It looks like Tiger is now getting comfortable with his SQ Tour, just like he did the old Ignite at the end of its run. It appears it takes about 9 months or so. Obviously the results are making for boring Tournament coverage. Tiger doesn't appear to "switch" clubs too often with the exception of the driver. I remember all the howling about how the SQ had "ruined" his game when compared to how he was doing at the end with the Ignite and how the Ignite had "ruined" his game compared to its predecessor. Now I suppose we can await the latest he needs to go back to the SQ diatribe when Nike gets a SUMO (or2) in his hands. But this should give the rest of the field a leg up for a few months while he learns to control this new club. It does appear to be the only club that Nike really wants him to stay up to date with---for obvious reasons. Think of how fast he would set more records if he wasn't "hindered" by the latest technology.



The Ryder Cup being exempt from this theory of course

The PGA has to hope he switches.. in which case they have 9 months to win some tournaments before he figures out the SUMO or SUMO2

There is only one athlete who can stop Tiger.




Tonya Harding.

There is a backup kicker on some college team that is right up there with her..maybe even better since he used a gun and did it himself... Anyways Mr Woods needs a family and some sleepless nights so his "B" game will be around more often.

Geez! If this is his "B" game, the 2007 PGA season will be a rout...

Re-working his swing would also slow him down for a while until the changes take hold. This occuring in the next couple of years though is certainly less than likely.

But the driver always is the last thing to come around regardless of whether there is swing reworking or just a new driver.

Without opening a can of worms, maybe some of the guys on the Euro Ryder Cup team could challenge Tiger. After all, they played so well last week. Monty, Sergio, Westwood, Clarke, Donald, etc.

I'd like to see someone challenge Tiger. It's difficult to tune in to watch the back 9 on Sunday when he has a huge lead. In fact, I left Medinah (PGA Championship) this year on Sunday after he birdied #7 to go up by 4 or 5. I figured I could watch the back nine at my uncle's house on the hi-def flat panel and drink free beer while sitting in the A/C. Sergio, Luke Donald, etc. failed to keep up and I personally lost interest.

yea, it's hard to keep up for everybody, especially when a 350 yards Par 4 turned into a Par 3.

This may not be the most popular reply, but I love to see Tiger kick everone's a**! I don't ever get bored with it. I just think it's cool to be living in a time period when probably the greatest golfer ever is in his prime. To me, being in the presence of greatness doesn't equate to boredom. Just my $.02

yes, i agree!!

I too enjoy watching Tiger's domination. Having said that, I totally understand why those folks that aren't Tiger fans don't enjoy it. I'd like to see him win a couple of more majors next year to have Jack's record very much in his sights. He drove the ball so well this week, I'm very optimistic.

Now I kind of get why it was so fun to be a Chicago Bulls fan in the 90s. I really disliked Jordan for awhile and was irritated at how much hardware he garnered. And, as a former Knicks/Patrick Ewing fan, I can understand why watching Woods can be so frustrating (I still cringe over those playoff series).

Anyone who watched the 1995-96 Bulls go 72-10 and said, "hey, that's pretty cool", should be able to appreciate Tiger's current mastery of the game. You really never know what new and astounding thing he might do in a golf tournament.

Sadly, though, I missed out on TW's 2000 season, so hopefully there's even higher mountains for Woods to climb.

As for any of the Ryder Cuppers challenging Woods, I just don't see it. 18 hole matches, anything can happen. 72 holes, though, will really unveil any flaw or inconsistency you have. And everyone's weaknesses start to look huge when head to head with Woods.

Montgomery -- his best golf is really behind him. His mental discipline and control are probably better than ever, but his physical talents are simply on the wane.

Garcia -- too many psychological scars. Streaky putting and a shaky temperament over 4 days. Even if he does win a major, he just won't be a threat to Woods on a weekly or even monthly basis.

Donald -- not enough scoreboard firepower. Never makes many mistakes, but just doesn't tend to light up a scoreboard often enough to win in bunches. Getting bulldozed at the PGA can't have helped his confidence in chasing Tiger, either.

Paul Casey -- yeah, he's only 29 or so, but he's been a pro for years. He's a great golfer, but if he was going to be record-book-worthy he'd have shown us more by now.

And that's really it . . . if anyone currently on tour with 4 or more years of professional playing experience was going to challenge Woods, they would have shown those flashes already. And sure, people will beat Woods here or there, but to be a guy that gets it done or even comes close consistently, I just don't see it from anyone that's out there right now. Vijay and Phil have each taken turns doing a nice job for a season at a time, but not over the course of years.

Does anyone else think that Tiger is golf's version of Schumacher and golf is the new F1 because of him?

Don't get me wrong, I think Tiger is the greatest golfer of this era, and perhaps of all time. We'll see what happens over the next 5-10 years or so and whether or not he eclipses Jack's records. I think he's a great player and ambassador for the game. I'm not a Tiger hater by any stretch.

I just want to see some excitement coming down the stretch. Nobody can convince me that Sunday at the PGA was more exciting than the US Open. I give Tiger all the credit for being a finisher when he has the lead. And that's why I change the channel (or fall asleep) when I know what's going to happen.

Just my .02.

Not even close to being comparable.

One has talent far beyond his competition and when that talent is peaking, the rest of the field gets complacent trying to muster up the will to take 2nd place.

The other has talent, there is no doubt, but his sport was ruined by technology, constant changing of the rules, big budgets that dwarf competition, and a guy named Bernie.

Something can be done to remedy the dominance of Tiger, short of holding every race in unpredictable weather, nothing can be done to alter the world's most expensive high speed parade.

