Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Grooms
Tiger lied, who cares? Sergio complained, big deal.
I thought it was one on the best tournaments of the year. Sergio wanted to take Tiger down sooooo bad he took the ultimate gamble on the 71st hole, tied for the lead and came up a little short. That is awesome and makes for great Sunday afternoon entertainment. It's the rivalry between these two players that create the drama and that we all love to see go down Sunday afternoons.
Bad decision? If it was another player besides Tiger I believe Sergio might have played it differently but he wanted to take down his rival, the #1 player in the world Tiger Woods and win it right here. Could you imagine the noise the gallery would have made if he stuck that shot to 4 feet? Tiger would have seen and heard it all. That makes his tee shot on18/72 being 1 shot down a whole lot more difficult. I thought it was gutsy play.
I hope to see them in the final groups again soon...
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The way to take down your rival is to stay in the tournament with a chance to beat him until the very end. Sergio became impatient and his impatience cause him to make a very foolish play.
Do you think if the situation had been reversed that Tiger would have went at that pin? Can you imagine Jack Nicklaus going at that pin under the same circumstances? I think that you know the answer to both of those questions is NO. Jack, Tiger and thousands of other tour pros would have hit it over the bunker and hoped that it would trickle down to the hole or or gave themselves a chance to make birdie with a long putt. There are very few players that I've seen in my life that would have tried that shot under those conditions.
By hitting the ball in the water, Sergio took all the pressure off of Tiger on the 18th hole. Had Sergio made three on 17 and stayed tied for the lead, Tiger's whole mentality on 18 would have been different. And, Sergio would have come to the 18th tee with a chance to win the tournament outright or at least get into a playoff.
Like I said before, Mickelson at Wing Foot and Jean Van de Veldt come to mind when thinking about what Sergio did. The absolute epitome of stupidity.