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Did Tiger play 18 for second place?


Darin322

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Tiger is the most cerebral player of all time. He’s gotten most of his game back which is damn near miraculous when you think about it. But when it comes to the driver, he knows that’s his Achilles’ heel even though he has shown signs that he’s making some progress there. I think he’s game planning before the tourney where he’s comfortable going driver / 3-wood and where he’s not, and he’s sticking to that game plan regardless of the situation. Hard to argue with the results; but yeah, if he had total confidence in that driver I think he pulls it. He wanted to make sure that approach on 18 gave him at least a chance and he decided 2-iron was the best bet.

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I dont think tiger flushed that 2 iron off rhe tee . Sounded a little clunky

If he gets its pure another 10 yarss and he is hitting 8 iron in to the green . Like a poster said earlier a big drive in the trees wasnt the play there . He needed to make sure he had a birdie putt

 

I dont think tiger flushed that 2 iron off rhe tee . Sounded a little clunky

If he gets its pure another 10 yarss and he is hitting 8 iron in to the green . Like a poster said earlier a big drive in the trees wasnt the play there . He needed to make sure he had a birdie putt

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He was definitely playing to win, likely didn't get all of it or something like that.

Still, I question the play. Yes, 3W may bring bunker into play, but it also brings in a possible 9I or PW approach.

It is true that it is easier to hit closer approach shots when you are close. Just common sense.

Still, he is Tiger freakin' Woods and could've just as easily stuffed it.

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Gonna be a real quiet forum if you have to be a touring pro to post.

 

I just look at the original post and see some things that are hard to understand unless you have been there before. I think I've been fairly consistent in saying that playing for championships/history is vastly different than playing a round with buddies or club championships etc (I know this isn't the argument but allow me to expand), "why didn't he play aggressively...correlation between being closer to hole from 150 than 175" (don't think I have the quote exactly right but agree that's close enough?). Yes there is a correlation, you have a closer approach typically you're going to be closer to the hole. But look at that green and location, look what happened to Reed and Casey. Reeds ball came back down the slope, Casey couldn't stop it on the plateau and got lucky it didn't run too far by. You need to be be able to control the spin and trajectory to get it close to that pin. What club gives you the best chance, for him it was 2 iron. So assume tiger busts a tee shot and has 80 yards from the fairway, but given the situation first time playing around the lead on Sunday in awhile (he has nerves, all great players do) suppose he puts too much juice on it and sucks it off the ridge? Hard putt to make. Suppose he puts it in the rough but on 80 yards from the hole, yes he can get it close but most likely it bounds over in the rough. Is it possible to get it close from each location? Absolutely it is, but percentages don't tell you that. And giving yourself 25 feet or so is far better than being 35 yards closer in rough or bunker.

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That was the right play. get the ball in a safe location from the tee. 185 is nothing to tour players let alone Tiger feaking woods. that was a easy 7 iron for him all day long. just needed a little bit more.

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I don't think Tiger ever plays for second, putter went dead on him...

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Gonna be a real quiet forum if you have to be a touring pro to post.

 

I just look at the original post and see some things that are hard to understand unless you have been there before. I think I've been fairly consistent in saying that playing for championships/history is vastly different than playing a round with buddies or club championships etc (I know this isn't the argument but allow me to expand), "why didn't he play aggressively...correlation between being closer to hole from 150 than 175" (don't think I have the quote exactly right but agree that's close enough?). Yes there is a correlation, you have a closer approach typically you're going to be closer to the hole. But look at that green and location, look what happened to Reed and Casey. Reeds ball came back down the slope, Casey couldn't stop it on the plateau and got lucky it didn't run too far by. You need to be be able to control the spin and trajectory to get it close to that pin. What club gives you the best chance, for him it was 2 iron. So assume tiger busts a tee shot and has 80 yards from the fairway, but given the situation first time playing around the lead on Sunday in awhile (he has nerves, all great players do) suppose he puts too much juice on it and sucks it off the ridge? Hard putt to make. Suppose he puts it in the rough but on 80 yards from the hole, yes he can get it close but most likely it bounds over in the rough. Is it possible to get it close from each location? Absolutely it is, but percentages don't tell you that. And giving yourself 25 feet or so is far better than being 35 yards closer in rough or bunker.

