duncan228
04-06-2009, 11:08 AM
Tiger Woods 'can make you melt' (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/woods-tiger-shot-2355290-pga-play)
Whicker: The toughest place in golf is being paired with Tiger Woods on Sunday, particularly at a major that he has a chance to win.
Mark Whicker
AUGUSTA, Ga. - For an hour before He arrived, the first tee at the WGC-World Match Play was like the office water cooler.
Justin Leonard chatted with PGA Tour officials. Spectators marched right past Hunter Mahan. Soren Kjeldsen talked to the announcer, just to get the name straight.
Then came Tiger Woods. Ever had a TV crew shoot a commercial in your neighborhood? That's what this was. Cops. Tournament officials penning the writers inside two white chalk lines on the cart path. Thousands of people appearing suddenly, as if they'd been hiding behind cacti. A line of photographers from the tee box to the beginning of the fairway.
It is a harsh habitat, kind of like Antarctica. Only one animal feels at home there.
Unfortunately, to beat Tiger Woods, you must enter that forbidding world.
You must play in his group, as Sean O'Hair did at Bay Hill two weekends ago. O'Hair's 5-stroke lead froze like a chapter from Jack London. He shot 73. Woods shot 67. Guess who won?
NBC's Johnny Miller, as usual, was pitch-perfect: "Tiger's like the sun and you're like the butter. He has the ability to make you melt."
"To succeed in the same group with Tiger," said Dr. Ken Ravizza, the sports psychologist, "you have to prepare for it. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable."
It must be noted that Tiger is to the sports psychology business what slush is to the boot business.
To appreciate just how skittish one gets in Tiger's lair on Sunday, one must realize just how solitary most PGA Tour rounds are. Most players, most weeks, walk with nobody except relatives and friends. They see crowds encircling an occasional green, but their games usually go unwitnessed.
When paired with Tiger they invariably talk about how unnatural it is, and add, "I don't see how he does it every round."
Well, he has never done anything else. He has grown up as Elvis. Here at Augusta National, where Tiger has won four times, the people are two-deep behind every inch of rope.
Like Nicklaus and Palmer before him, Woods owns his own roar, a distinctive hurrah that drifts through the magnolias and tells people 10 holes away, like a town crier, that Woods has either birdied or eagles or holed out doing so.
At the '07 PGA in Tulsa, Stephen Ames was Woods' "partner," as if they were cooperating on a science project, and Ames shot 76 on Sunday. He had shot 68-69-69 previously. At the '99 PGA in Chicago, Mike Weir and Woods were tied for the Saturday lead, so they played together Sunday. Weir shot 80, Woods 72.
Same place, seven years later. Luke Donald tied Woods after three rounds, said all the right things, looked forward to his turn in the MRI. Woods shot 70, Donald 76.
This phenomenon goes back to Woods' breakout 1997 Masters victory. Woods led by nine going into Sunday, which meant choking really wasn't an option for anybody else. He played with Costantino Rocca. Woods shot 69, Rocca 75.
Three guys have deflected Tiger's glare, up close in majors. Rocco Mediate last year at the Torrey Pines Open. Chris DiMarco, at Augusta in 2005. And Bob May, at the PGA in 2000. DiMarco and May took Woods into a playoff and Mediate took Woods into an extra hole in a playoff. None won.
In fact, U. of North Carolina professors Richard Rendleman and Robert Connolly wrote a thesis on "Dominance, Intimidation and Choking On the PGA Tour." They found that players paired with Woods in all rounds between '98 and '01 played nearly a half-stroke worse than usual. That figure rose to 0.857 stokes higher when playing with Tiger in the final round of a tournament.
Woods first had a shot at winning a PGA Tour event at Quad City in '96, and lost to Ed Fiori while playing alongside him. In '98 he lost an L.A. Open playoff to Billy Mayfair.
And players have often won when Woods is merely in the vicinity. Rich Beem took the '02 PGA while hearing the reverberations from Tiger, up front, with birdies on the final four holes. Zach Johnson was in front of Tiger in the '07 Masters, Trevor Immelman ahead of him last year. Both won.
There is an undeniable force field around Woods that interferes with your reception. It's difficult to love your own game when you can't stop watching his.
"You have to play the course, because you know Tiger is playing the course," Ravizza said. "You can't get caught up in the result, just the process.
"You hit the shot and then enjoy the walk. Don't think about anything until you get to the ball. You've gotten to this point because of your ability, so just play like you can play. And there are no expectations on you, only Tiger."
Does Ravizza play golf?
