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Did Tiger play 18 for second place?


Darin322

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Why did he hit a 2-iron off the tee? The announcers said he had the longest approach all day - I think it was 185, uphill, into the breeze. I know he's Tiger Woods and probably had a strategy for the hole, but when you're down by 1 with one hole to go, why not play aggressively? Even for Tiger, there's got to be a correlation between distance and proximity to the cup. He's going to get a 150 yard shot (like Patrick Reed had) closer than a 185 yard shot. Why not try 3W or D and get it up the fairway?

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Yesterday reminded me of the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship. Prior to that tournament, anytime Tiger was on the leaderboard the other players would fall back and he would coast in to win. Tiger played very conservatively in the final round of the 2009 PGA thinking YE Yang would fall back and it never happened.

 

Seemed like the same thing happened yesterday. He hit way too many long irons off the tee. It's hard to score when you are 50+ yards behind everyone else. I agree that it is also hard to score when you are in the trees and/or deep rough, but adding an inch to his driver and going to a 65 gram shaft is the opposite of what he should focusing on with the driver.

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I think he was only playing the percentages. Chance of hitting 2i in fairway multiplied by hitting it close from the subsequent yardage, vs chance of hitting driver in fairway x hitting it close from that yardage. I think for him the calculus probably suggested the former, on that day. Curious to know what he’d been using off 18 tee all week though.

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"Tiger needs to stop hitting driver all the time, he sucks with it!"

 

"Tiger needs to hit more fairway woods and irons off the tee"

 

"He wasn't aggressive enough, he should have hit driver!"

 

This is complete hindsight bias and a waste of time. He put himself in the fairway all day. If he hits driver off that tee and ends up in the rough you all would have yelled just as loud about him breaking his strategy that was working.

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By going 2-iron/7-iron, I thought he played to his current strengths. His long and middle irons are very solid, whereas his driver and short irons are suspect. I think we're getting our first real look at the 'new' Tiger, one who is more of a game manager. It's a somewhat Faldo-esque approach. I like it. Leave the bombing to the bombers.

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Say whatever you want about TW, but I'm pretty sure with the money he has in the bank and the trophies he has on the shelf, he is only playing to win, always.

 

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By going 2-iron/7-iron, I thought he played to his current strengths. His long and middle irons are very solid, whereas his driver and short irons are suspect. I think we're getting our first real look at the 'new' Tiger, one who is more of a game manager. It's a somewhat Faldo-esque approach. I like it. Leave the bombing to the bombers.

 

He's the best when presented with the opportunity to hit a cut into the green. The 2 iron allowed him to do just that.

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The way he was hitting 3 wood I was surprised he didn’t hit that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he missed that 2 iron a bit. My guess is with that pin placement being in the fairway was the most important factor if he wanted to tie.

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Do you honestly think that Tiger has ever played for 2nd in his life?

 

I get that he is not the same guy that once said "second sucks, third is even worse" but he is still Tiger. 79 wins, 14 majors, no chance that he protects second place, every chance that he decides on a strategy and sticks to it.

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Yesterday reminded me of the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship. Prior to that tournament, anytime Tiger was on the leaderboard the other players would fall back and he would coast in to win. Tiger played very conservatively in the final round of the 2009 PGA thinking YE Yang would fall back and it never happened.

 

Seemed like the same thing happened yesterday. He hit way too many long irons off the tee. It's hard to score when you are 50+ yards behind everyone else. I agree that it is also hard to score when you are in the trees and/or deep rough, but adding an inch to his driver and going to a 65 gram shaft is the opposite of what he should focusing on with the driver.

 

He played just like he has all week off the tee. The difference yesterday is that Tiger made exactly nothing on the greens until the 17th hole.

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he it his approach closer than Reed did.... id say it was the right play... he didnt catch all of the 2 iron , and missed the 7 a touch.. 2 perfrect strikes equals 2 iron 8 iron into... i understand this strategy... id rather have an uphill tucked 8iron vs a wedge...much easier to control the spin.. keeping a sw or pw on that toptier if its a full shot would be hard

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This is the epitome of touring professionals v WRX crowd.....

 

that you big cat ? PM me if so... id like to buy those TGR blades when you are done with them!

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Why did he hit a 2-iron off the tee? The announcers said he had the longest approach all day - I think it was 185, uphill, into the breeze. I know he's Tiger Woods and probably had a strategy for the hole, but when you're down by 1 with one hole to go, why not play aggressively? Even for Tiger, there's got to be a correlation between distance and proximity to the cup. He's going to get a 150 yard shot (like Patrick Reed had) closer than a 185 yard shot. Why not try 3W or D and get it up the fairway?

 

 

 

Reed had 133 and made bogey.

Tiger had 185 and had a legitimate chance for birdie, and went on to make par.

 

I think Tiger has a pretty good idea of what works for Tiger.

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Why did he hit a 2-iron off the tee? The announcers said he had the longest approach all day - I think it was 185, uphill, into the breeze. I know he's Tiger Woods and probably had a strategy for the hole, but when you're down by 1 with one hole to go, why not play aggressively? Even for Tiger, there's got to be a correlation between distance and proximity to the cup. He's going to get a 150 yard shot (like Patrick Reed had) closer than a 185 yard shot. Why not try 3W or D and get it up the fairway?

 

Yes, Tiger buried that 50 footer on 17 just so he could stand up on 18 tee and "play for second". Good grief.

 

Im surprised he didnt hit 3 wood, but I also understand why - with that pin location on that hole, you dont get a realistic birdie chance by putting it in the rough or the trees. He gave himself what he thought was the best chance at making birdie, which was putting it in the fairway, albeit farther back than most, and getting his ball to the green.

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Yesterday reminded me of the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship. Prior to that tournament, anytime Tiger was on the leaderboard the other players would fall back and he would coast in to win. Tiger played very conservatively in the final round of the 2009 PGA thinking YE Yang would fall back and it never happened.

 

Seemed like the same thing happened yesterday. He hit way too many long irons off the tee. It's hard to score when you are 50+ yards behind everyone else. I agree that it is also hard to score when you are in the trees and/or deep rough, but adding an inch to his driver and going to a 65 gram shaft is the opposite of what he should focusing on with the driver.

 

Tiger beat everyone but one person on the leaderboard despite being 2 back to start the day. And the guy who won had to shoot 65 to do it.

 

That course was not set up for scoring on Sunday. Very few pins were accessible to "go at". Paul Casey won in large part to the fact that he made three birdie putts all in the 20-foot range....the same type of putts that burned the edge for Tiger yesterday. It has little to do with "playing conservatively".

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Why did he hit a 2-iron off the tee? The announcers said he had the longest approach all day - I think it was 185, uphill, into the breeze. I know he's Tiger Woods and probably had a strategy for the hole, but when you're down by 1 with one hole to go, why not play aggressively? Even for Tiger, there's got to be a correlation between distance and proximity to the cup. He's going to get a 150 yard shot (like Patrick Reed had) closer than a 185 yard shot. Why not try 3W or D and get it up the fairway?

I think Tiger had a lot of confidence in his short game and putting and figured it's a lower risk option to make sure he's in the fairway with a clean lie which probably gives him the best chance for a birdie as opposed to maybe 40 yards closer but behind the trees or in the thick stuff.

 

 

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