Tiger does it again – How does he do it?

More heroics for the Tiger Woods fans’ scrapbook. A spectacular closing golf round of 65 capped off by birdies on 3 of the last four holes and the now almost expected finish - a mid-iron from 183 yards, up hill to 1’ 2” and then sinking the birdie putt he needed to win by one. If it had been 18 feet, we all know that the outcome would have been the same.

What really won the Memorial for Tiger? First, let’s agree that Jack’s course is the most difficult non-major venue. As I believe Mark Lye said during the Golf Channel coverage: “There are lot’s of X’s waiting out there.” Not only lost balls in the lush woods that line every fairway but WATER and lots of it. The stream that meanders through Jack’s property comes fully into play on 11 of the 18 holes and is a factor near or around 9 of the 18 greens.

Some years ago I had the opportunity to walk Muirfield, following Jack for all 18 holes of the Wednesday ProAm. I was fortunate to be able to get close to almost every tee and get a golfer’s eye view of the shots presented. They are relentlessly daunting and intimidating! Much more so than even the TPC Sawgrass.

OK, we’re in agreement – Muirfield is a very hard golf course. Tiger worked his way around Jack’s labyrinth flawlessly. He was 2^nd in Fairways Hit – not a golf statistic that I normally like – but in this case it is meaningful. Although the rough was cut lower, there are almost no good places to land a tee shot that are not in the fairway. Of equal importance, in Tiger’s seven fairways missed there was not a single mistake or penalty situation. The closest Tiger came to an error off the tee was on the Par 5, 7^th hole in the 3^rd round. His tee shot found a deep fairway bunker from which he could only advance the ball 140 yards leaving him 159 from the green. No worries from there as he hit the green and 2-putted from 15 feet for par.

Once safely in play off the tee, Tiger did what winners tend to do – he hit greens. He was tied for 3^rd in this important statistic, averaging 13.25 GIR’s per round. Never one to diminish Tiger’s short game or putting but in my opinion, on this difficult golf course, it was Tiger’s long game that was clearly the difference. One more point, Tiger’s win was made possible by another very Jack-like feat. He managed the 2^nd round, when he was not playing particularly well (only hitting 11greens), to an acceptable 74. Another trait of the best of the best, they find away to fight through the “bad” days.