[Jay Flemma]

Hey Mike, excellent thread and solid observations about the tour needing more than one guy...because when that one guys not around, the tournament loses luster a bit...see the International.  That's a terrible loss BTW.

I'm glad to see Phil in the winners circle...but the job is not even half done.  I wrote on my website that the problem wasn't his driver, but him falling prey to pemptation...tyring to go for the win from the trouble the driver caused him.

http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com/?p=510

We won’t know if the lesson from Winged Foot was learned or not until Phil is faced with same dilemma. Will he make a smart decision and play safe when forced to or not? Phil won three majors by not losing strokes to bad decisions. That’s the issue he still must prove and he will face it in majors-to-come. “Becoming a better driver” of the golf ball may actually hurt him in a situation where one mistake will sink his chances.

I’m all for his renewed confidence, I’m all for his new workout regimen, and I’m all for a big time redemption from that horrible summer day, but I have not seen that Phil gets the true crux of the issue. It wasn’t the drive that killed him in the open, it was going for the green from a ridiculous angle. That hideous low percentage shot choice was the issue.

Solve that Phil. The test is not what you do with a five shot lead at a February Tournament with the hit and giggle crowd, but what you do tied or with a one shot lead at a major with Tiger or Retief crowding you.

[Craig Sweet]

The sorry truth is the PGA Tour has become pretty much a big fat bore.  A different "nobody" in contention, or winning every week (remember big bad J B Holmes?), is NOT good for the game. These "pretenders" can't seem to string along some wins, and they continue to fold whenever Tiger shows up....lets face it, they aren't that good, and the Ryder Cup tends to confirm that.

[Kalen Braley]

"Furyk, Donald, Singh, Love, and DiMarco might beg to differ"


The only one in that bunch that has played ANY decent golf in the last 18 months is Furyk.....

Thats funny, I thought DiMarco did a great job at the Open, and give Tiger a run for his money most of the way on Sunday.

Donald won on the PGA tour last year and Vijay won the Mercedes just a few weeks back

If thats not playing decent golf to do that, then I guess your standards are terrificily high.

[Kalen Braley]

The sorry truth is the PGA Tour has become pretty much a big fat bore.  A different "nobody" in contention, or winning every week (remember big bad J B Holmes?), is NOT good for the game. These "pretenders" can't seem to string along some wins, and they continue to fold whenever Tiger shows up....lets face it, they aren't that good, and the Ryder Cup tends to confirm that.

Everyone folds when Tiger shows up. At least its saying something that these guys are making it interesting come Sunday when the big names have already missed the cut or faded on Saturday.

And since when are Vijay and Phil nobodies?

[Phil Benedict]

Jay,

Attributing Phil's problems at Winged Foot mainly to his decision-making is overly simplistic in my view.  He missed 12 out of 14 fairways in the final round, several by a mile.  There's no guarantee that he would have been able to hit a 4-wood into that fairway with the swing he had that day.  Whatever he played off that tee was a bit of a hit and hope shot under the circumstances.

By the way, Phil made a comment yesterday about how the USGA gods would have cringed at the thought of someone winning their championship while missing so many fairways in the final round.  Thank the Lord for trees.

[Craig Sweet]

Kalen...

2006 for the record...

VJ...27 events..1 first, 2 seconds...13 top 10's...17 top 25's...2 missed cuts and 10 times out of the top 25..

DiMarco....26 events, 1 second...2 top 10's...7 top 25's....10 missed cuts...this year a T-59th and a 61st...

Donald...18 events...1 first..10 top 10's..14 top 25's...1 missed cut...4 events finished out of top 25....

If you want excitment to return to the PGA Tour you need 4 or 5 guys to start competing, and swapping victories, week in and week out leading to show downs with Tiger in the Majors....for the last 18 months (for that matter the last 10 years)...with the brief exception of Phils little roll in the majors...it's been Tiger and "the rest of the field" going into the majors...yawn.

[Kalen Braley]

Craig,

I too would love to see someone or several players give Tiger a better run for thier money, but it really is a testament to how well tiger is playing right now.

My only objection to your last thread was the use of the "ANY decent golf" statment.  When you're piling up massive amounts of top 10s, thats playing damn good golf in my mind, because that means you're getting into contention a lot.

Sure no one else is playing great golf right now except Tiger, but its been this way for several years that Tiger has been on tour.  And while you find Tigers dominance boring, the viewership numbers and ratings numbers don't.  He is like Michael Jordan or Bird or Magic Johnson in their primes...never got sick of watching them.

[Jay Flemma]

Jay,

Attributing Phil's problems at Winged Foot mainly to his decision-making is overly simplistic in my view.  He missed 12 out of 14 fairways in the final round, several by a mile.  There's no guarantee that he would have been able to hit a 4-wood into that fairway with the swing he had that day.  Whatever he played off that tee was a bit of a hit and hope shot under the circumstances.

