British Open

It was another summer Sunday afternoon. It was another afternoon with Tiger Woods wearing the traditional red polo, walking down the 18th fairway ready to hoist another major. We had seen it all before except for one missing piece. No Earl. This time his father was not there to greet him. Woods, a man personified by his strong-will, the joy of victory and the pain of death could not be kept inside as the tears came just after leaving the 18th green. For just a flash of time, the golf world froze and shared a barely describable moment with one of its greatest sons.
The 135th British Open returned to Hoylake for the first time in 39 years. Interesting course at Royal Liverpool GC, an abundance of heat and a lack of water had caused the course to look surprisingly brown, looked more like the plains of western Kansas to be honest. It was also a course that was already very short and fast prompting many players to totally disregard their drivers for nearly ever hole. The course was also littered with numerous deep bunkers that resembled craters from German bombs from the Second World War.
Much was made about the Open Championship before it even started. How would Tiger to respond to missing the cut at Winged Foot (his first missed cut at a major)? How would Mickelson respond to his self-destruction at Winged Foot? And all this useless hype about Woods and Nick Faldo ready to come to blows after all of Faldo’s commentary about Wood’s game in these past months. Thankfully all that went away after Faldo shot an opening round five over par 77.
But once play did get underway, it became a quite wide-open affair. Ernie Els, Chris DiMarco, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera all tussling at the top at the beginning. Through the first day and half none of these players still had asserted any dominating presence and we had yet to see a signature moment. All that changed however on Friday. With Woods facing a chip from the edge of the 14th fairway, he hit the perfect shot, that had the perfect bounce and roll that went in for eagle. Tiger had displayed another moment of magic and the game was on as Woods finished with a 2nd round 65 and roared into the lead. Saturday turned out to be not as pleasant for Tiger however as he stumbled shooting 71 and allowing a host of players back in. But he did have something at the end of the day that has become unbreakable for Woods at majors: the lead, something that renders all others pretenders. And on Sunday he effectively sealed the deal. DiMarco finishing at -16 was the only one to maintain the pace to keep it a reasonable contest until the end with Els (-13), Furyk (-12) and Garcia (-11) all falling away. Woods pared the 18th to finish at -18 and captured major #11.
Many times unfairly, Woods has been at the brunt of a criticism for most of his career. People don’t like him as a person: too arrogant. People don’t like him as a player: only wins can because of his ability to drive the ball and this recreated swing. People don’t like him as a professional: only cares about winning majors. People don’t like this, people don’t like that. But like him or not, and it’s sometimes hard to if you’re a fan of Mickelson or Vijay, you have to respect him. And lately you not only have to respect him as a player but now as a legend. He has won eleven major championships and has won every one at least twice and many in dominating fashion. At age 31, it is very reasonable for him to be able to catch Jack Nicklaus at 18 major championships. By the time he is done, he may be the greatest player ever.
For once, it wasn’t just another summer Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t just another major victory. For once Earl wasn’t there to meet his son. We will never again see Tiger and his dad have that moment of joy at the 18th, but surely we will all have the joy of watching Tiger raise many more trophies in the years to come.
Also happening this week: Floyd Landis wins the Tour de France. Americans have dominated winning the Tour eight straight times and eleven in the last twenty years. No word yet on whether the Champs Elysees will be renamed Times Square.