"Every now and then, but not often, because it drives me crazy," he said.
With Tiger around, it's a short drive.
Whicker: The toughest place in golf is being paired with Tiger Woods on Sunday, particularly at a major that he has a chance to win.
Mark Whicker
AUGUSTA, Ga. - For an hour before He arrived, the first tee at the WGC-World Match Play was like the office water cooler.
Justin Leonard chatted with PGA Tour officials. Spectators marched right past Hunter Mahan. Soren Kjeldsen talked to the announcer, just to get the name straight.
Then came Tiger Woods. Ever had a TV crew shoot a commercial in your neighborhood? That's what this was. Cops. Tournament officials penning the writers inside two white chalk lines on the cart path. Thousands of people appearing suddenly, as if they'd been hiding behind cacti. A line of photographers from the tee box to the beginning of the fairway.
It is a harsh habitat, kind of like Antarctica. Only one animal feels at home there.
Unfortunately, to beat Tiger Woods, you must enter that forbidding world.
You must play in his group, as Sean O'Hair did at Bay Hill two weekends ago. O'Hair's 5-stroke lead froze like a chapter from Jack London. He shot 73. Woods shot 67. Guess who won?
NBC's Johnny Miller, as usual, was pitch-perfect: "Tiger's like the sun and you're like the butter. He has the ability to make you melt."
"To succeed in the same group with Tiger," said Dr. Ken Ravizza, the sports psychologist, "you have to prepare for it. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable."
It must be noted that Tiger is to the sports psychology business what slush is to the boot business.
To appreciate just how skittish one gets in Tiger's lair on Sunday, one must realize just how solitary most PGA Tour rounds are. Most players, most weeks, walk with nobody except relatives and friends. They see crowds encircling an occasional green, but their games usually go unwitnessed.
When paired with Tiger they invariably talk about how unnatural it is, and add, "I don't see how he does it every round."
Well, he has never done anything else. He has grown up as Elvis. Here at Augusta National, where Tiger has won four times, the people are two-deep behind every inch of rope.
Like Nicklaus and Palmer before him, Woods owns his own roar, a distinctive hurrah that drifts through the magnolias and tells people 10 holes away, like a town crier, that Woods has either birdied or eagles or holed out doing so.
At the '07 PGA in Tulsa, Stephen Ames was Woods' "partner," as if they were cooperating on a science project, and Ames shot 76 on Sunday. He had shot 68-69-69 previously. At the '99 PGA in Chicago, Mike Weir and Woods were tied for the Saturday lead, so they played together Sunday. Weir shot 80, Woods 72.
Same place, seven years later. Luke Donald tied Woods after three rounds, said all the right things, looked forward to his turn in the MRI. Woods shot 70, Donald 76.
This phenomenon goes back to Woods' breakout 1997 Masters victory. Woods led by nine going into Sunday, which meant choking really wasn't an option for anybody else. He played with Costantino Rocca. Woods shot 69, Rocca 75.
Three guys have deflected Tiger's glare, up close in majors. Rocco Mediate last year at the Torrey Pines Open. Chris DiMarco, at Augusta in 2005. And Bob May, at the PGA in 2000. DiMarco and May took Woods into a playoff and Mediate took Woods into an extra hole in a playoff. None won.
In fact, U. of North Carolina professors Richard Rendleman and Robert Connolly wrote a thesis on "Dominance, Intimidation and Choking On the PGA Tour." They found that players paired with Woods in all rounds between '98 and '01 played nearly a half-stroke worse than usual. That figure rose to 0.857 stokes higher when playing with Tiger in the final round of a tournament.
Woods first had a shot at winning a PGA Tour event at Quad City in '96, and lost to Ed Fiori while playing alongside him. In '98 he lost an L.A. Open playoff to Billy Mayfair.
And players have often won when Woods is merely in the vicinity. Rich Beem took the '02 PGA while hearing the reverberations from Tiger, up front, with birdies on the final four holes. Zach Johnson was in front of Tiger in the '07 Masters, Trevor Immelman ahead of him last year. Both won.
There is an undeniable force field around Woods that interferes with your reception. It's difficult to love your own game when you can't stop watching his.
"You have to play the course, because you know Tiger is playing the course," Ravizza said. "You can't get caught up in the result, just the process.
"You hit the shot and then enjoy the walk. Don't think about anything until you get to the ball. You've gotten to this point because of your ability, so just play like you can play. And there are no expectations on you, only Tiger."
Does Ravizza play golf?
"Every now and then, but not often, because it drives me crazy," he said.
With Tiger around, it's a short drive.