***JACK made several interesting comments. I will respopnd where appropriate. My comments wil be prefaced by astericks
i didn't see the afternoon session but i did watch tiger play in the morning and he was playing in the rain as well. a few times he was distracted from water dripping off the bill of his cap and had to step away and regroup.
***It was raining in the AM when Woods was playing. But the greens were still relatively unaffected. Players could grip the clubs with minimal difficulty and slippage. By later in the day there were HUGE puddles everywhere. When the bal hit the fairway, it STOPPED. Casual water was all over the greens. It looked like the Great Lakes out there. Was Woods affected -- yes. But the challengers in the later rounds really had no chance to be aggressive with shots. Just putting the ball in the fairway and two putting on the green was a major accomplishment.
from what i heard on the radio, the afternoon players scored BETTER than the morning players.
***I'd have to see how the scoring broke down. A few 78s and 79s is all it takes to skew the numbers. What I saw was Garcia and others really struggling to hold onto the club because of of the conditions.
would your comments have been the same had sergio played the morning round and tiger the afternoon round?
***One thing you will ALWAYS get from me Jack, is FAIRNESS. I never let my personal bets influence my feelings about a controversy in sports. WHen the referees handed the Lakers Game 6, I was thrileld because I had the Lakers in the series. But I still was outrached at the officiating. WHen the Cleveland Browns were screwed in that game last season, I was thrilled, because I had the UNDER. But I still wrote several columns about how ridiculous the officiating was. In this case, had the roles been reversed it would not have mattered. Yeah. I'm upset that my 18-1 ticket is now toilet paper. I think Garcia would have shot close to par and probably been at -2 today , three strokes behind Woods had he played the same course conditions earlier in the day (a matter of opinion, of course -- but it's quite possible). YOu and I are freinds and partners. You know me better than to suggest my personal views are slanted by my wallet. Two years of posting here at this site shows quite the contrary.
the golfers or the tournament directors can't predict who gets to play in what conditions. it just happened to be an advantage (maybe) for some from the luck of the draw and mother nature.
***I am not saying the tournament director made a consious effort to screw all the golfers who started late. I know they didn't mean to do that. It's just that when conditions become so out of whack, I don't know why they can't move everything back a day. Oh wait -- television ratings. Once again the pimp networks get their way and the integrity of sports sufffers.
i think the ridiculous thing that happened was the comments that sergio made after the fact. "Tiger gets all the breaks". what? tiger has one-putted 17 of the first 36 holes he played. tiger made some AMAZING shots from the rough. tiger is leading, not because of the weather, but because he is the best, period.
***I agree. I wrote that Garcia was "not mature enough" to win the Masters a few months ago. In fact, I used to dislike Garcia. I presumed he grew and matured. But, perhaps that view was a bit mremature. I see Garcia throwing tantrums after every bad shot and acting like an idiot. He may very well crumble under pressure. Keep in mind that when I bet him to win, it was a value bet at 18-1. There's no way Garcia (or anyone) is in the same league as Woods. The only person who can beat Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods.
sergio giving the gallery the finger wasn't too impressive either.
***As a sports gambler, I bet on all kinds of malcontents and people that in real life I would absolutely nothing to do with -- Ray Lewis, Jeff George, Roberto Alomar, Pat Ewing, Vince Carter, Alexi Yashin, etc. Gambling and being a sports fan are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT HATS TO WEAR. We should never confuse one with the other.
-- Nolan Dalla
