Thursday, April 28, 2016

Tiger & I. Me. Us.

Tiger attended a Grand Opening event at Bluejack National Golf Club this past week outside of Houston. You're roving golf reporter was also present along with five or six hundred others, mainly prospective members. It was a chance to be in the presence of greatness, past greatness but greatness nonetheless. Mark O'Meara and David Feherty were also present. O'Meara is the club Ambassador - one of the principals is an old friend and past instructor for the 2-time Major winner. Feherty was brought in to make it a fun event. O'Meara and Tiger don't do fun so a good move on the club's part.
And who would've thought it would make Sports Center? It never crossed my mind until a pal of mine texted me these 2 pics...
Recognize anyone? Considering several of us have never met I'd guess the answer is no, other than Feherty. The big egg-shaped bald head is mine.

It was all-in-all an excellent event, having been to a few in my day. The event got going with Tiger & Mark O'Meara, or "Mo" to Tiger, hitting balls on the practice range, mic'd up, with each telling stories and Feherty inserting his color. Let me rephrase that - O'Meara and Feherty told stories, Tiger spoke very few syllables, and when he did it was simply to confirm something that was said, like a "yeah, that was in 1999," or a brief explanation of his current driver situation. It dawned on me later on that Bluejack couldn't just have Tiger, alone, getting through this himself. No, that would have been a snoozer. It's on the long side but here's a pretty good sample.

It's weird watching Tiger close up, thinking about what he was compared to what he is now. Watching him hit balls, sensing his discomfort with you knowing many a detail about his life while he knows nothing about you - it's an odd feeling. Despite his epically bad decision making, I feel for him.

From the video you can see that Tiger's swing looks "fine", but what the hell do we know? He was weak on his wedges and improved as he moved up in clubs. When he and O'Meara began going for the bull's eye, Tiger dialed it in. The range dips, the bull's eye sits about 20 feet off the ground, at or slightly above eye level from the range. To give yourself a good chance of hitting it you need to hit a low screamer right at it. This was fun to watch. Tiger missed by what seemed like inches on almost each attempt. He did get one hit just below the circle on the pole, dead center, just a little low. In his day, he'd hit it 3 out every 4? Certainly 1 out of every 2.

He then moved to his woods/driver - he absolutely pummeled a few, well over 300 yards even with his 3-wood. But he had his share of snipe hooks too. If any Joe Schmo had put on the demo Tiger did, you'd think, "That guy has some serious potential."

When the group headed out to play a few holes, I went to the bar. It was hot out and I was wearing dress shoes not conducive for walking great distances. So I caught up to them on their 3rd hole. There was a gallery of about 100 or so following. They were all still mic'd up. Now, the custom is for the "designer", Tiger in this case, to talk about the...design. On each tee he should give a little spiel about what he was thinking when he designed the hole, even though we know he wasn't thinking anything because he didn't really do the design but an underling on his design team did (Beau Welling). There was none of that. O'Meara's caddie even tried to tee Tiger up to talk about the par-3, 12th hole (O'Meara's caddie is one of the principals I spoke of earlier), and Tiger didn't bite. He simply responded, "great hole." period.

I stood right next to Tiger as he addressed his ball about 40 yards from a green with a good lie in the pine straw. He skulled it over the green. I was totally embarrassed for him. It was the shot a 15+ handicapper makes. On his course play, O'Meara was no less than up 3 holes and probably 4-5 strokes after the 5 holes. Tiger's got a long way go to go. I hope he gets there but I don't see it happening.

50 comments:

zman said...

This is awesome. And postcount!

Dave said...

i could never hit that low screamer-- nice video

Squeaky said...

Very nice, Danimal!

Danimal said...

I should have mentioned that the bull's eye is about 150 yards away

Shlara said...

I've been a member of the Brad Stevens fan club for a long time, and this article makes me love him more!
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15356168/brad-stevens-next-superstar-head-coach

TR said...

Islanders coach just took a puck to his head. No bueno.

Squeaky said...

TJ, where is the top of your head? That's you in the middle all the way in the back right?

https://twitter.com/Joe_Khawly/status/725490719671115776

T.J. said...

we were just joking about that in class. i got whitewashed due to bald dome

Squeaky said...

There might be a comma or two missing in that last post.

zman said...

Yooooodge day. Yoodge.

Danimal said...

I'll say

TR said...

I heard Lightning Crashes by Live two days ago, for the first time in years. It wormholed it's way into my head and I couldn't decide if it was awful or decent after 20 years. Live's music hasn't exactly aged gracefully. I decided it was awful and started thinking about how much it would kill a karaoke party if you sang that with all your heart a cappella.

Then I googled the song and found out what it was about and why it was written. And it took all the wind out of my mockery sails. So that's where I'm at today.

rootsminer said...

