Conspiracy Theory: Tiger and The Sky Tweets

[Robin_Hiseman]

So, Paddy Power, an online bookmaker, fills the sky above Medinah with a whole bunch of sky tweets (who'd have thought that would have entered the lexicon a week ago?) aimed at embarrassing and ridiculing Tiger Woods.  Shortly thereafter, Tiger concedes a putt that costs Paddy Power (and a whole host of others bookmakers) hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars/pounds/euros.  Coincidence or payback?

[Ivan Morris]

Harrumph Paddy Power! Because he was playing on a team and not as an individual, Tiger probably shouldn't have conceded. I dare say some captains would have given him the hair dryer treatment for conceding a defeat. The Jackiln-Nicklaus situation was quite different particularly because of the way the crowd was behaving.   

[Robin_Hiseman]

I'd say that it got under his skin quite a lot Brian.  It's one thing to be sniped at in the press.  It's quite another to have it writ large across the heavens for the entirety of Chicago to see first hand and the rest of the World through the TV.  Whilst I have no doubt it never even entered his head to get his own back in this way, I'd wager it would give him a certain grim satisfaction to know that he cost them a fortune.

I thought the motivational messages were fair game and one or two of the slightly cheeky ones too, such as "Europe has got better hair!"  But the thinly veiled innuendo and Tiger abuse was out of order.

Expect a 'no-fly zone' to be included in future Ryder Cup contracts...or the provision of surface to air missiles by the host nation...!

[Sven Nilsen]

A.  Medinah is not even located in Chicago proper.  Any statement that the skywriting was viewable by the entire population of Chicago is simply hyperbole (and makes me question the author's basic understanding of geography and perspective). 

B.  The nefarious tweets did not receive a second of TV airtime on NBC.

C.  The skywriting had no impact on Tiger's decision to give Molinari the putt. 

D.  Karma.

E.  Mark this crap OT next time.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Cool your jets Sven!  You're blowing out more smoke than those little planes were. Jeez!

[Sven Nilsen]

On a reread, I was a bit harsh.

There is a bit of irony wrapped into the entire situation.  The books got killed on the payout, all due to Tiger's disinterest at the point in the event. 

As for whether or not it affected him, I think he's seen and heard enough over the last three years to make him pretty immune to those types of external jibes.  He played well enough on Friday and Saturday afternoon to suggest he was pretty close to being back in form.  It seemed to me that it was his putter that let him down, perhaps he was getting too much advice on reads from Stricker (whose putt on 18 indicated to me he might see four feet of break on the surface of a glass of milk).

[Howard Riefs]

Stricker (whose putt on 18 indicated to me he might see four feet of break on the surface of a glass of milk).

How in the world did Stricker misread a putt by 8 feet?

After knocking his approach at the 18th long, 45 feet past the hole, Stricker didn’t come close to holing a birdie try that the Americans had to have. He drifted his putt 8 feet left of the hole. ...

“It was a misread,” said Stricker, who wound up 0-4 for the week. ”We thought it was a great big turn to the right.”

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/winless-stricker-hopes-this-wasnt-his-last-ryder-cup/

[George Pazin]

How in the world did Stricker misread a putt by 8 feet?

Distances thrown around in articles aren't usually accurate, nor are stated breaks.

As for the OP, I hope Tiger noted it and screwed them, that would be beautiful. Beautiful. But I doubt it.

[Alex Miller]

How in the world did Stricker misread a putt by 8 feet?

Distances thrown around in articles aren't usually accurate, nor are stated breaks.

As for the OP, I hope Tiger noted it and screwed them, that would be beautiful. Beautiful. But I doubt it.

Did you see the putt? He had an 8 footer (at least) left and probably went 3-4ft. past. He must've been at least 6 feet wide. Horrible read.

[Tim Pitner]

Whatever the exact distance by which he misread the break, Stricker's putt was one of the worst I've ever seen by a pro, especially when he had to make it!  He missed by a mile. 

[Howard Riefs]

Did you see the putt? He had an 8 footer (at least) left and probably went 3-4ft. past. He must've been at least 6 feet wide. Horrible read.

You're right. Stricker misread if by *only* four or five feet. Inexplicable. I watched it again on the replay last night.

