watch out Tiger - Winged Foot and Hoylake should be an *easy* finisher for Phil to match golf's greatest achievement.

what are the odds?  300 to 1?

Tiger completed the Grand Slam in one year!

Case Closed

It depends on your perspective, Tiger went 3 out of 4 and Hogan went 3 for 3 and was not able to play in the PGA because of the scheduling of the 2 tournaments.

Nothing is worse than the continuous cut record at the Masters being taken away from Gary Player when Freddie Four Footer missed two tournaments along the way.  I would say if you don't play you don't make the cut..

A lot of people do not agree with me, and I am not going to change their mind. If Mickelson wins the Open and the British Open, then I will say that he has accomplished the Grand Slam. Who defines Grand Slam anyway, Denny's?

The point I am trying to make is that when Tiger teed it up at Valhalla, he was not under any pressure to continue a Grand Slam run.

You have got to be kidding me!

How often has anyone won 3 in a row?

The media scrutiny in Jones's day was higher than that of Tiger?

Man, if there was one time Matt Ward needed to step in with a "wake up and smell the coffee", this is it!

 

Jones's achievements, Hogan's achievements and Tiger's achievements are all flat out unbelievable, but must be viewed in their own context. It was not that long ago experts were saying there would never be another dominant player. No one even entertained the thought of someone winning 4 in a row till Tiger came along. Byron Nelson called Tiger's 4 in a row the greatest feat in the history of golf. The fact that professionals coudn't play in 2 of Jones's Slam events more than compensates for any perceived shortcoming of winning all 4 the same calendar year.

Count me as number 2 in Robert Walker's camp.

And JakaB, at least one of Freddie's missed Masters was due to a debilitating back injury. The issue is not consecutive events, it  is consecutive cuts made.

There are plenty of examples of streaks that continue over in all sports. Almost as many as there are naysayers who will find anything at all to bitch about!

Yes, the black contingent on the PGA Tour is really getting strong,it is so hard to tell the difference between golf and the NBA these days, I can't keep them straight. For the record, the US Open and Amateur was not closed to anyone, right from the beginning.

George,

The "pressure" of winning three majors in a row, is far less than that of keeping the Grand Slam alive. Just ask Tiger about his 83 or whatever at Muirfield in 02.

For the record, the US Open and Amateur was not closed to anyone, right from the beginning.

I was always under the impression that the Amateur was/is closed to professionals....

Seriously, you don't doubt that the field of golfers has increased rather dramatically over the years, do you?

Tiger's Muirfield round was due to the worst major weather we've seen in our lifetime (well, mine, anyway, don't know how old you are ), not due to the pressure.

Are these records?
Nelson has the record right? 18? in a year. If you win 10 at the end of 05 and 9 in the first half of 06, I guess that record goes by the wayside. 19 victories in a calendar year.

lowest scoring average in a calendar year? this would the Tiger Trophy then, not the Vardon.

How about most money in a calendar year? ever hear of this

How about 1971- PGA played in Feb.- If someone had won the 1970 Masters, US Open, British, lost the PGA and then came back in 1971 and won the PGA, would that be considered the Grand Slam? that would be all four in a calendar year.

As a matter of fact, when Tiger won 6 straight from late 99 to early 2000, it was in fact counted as 6 straight, not 3 and 3, or whatever, and it is considered the second longest victory streak, after Nelson's 11.

There is a substantive difference between streaks and seasonal records. You understand that, don't you? The "records" you cite are not steaks, they are seasonal totals or averages or whatever. Almost all major sports carry streaks over during the off season. The Patriots hold the record for consecutive victories in the NFL, not the Dolphins. The record for most losses in a row in the NBA was at one point held by the Nets, I think, over multiple seasons.

Are you going to make the argument that it's harder to put together a 57 game hitting streak than consecutive 30 and 28 game hitting streaks separated by 6 months? How about if Rollins had ended the season with a 55 game hitting streak, and then started 2006 off with a 56 game hitting streak? Are you going to make the (absurd, imo) argument that Dimaggio's 57 game hitting streak was more impressive than a 55 and a 56, separated by 6 months?

Streaks are not seasonal records. People differ in their opinion of the Grand Slam versus the "Tiger Slam". The reason the mythical Grand Slam - as defined by sportswriters - is "tougher" than Tiger's 4 in a row is that there is only one way you can win it, whereas with 4 in a row, there are 4 ways to win it. But the same can't be said for any specific 1 "Slam" of the 4. If you call the Tiger Slam 4 in a row, starting with the US Open, then it is just as mathematically unlikely as the Grand Slam, just as improbable, and, most importantly, just as impressive. We'll likely not see another for a long long time.

----

Nice quip on the weather. (Just as an aside, there were plenty of guys that missed the weather completely.) Guess you don't understand that weather introduces a lot of randomness, and randomness in golf produces sometimes strange results. I don't doubt that at some point, the frustration of seeing his efforts hampered by the weather created additional problems and pressures on Tiger, but if you think the pressure was the main reason he shot 80+, how do you explain all the other times that he responded beautifully to the pressure? Was he just lucky those other times?

George,

A little early to be drinking if not on the golf course don't you think. I never said the consecutive tournaments by Tiger (6) was in question. I said most tournaments in a year. I think it should be somewhat required to read someone's statements before you attack them falsely. Another thing, I never said anything about Rollins's streak either. Your statement about the Grand Slam starting with the US Open is not worth a response, but I will anyway, assinine.

Glenn,
How could it possibly be a greater feat to win the exact same 4 tournaments over a 5 month period as to accomplish it over a period of more than a year?  You know enough about the fickle nature of the golf swing to know that you have a much, much better chance of staying "hot" for one summer than you do for an entire year.  The public and/or press may or may not understand this, but I know you do.

Indeed he did Robert, it is just too bad he was only able to enjoy it for 2 months, as it was the middle of the season.

A.G.,

I see what you are saying and while it may be harder to be that good for such a longer time, I believe it easier as well. One would have time to practice and focus his goals and game for one course, just as Tiger did. I don't know the records, but I would be interested to see if Jones won the Southern Amateur and all the other tournaments he played in between, I doubt it, so one could also argue that it is equally as tough to get it back just a week or 3 later after failing.