The Dominance of Tiger Woods

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Yesterday, Tiger Woods was "struggling" in the third round of the US Open. I put quotations around the word "struggling", because in reality he really wasn't. This morning ESPN wrote an article about Tiger Woods fantastic performance to close the round. An ending which saw Tiger sink two eagles and a birdie.

Yet the article ESPN wrote on Tiger's fantastic ending made it seem like Tiger was out of contention before the fantastic run started. In the article, the author writes:

Tiger just didn't have it. After 48 jaw-clenching holes of this 108th U.S. Open, that was the dispiriting realization sinking into the raucous Torrey Pines gallery, as well as the nation at large. The world's greatest competitor was trying like hell to stay in contention, but his aching left knee wouldn't permit Tiger to be Tiger.

Tiger is a victim of his own success. He is so good, he is expected to dominate each and every time. Golf is a hard sport. Most pro golfers are lucky to win a tournament once in their life. You need to be good for four straight days to have a chance to win, and for most, it's too hard to do consistently. Here is the kicker. Tiger was in third place before he made his run. THIRD!

It wasn't like he was in the middle of the pack or a dozen shots behind. The man was in third place. For any other golfer, being in third place at the US Open is a pretty good day. Yet people speak as if Tiger's tournament was a complete failure up until that point. That's how good I want to be. I want to be so good that anything less than perfection would be considered failure. I also wouldn't mind earning what Tiger earns.

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