Sports are a Joke

TIGER WOODS WINS THE 2008 U.S. OPEN

Saturday, 10:15 Post Meridian (EST)

I'm going out on the sturdiest limb on the tree and posting this before Tiger Woods tees off at the final round of the US Open at Torrey Pines:

Why? Because everyone dreams of getting the sports section a day early, and I know it's going to happen because I just watched Woods play the back nine of the third round. For the past 30 minutes I've been staring at the TV in awe watching Tiger drain an impossible 68 foot putt for eagle on 13, chip an absurd swish for birdie on 17, and put on a devastating display en route to another eagle on 18.

On the tee box at 13, Tiger was 3 off the lead and trailing Mediate and Westwood. The day ended with Tiger alone on top of the leader board at 3 under par with a 1 stroke lead over Westwood. Now, the only guys more confident than Woods that Woods will win the tournament tomorrow are Mediate and Westwood. Mediate was dispatched yesterday by Tiger's 68 foot eagle putt. Standing on the 13th fairway (playing behind Woods) waiting for Woods to putt out, Mediate watched the gallery explode over Tiger's eagle. He followed Tiger's display with a bad decision and worse shot that landed in a trap 25 yards in front of the Green. Tiger does this all the time - he makes players press in an attempt to keep up. Clearly Tiger's eagle pressured Mediate to attempt a shot he can't make. The result was ugly double bogie - he's done.

Westwood's tournament hopes were dispatched more subtly but with no less certainty. Heading into the clubhouse with a 2 stroke lead and the confidence that, at worst, he'd share the lead heading into the final round. If you saw Westwood's face while he watched Tiger's eagle on 18, you knew that he knew Tiger won the Open on Saturday.

Considering that Woods has never lost a major when heading into the final round with a lead, the only reason they will even bother to play the final round on Sunday is that Tiger's left knee is badly hurt.

But let's face it, his knee is irrelevant. In fact, I'll bet that after he wins tomorrow - picture him limping up the 18th fairway like Kirk Gibson - the bum knee will just add to the growing lore of the most dominating athlete in sports today, and possibly of all time. This is where this article gets away from being a news report and turns towards proving the obvious. In the history of golf, no one even comes close to Tiger Woods.

After he wins the US Open tomorrow, he'll have won 14 Majors and 65 PGA tournaments - all in only 12 years on the tour. His career earnings are approximately $85,000,000.00, and he's only 32. To put this in perspective, Tiger's $85 million is more than the total career earnings of Lee Trevino, Ray Floyd, Jack Nicklaus, Curtis Strange, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson COMBINED.

Consider some of his achievements to date:

His 14 majors (after he wins tomorrow) puts him 4 behind Nicklaus, and on pace to obliterate Nicklaus's record of 18 majors - a mark which was once considered untouchable.
His 65 PGA tour wins puts him 17 wins behind Sneed (the all time leader) and 8 behind Nicklaus. Tom Watson won "only" won 39 PGA events.
In 2006-2007 he won 7 consecutive PGA tournaments.
In 1999-2000 he won 6 consecutive PGA tournaments.
By age 25, Woods had 24 PGA tour wins (at 25 Nicklaus had 12)
He won the 2000 US Open by 15 strokes.
He has only missed the Cut 4 times in his career.
From 1998 to 2005 he made the Cut in 142 consecutive tournaments (previous record was Byron Nelson's 113).
He once played 52 consecutive rounds at par or below.
He once played 35 consecutive PGA events (events, not rounds) at par or below.

Even though, as stated above, no golfer even comes close to Woods, out of respect for one of golf's greatest legends, there have been comparisons to Jack Nicklaus. But this is silly, because you have to compare the career of a man entering his prime (Tiger is 32) to a man who played a full schedule until age 46 - and Nicklaus played less than a full schedule for years after that. If Woods continues at even a fraction of his current pace until he is 40, he won't just break all of Nicklaus's records, he will demolish them and those of every other golfer - ever.

Here is a partial list of the things Tiger has already done that Nicklaus never did:

As referenced above, he made 142 consecutive cuts. (Jack was spent after 105.)
As referenced above, he won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 strokes. (Nicklaus' largest margin of victory in at a US Open was four strokes.)
He won four consecutive majors (2000 U.S. Open - 2001 Masters).
He won three majors in one year (2000).
He won back-to-back British Opens (2005-2006) and back to back PGA Championships (2006-2007).
He has never blown a 54-hole lead at a major.
He won eight tournaments in a single season. (Actually, Woods has accomplished this feat three times.)
He won at least five tournaments in five consecutive seasons. (Nicklaus never more than three.)
As referenced above, he won 7 consecutive PGA tournaments.
He hit that shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2005 Masters. Everyone knows this shot - the ridiculous chip in that turned into a Nike commercial as the ball rolls to a stop to show the Nike symbol and starts rolling again before falling into the hole and clinching yet another Masters.

Amazingly, there are actually people out there who don't root for him. How is this possible? To begin with, he's clearly a nice guy - which is refreshing these days, but I refuse to go on about other professional athletes to prove this point, but consider for a moment, Chad Johnson, Pac-Man (sorry Adam) Jones, Mike Tyson, Jeremy Shockey, the entire NBA, Barry Bonds, etc......

But other athletes aside, we are witnessing a player completely and utterly dominate his sport. On a purely selfish level we should be rooting for him just so we can be a part of something extraordinary. When it comes to sheer domination, Tiger is Babe Ruth. His professional accomplishments are beyond those of Jordan, Gretzky; Montana and Ali, and he's only 12 years into what I assume will be 20 years of unsurpassed supremacy. How can we not all root for him? If for no other reason than to be a witness to incomparable greatness - we're lucky to be seeing it.