My 11-year-old son is into all types of sports. However much to my dismay he does not enjoy golf (yet). He excels in basketball and baseball and can appreciate a good performance on the playing field. With that being said, I have started to make him watch Tiger play on television for a few minutes especially on Sunday afternoons when he is in contention. My reasoning is that I know that someday he will appreciate watching and remember just how dominate a person in sports can be, also adding to that the positive impact he has off the course. My son follows a lot of other players in many different sports and in comparison to today’s current crop of players in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and except maybe for tennis, there is no other (male) individual that has such a impact while in the field over the last ten years in professional sports.
With all the scandals and tainted story lines in other sports I often cringe when we watch Sports Center on TV together. With that I hope that he will appreciate even more the positive spin that TW is having in his dominance in the world of Golf. I am by no means a TW worshiper and I always try to lead my son through positive examples, I hope to that end that my son will take some of those positive influences that TW has had and make them his own.

Only if the regular tournaments were team events would those Euros have a chance. As long as the golf tournaments remain individual medal events they don't stand much of a chance. Remember the fabulously untapped 19 year old Sergio is now 26+.

I think Tiger has proved he is among the greatest "ME" golfers and only an average team golfer over the last 10 years. If you look Jack Nicklaus wasn't the best team golfer over the years either (I think Casper, Palmer, Trevino, Wadkins all had more points than Jack did in the Ryder Cup). It will be interesting to see if Tiger can keep his almost 25% winning percentage going (I think Jack had 12%).

interesting comment about the only thing to keep tiger back is Nike and its drivers, lol. as of right now I don't feel like anyone can keep up with tiger besides the people that have done it in the past on a fairly consistant basis, but even now those aren't close (VJ - 1 word putter, Phil - one word brain). i don't see any young players that are super promising in keeping up with tiger (only exception i would like to see is Ryan Moore but injuries have slowed his season, but with his amatuer run a few years ago we can see he has the ability just needs the adjustment period to the PGA i think). but besides that tiger will win all he wants to, i think, and there is very little anyone (besides Nike ) can do about it.

What's scary this week is that he drove the ball so well.

And beat VJ by 31 shots....thanks for showing up Veej.

I should also add, while a new Nike driver appears to hold Tiger back while he gets used to it, anyone's driver would also do the same thing. If he were with Taylor Made for example and tried to keep up with their new product introductions I doubt he would ever get used to a driver.

- 17 events (not including tavistock cup and ryder cup)
- 9 - 1st places (two majors)
- 1 - 2nd place
- 1 - 3rd place (major)
- 1 - WD
- 1 - MC

i wouldn't really say it was that bad of year while "strugling" with the driver. plus, he seem to the sq tour figured out pretty quickly since its only been in the bag a couple of monthes.

with that said, i don't think nike is going to force the sumo as much as the sq.

The "bad" year was mostly up to the Western Open in July. And the bad was his 30-50% fairway accuracy numbers during that time---don't forget he actually started with the SQ Tour then switched and then switched back with a slight stumble thrown in with the Bi Matrix shaft. Although people go on and on about accuracy not mattering, it is very obvious what he does to the field when he gets anywhere near 70% accuracy. Since Nike is in the business to sell clubs I'm sure they will encourage him to play a SUMO. It gives the product credibility and draws in the Tiger wannabees.

are you sure he started with the sq tour? i could have sworn when he made the switch we (the forums) made a big deal about him not using the sq tour but instead using the sq max (which may have been the sq max or sq max tour).

however, you are correct, when he is hitting 70% of the fairways, what he is doing to the fields should be criminal.

also, he has become better going back to the diamana

getting back to the original question...

how about a set of twins to keep him up at night?

Actually he started with the SQ Tour (which didn't last very long), then went to the unavailable at retail SQ Max Tour (had an opportunity to get one but didn't take it) which resembled the SQ Max. Started with Diamana in SQ Tour and SQ Max Tour then made the switch to the Bi-Matrix (which gave everyone at that shaft company the vapors) dumped that went back to the SQ Tour with a Diamana where he is today.

Definitely agree with this !

Even I know that most likely Tiger would win, I still watched the whole telecast just to see his brilliance.

Tiger doesn't even need the driver to dominate the competition See: Hoylake

(Whoa! I'm using Firefox 2.0RC1 and the automatic spell checker just showed up for the first time on "Hoylake" Cool!)

As far as the Euro's who might challenge: Sergio? Too obsessed with Tiger to beat him. I think the yellow suit on Sunday was his way of waving the white flag. Monty? He's already resigned himself to the fact that he can't be Tiger in a major. Donald? Not enough length, especially on major courses

I agree with those that like to watch Tiger dominate a tournament. He is our generation's Ali. Someday we will all tell our grandkids about seeing Tiger during the height of his career.

agree...but how about our generations nicklaus

I think Ali is a good comparison because Ali transcended his sport, very much like Tiger does today. Nicklaus was the greatest golfer of all time (well until Tiger will shatter his records in the next 5 years) but he never trascended his sport.

Only few legends did...Ali, Borg, MJ and now Tiger. They are truly global superstars.

Tiger is the best golfer I have ever seen. But...he is only 1/2 way to Byron Nelson's record of consecutive tour wins and still a few majors away from Jack's record.

Tiger is great...but don't forget about all the other great golfers before him. He is still chasing them. Until he knocks off Jack's record of majors I still say Nicklaus is the best of all time. Nicklaus also had 72 top ten finishes in majors...72! That is quite an accomplishemnt.


-Steve

Tigers inconsistancy for a while had nothing to do with him changing clubs, you look at his swing then and his swing now, they are completely different. Its much more rounded off and rythmic now. He stays on plane throughout the entire swing rather then just from start to impact.

These guys just care about the top 125 if they change the rule I would say a bunch of the young kids and do you think they had the highest purse on Nationwide tour event the same week as the US open qualifier strange... funny how that happened.

They know these kids can flat out play