Whatever the exact distance by which he misread the break, Stricker's putt was one of the worst I've ever seen by a pro, especially when he had to make it!  He missed by a mile. 

No contest.

[George Pazin]

How in the world did Stricker misread a putt by 8 feet?

Distances thrown around in articles aren't usually accurate, nor are stated breaks.

As for the OP, I hope Tiger noted it and screwed them, that would be beautiful. Beautiful. But I doubt it.

Did you see the putt? He had an 8 footer (at least) left and probably went 3-4ft. past. He must've been at least 6 feet wide. Horrible read.

Yep, saw it. It was not a great putt, by any measure. But having seen many putts on many fast greens, I think saying he misread it by 8 feet is about as a bad a misread as the putt itself. When you have a 45 foot putt on a fast green, it can make the best golfers in the world look silly, especially under the immense pressure of the Ryder Cup.

[Niall C]

Gents

I don't think Stricker was the only one to misread that putt by quite a bit. If I recall rightly (watched in the pub so can't vouch for this particular comment) there were a few others who missed quite badly from the top end of the green. Full credit though for sinking the return and making Kaymer putt.

Niall

[Matthew Rose]

I don't think 8 feet is unrealistic.... it was at least 6.

I was yelling at the TV the whole time.... "it doesn't break Steve! (putts) Oh, you idiot!"

[Bill Brightly]

How in the world did Stricker misread a putt by 8 feet?

Distances thrown around in articles aren't usually accurate, nor are stated breaks.

As for the OP, I hope Tiger noted it and screwed them, that would be beautiful. Beautiful. But I doubt it.

Did you see the putt? He had an 8 footer (at least) left and probably went 3-4ft. past. He must've been at least 6 feet wide. Horrible read.

Yep, saw it. It was not a great putt, by any measure. But having seen many putts on many fast greens, I think saying he misread it by 8 feet is about as a bad a misread as the putt itself. When you have a 45 foot putt on a fast green, it can make the best golfers in the world look silly, especially under the immense pressure of the Ryder Cup.

George is right, when you have a long putt on fast greens, and you read a break well above the hole that is not there, you can look foolish. Someone else made the same misread just ahead of Stricker. Can anyone remind me who it was?

[Colin Macqueen]

Hmmm...wasn't it Furyk.......but it was sooooooo long atime coming that my memory maybe palying tricks on me!

Cheers Colin

[Sven Nilsen]

Simpson had a longer putt on the same line and missed it on the right by inches.  There is no defending Strickers read.

[Phil McDade]

Whatever the exact distance by which he misread the break, Stricker's putt was one of the worst I've ever seen by a pro, especially when he had to make it!  He missed by a mile. 

Tiger's miss on 18 for par was worse. Of course, hard to know or tell whether or not he cared at that point.

[Pat Burke]

Funny thing, earlier on the telecast, they did a story about Stricker charting the breaks on the greens
and offering to do the greens charts for everybody.
They even showed the book.

I feel for Stricker, not many guys I met out there that were better guys

[Phil McDade]

Funny thing, earlier on the telecast, they did a story about Stricker charting the breaks on the greens
and offering to do the greens charts for everybody.
They even showed the book.

I feel for Stricker, not many guys I met out there that were better guys

His daughter just qualified for the state tennis tournament here in Wisconsin, so I'm guessing he'll be fine. He's always kept things in pretty good perspective.

[Jordan Caron]

Gents

I don't think Stricker was the only one to misread that putt by quite a bit. If I recall rightly (watched in the pub so can't vouch for this particular comment) there were a few others who missed quite badly from the top end of the green. Full credit though for sinking the return and making Kaymer putt.

Niall

Webb Simpson was off by a few inches but his pace has far too much. Regarding this and Strickers, why weren't the assistant captains relaying this information to Strickers caddie?

The same can be said for the hole on #17. Simpson, Furyk, Stricker and Mickelson all had the ball breaking toward the front of the green. Not the case as all four players missed the putt (chip in Phil's case) on the high side. How was this information not relayed to Fluff and Strickers caddie as they reached the 17th? The captains are allowed to relay this infomartion aren't they?

[Mark Pearce]

I thought I heard that Captains can relay information  but vice-captains can't.  Of course I mightv have mis-heard, or correctly heard false information.