3 putts with 1.

None of the above are horrible, they were just not good enough this week.

And that is a fact!!