By the way, Phil made a comment yesterday about how the USGA gods would have cringed at the thought of someone winning their championship while missing so many fairways in the final round.  Thank the Lord for trees.

Gotta disagree with you on that one Phil.  he still had a nine iron back to the fairway, then up and down for the win, two putts for a playoff.  Instead he fell victim to temptation...like he did before.  I think the oversimplification is saying hitting driver was the problem.  I agree he had no business hitting driver there, but it wasn't until he clocked the tree with the three iron that we heard the stroke of midnight.

[Phil Benedict]

Jay,

Your point about the second shot is a good one.  Nine-iron back to the fairway leaves winning in play and takes losing (other than in a playoff) out of play.  

[Kalen Braley]

Unless your monty and fan your shot into the green short and right and take double bogey.  I still don't know why there isn't more talk about him.  A bogey would have got him into a playoff, and a par would have won it. And to boot he was in the fairway, at least Phil has an excuse because he was off in the sticks!

He had it, but yet again he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!

[Jay Flemma]

Your point is good too though...he wasn't making good swings off the tee and was clearly "on fumes" after dropping that stroke and 16 and escaping so many times by the skin of his teeth.

You know what we ALL forget?  That shot on the 5th where he tried to hit a fairway metal out of the rough and advanced the ball ten yards!  Take that shot out and who knows what he would have done on 18...

[Craig Sweet]

Jay...he's a pro...it was the 18th hole...what was he thinking?  A "go for it" mistake on the 2nd hole or 7th hole or 5th hole, is one thing, but never on the 18th....unless you're behind.

[Michael Christensen]

(If you want excitment to return to the PGA Tour you need 4 or 5 guys to start competing, and swapping victories, week in and week out leading to show downs with Tiger in the Majors....for the last 18 months (for that matter the last 10 years)...with the brief exception of Phils little roll in the majors...it's been Tiger and "the rest of the field" going into the majors...yawn.)

I guess when VJ took over #1 that wasn't in the last 10 years??  What was Tiger's excuse then?  VJ pulvarized the tour that year!

[Craig Sweet]

Tigers excuse, I believe, was his swing change and/or a slump...

Let's face it, the days of epic battles between the like of Palmer/Casper/Nicklaus/Player/Trevino/Watson may never be seen again.

[Jay Flemma]

Jay...he's a pro...it was the 18th hole...what was he thinking?  A "go for it" mistake on the 2nd hole or 7th hole or 5th hole, is one thing, but never on the 18th....unless you're behind.

Craig, he fell victim to temptation...maybe even desperation.  He thought "OK I can save the day with one good shot."  or "I'm not gonna blow this on the 72d hole."

...after he'd been stinking the joint up the two holes prior...

Shackelford is right...its temptation that makes for the most exciting golf.  But you are right too when you say "he's a pro"...he's gotta know when he's in trouble.  Even the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 70s had to punt the ball.  Why not?  They play great defense.

Well Phil plays great defense too.  he gets up and down from all kinds of crazy places.  Granted, that pin was in NO place to get up and down from 100 yards out.  That was a murderous place to get up and down form from anywhere around that green, let alone 100 yards, but still...he would have taken six out of the equation and come back with a 50-50 shot.

[Eric_Terhorst]

Let's face it, the days of epic battles between the like of Palmer/Casper/Nicklaus/Player/Trevino/Watson may never be seen again.

Craig--is your dislike of the current crop about nostalgia?  I'm sure there were plenty of boring tournaments back in the day.  Andy North, for chrissakes, won the US Open twice against the fellows you mention.  Excuse me while I take a no-doz to stay up for that.

My question was WHY denigrate the field?  Just to knock down Phil Mickelson, who's only won 30 events and $40 million  

[Michael Christensen]

ohhhh....so the reason VJ won all those events in that 1 1/2 year span was due to Tiger's slump and swing change......VJ had nothing to do with it??

I love it......nobody can beat Tiger because he is so good, but if he gets beaten, it was because of his swing change, slump, death in the family, etc, etc, etc....

what happened when he was tied for the lead in the final round at Royal St Georges that year....guess he had a slump in the last 5 holes or was it a swing change during the back nine.......oh I forget, it was a quirky setup by the R&A where true talent wasn't rewarded!

[Craig Sweet]

Michael....I believe the excuse being used at the time, primarily by the media, was Tigers swing change...certainly VJ was playing some very good golf at the time....

As for Tigers abilities, his record speaks for itself....and certainly needs no defending by me...

If you truely think the week in and week out fields on the PGA Tour are worthy, please let me know when someone other than VJ or Phil wins more than twice this year....

[Joe Hancock]

If VJ was great for that year and half...why is he not still tearing it up? Something happened......

[John_Cullum]

Unless your monty and fan your shot into the green short and right and take double bogey.  I still don't know why there isn't more talk about him.  A bogey would have got him into a playoff, and a par would have won it. And to boot he was in the fairway, at least Phil has an excuse because he was off in the sticks!

He had it, but yet again he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!

I agree. Monty was the real f up that day.

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