TR, your karaoke song is G'N'R patience, hopefully for eternity!

zman said...

Keep Your Hands to Yourself. Best call I ever made.

Mark said...

Private Dancer is a personal favorite.

zman said...

Ezekiel Elliot's lineup is aggressive.

zman said...

Jeff Fischer's purple suit is not a fly look.

Danimal said...

When did Berman start wearing grown-up ties?

zman said...

I hope the crowd savages Goodell with every pick.

rob said...

laremy tunsil is having an interesting draft night

zman said...

Joey Bosa was styled by Tony Manero.

zman said...

If Tunsil falls to the Bills, I'm sure Richie Incognito would take him under his wing and make sure he gets straightened out.

TR said...

I watched that video and immediately thought that the college version of me would have smoked that thing in a heartbeat. Looks awesome.

Mark said...

I wanted the Bucs to take Tunsil. Who, by the way, has now had his Instagram account hacked with screenshots of incriminating texts.

TR said...

Did Kurt Warner borrow his dad's dress shirt and tie?

zman said...

"He made me the man I was today." Well said Shaq.

TR said...

Darron Lee was done wrong by a tailor.

TR said...

For those of you scoring at home (or for those of you who are alone), many losers who conduct 7-round mock drafts have W&M's two draft prospects going in the 6th round.

Those two are LB Luke Rhodes and S DeAndre Houston-Carson.

TR said...

Paxton Lynch is a crybaby, apparently. That's almost as alarming to see from your 1st round pick as this phrase that I saw with the Jets' pick: "2nd team All Big Ten". 20th pick overall and we get a second-team all conference guy.

Shlara said...

So, Tunsil's step-father orchestrated that social media crap?
Yikes

T.J. said...

TR, though I too assume the jets can never do anything right (especially in the draft), internet pundits seem to like this move by the Jets. I of course reserve judgement until after he tears the ACL in August.

TR said...

I hear you, Teej. I'm happy we didn't draft Paxton Lynch. I think Ryan Fitzpatrick's agent is pretty happy as well.

T.J. said...

Oh man, I was convinced they were gonna draft Paxton "I bet he went to West Canaan" Lynch.

TR said...

I DON'T WANT YOUR LIFE

Danimal said...

There is a mystery man on our floor that absolutely SPACKLES the toilet every day. It is so many things at once - troubling, impressive, grotesque, inconsiderate.
His bunghole can't be less than 2 inches further up the backside than the average homosapien. Is this an evolutionary change? Did he have his rectal canal moved? It actually gets UNDER the seat.
I feel terrible for the cleaning guy who is top notch, and a big customer of ours at Mutt's Cutts (Earthwise Pet). He needs to be dealt with.

Mark said...

As much as TJ thinks Lynch looks like he belongs in Varsity Blues, I can assure you all he looks just like what you'd should expect from someone from Deltona. This is in no way a compliment.

zman said...

Is Paxton Lynch related to Paxton Crawford? Danimal, the phenomenon of which you speak is called a Jackson Pollock. As in, "May I be excused from the dinner table, the wheat germ in your meatloaf is kicking in and I have to go pull a Jackson Pollock on your lavatory?"

Mark said...

Our hotel in Tampa is packed with black women between 30-45 who are dressed the fuck up for this Beyoncé. They are going to sweat their asses off in Raymond James Stadium tonight.

Danimal said...

umm...jaguars...get on the bandwagon people. the time is now. last chance.

Mark said...

That was a fucking steal. Word is the Jags were debating between Jack and Ramsey for the 5th pick. They got both. They'll now add those two plus Malik Jackson and Dante Fowler to their defense. Future's so bright.

In other news, I just met John Henson at the International Mall in Tampa. Now on to Beyoncé.

TR said...

Was John Henson Skunk Boy from Talk Soup on E! TV back in the day?

zman said...

zson just "helped" me assemble a new bench/coat tree. He really might be TR's lovechild based on his wrenching skills. Just catching up on the draft and regretting that I didn't name zson "Jihad."

zman said...

How pissed is Demarco Murray?

Danimal said...

Or Zihad

TR said...

Zman - a football pundit we went to college with said an NFL team could have three 1,000 yd rushers on the same team. It can work!

Chad Pennington!

TR said...

#ihatethehackenbergpick

Danimal said...

Roberto Aguayo to the Bucs. Kicker. 2nd Round.

Clarence said...

Rob and I were hanging with (next to) John Henson at the Tibetan Freedom Festival at RFK in 1999.

Clarence said...

It was so boss

zman said...

Yeah TR, but that was the Thomas/Hector/McNeil troika. The stuff of mythology!

Jim Henson was boss.

I have to root for a guy named Adolphus?