Tiger Tiger Woods Ya'll

Next on the list: Tiger
Fresh off of his return to the links after an operation to surgically repair his knee, Tiger Woods returned to the Bay Hill Country Club looking to defend 2008's victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Going into this tournament, there were two moments absolutely burned into everybody's memory from all of the video playbacks. #1 was of course Tiger's improbable, yet expected victory at the U.S. Open in 2008 where he came back to force a playoff against Rocco Mediate and eventually took his 14th major title in sudden death. #2 was the constant replay of Tiger sinking the tournament winning 24-foot putt on the 72nd hole at last years Arnold Palmer Invitational. With one of the great golf legends commentating a lot of the tournament, Tiger got off to a decent start. After shooting a two under 68 the first round, he was sitting 3 strokes back of the leader. In the second and third rounds, Woods shot a 69, and 71. While this was not bad, the rest of the field was starting to leave him behind. At one point Sean O'Hair was -9 somewhere in the middle of the 3rd round. After 3rd round play had concluded, Tiger saw himself staring at a 5 stroke deficit. While comebacks were nothing new to Woods, a 5 stroke comeback would tie for his largest margin ever in his career. In order for him to win it, he would need a great round and maybe a little luck...He had both. Now, going into a final round, most people would think making up 5 strokes in 18 holes would probably be out of the question. However, this was Tiger Woods we were talking about. So, pretty much everybody just expected a full and complete Tiger comeback, like always. I even found myself and my roommates saying, "nah, he's fine, he's got this," like 5 strokes was not a big deal. Well, let me tell you from experience golfing that five strokes IS A HUGE deal. As I said before, Woods would have to play solid and maybe need some luck. Well, that "luck" came from a man by the name of Sean O'Hair. I'm not talking about Woods getting luck from a ball getting a crazy good bounce or a ball sinking into the cup from 160 yards out. I am talking about a meltdown from fellow United States golfer Sean O'Hair. After shooting a very nice 67 in the first round and a ridiculous 65 in the second, O'Hair was sitting nicely above the rest of the field. However, the troubles began in the 3rd round for the 26 year old Texas native. After having just 2 bogey's in all of the first two rounds, O'Hair collected two bogey's in the front nine of the 3rd round alone. On the back nine, Sean looked like he was back on track birdying 3 of the first 4 holes, but went on to bogey 3 of the last 4 holes to end at a +1 71 round on the day. While he had some struggles, he still was atop the leaderboard. Unfortunately for Sean, with Tiger in the field, that means nothing. With Tiger lurking behind him, Sean shot a dismal 73 (comparably) making 4 bogey's and just one birdie. Sean's collapse could be attributed to many things...
1. conditions (i hear they were pretty terrible the final round),
- but everybody had those conditions too
2. getting more tired in the final rounds after playing so much golf
-wait thats not an excuse you are a god damn professional golfer, man up sir
3. He was just having an off day on the final round
-though this is very possible in golf, he is still a professional, so if this is the truth, more than likely its his fault
4. The final reason is what I truley believe is what did O'Hair in...Tiger Woods was playing with him, in his group, with all of America watching, waiting, expecting something spectacular to happen. No matter how big of a lead you have, that is a hell of a lot of pressure. With golf being probably the most mental sport there is, this is just the thing that can get into your head and change the game completely. After making a bogey on 17 to give Tiger the lead, Sean lucked out when Tiger bogeyed himself on the 17th to set up a tie going into the 18th hole. Sean didn't stand a chance. This is the stage that Tiger is built for. He has been there so many times, I doubt it even fazes him anymore. It is probably comparable to putting a ball into a coffee mug in the office for you. Like everybody knew he would Tiger sunk his 12 foot birdie putt after O'Hair missed his, allowing us to witness yet another Tiger fist pump. To be honest, I don't even know how people go up against this guy. It is hard to believe that they truley believe they have a legitimate chance at beating him, but that's just me. As for now, I will just be waiting until his next 18th hole putt to win yet another miraculous comeback. I think its safe to say that he will be on his game at the Masters.