I’m not questioning his play, in fact if his instincts told him to go 2-iron then trying anything else probably would have ended up poorly so he made the right call. But are you saying if given a choice TW would have chosen to have a shot from the FW from 185 out over say being in the fairway and 145 out? As good of a mid iron player as Tiger is, I think in a perfect world knowing he needs 3 he would choose to be 40 yards closer and take his chances hitting a wedge up there. He just didn’t think the risk of putting himself that close was worth it in those circumstances.

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I dont think tiger flushed that 2 iron off rhe tee . Sounded a little clunky

If he gets its pure another 10 yarss and he is hitting 8 iron in to the green . Like a poster said earlier a big drive in the trees wasnt the play there . He needed to make sure he had a birdie putt

 

 

He played 18 the same way all week, and his drive on Sunday was his longest (258 vs 257, 252, 252). He got it all. That pin was pretty much ungettable from any distance. I thought it was a bad location for a final round.

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OP, if Tiger had never made birdie after using an iron off the tee, then, you might’ve had a point.

 

One Tiger is probably the best iron play in history from 150-225. Two if u actually see that hole it gets extremely hard and tight pass/at those bunkers. So yes he had the perfect strategy, just didn't make the put.....

 

That was a long putt. I think it was the second shot that didn’t work out the way he’d hoped.

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I doubt Tiger gives a damn about second place.

 

He has always been ok hitting longer irons into greens. Has done this strategy many times in his career , disregarding the earlier years when he murdered the ball and didn't miss fairways

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Why does everyone keep saying he hit 2 iron? That club is no more a 2 iron then a 3 hybrid or a 7 wood is a 3 iron. I know it sounds cooler, but c'mon. Even I can hit that crossover type club, but I can't hit a 2 iron.

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One Tiger is probably the best iron play in history from 150-225. Two if u actually see that hole it gets extremely hard and tight pass/at those bunkers. So yes he had the perfect strategy, just didn't make the put.....

Round 1 - he got par on 18. Had 190 in, so must've hot 2-iron.

Round 2 - he got par on 18. Had 170 in

Round 3 - he got par on 18. Had 168 in, hit 2-iron (according to announcers on Sunday)

Round 4 - he got par on 18. Had 185 in, hit 2-iron (according to announcers on Sunday)

 

I opened this thread to say both of these things...haha. He stuck with his game plan.

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That approach isn't much easier with a 9 iron or wedge. Take Reed as example. It's hard to get it all the way back there plus you have to worry about controlling the spin and not ripping it down the shelf. Tiger played the hole exactly how he thought gave him the best chance to make 3. He just didn't quite do it.

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Tiger-"Joey, I gotta hit the fairway here if I want to have a chance in hell to win"

Joey-"2 iron?"

Tiger-"damn right"

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Tiger-"Joey, I gotta hit the fairway here if I want to have a chance in hell to win"

Joey-"2 iron?"

Tiger-"damn right"

Exactly. Find the fairway and takes your chances. I wish he had hit at least 3 wood, but you go with what you know you can hit the fairway with almost 100% of the time.

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He made the right call. If you wedge into that pin you risk it spinning back. I knew he would want to hit something to roll out a bit.

As mentioned, he didn't catch all of the 2i and he was a bit short with the approach, but he had a putt to win. Reed did not have a putt to win and ended up playing himself out of it.

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It's sort of like the end of other sports games where you try to extend the game as long as possible. You don't do the Hail Mary pass in football with 30 seconds on the clock. You try to get some more first downs and make the Hail Mary attempt a little more realistic. Or in basketball you don't necessarily need a 3 pointer if you're down by 3 points with 20 seconds left. Get a quick 2 pointer and foul the other guys, hope they miss some free throws.

 

In this case, Tiger didn't want to play from the trees, fairway bunker, or thick rough...so he went with the most likely club to get him in the fairway. He mentioned after the round that he did not feel good with his irons on Sunday. If he felt a little better with the irons, maybe that 2nd shot ends up much closer to the hole.

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OP, if Tiger had never made birdie after using an iron off the tee, then, you might've had a point.

 

Not on 18 he didn't. Parred all 4 rounds.

 

It was a tough hole - ranked #1 most difficult hole all 4 rounds.

 

So, you're saying he was just aiming for second as early as the first day?

 

No - it's totally different when it's the final round and you have one last chance. At that point, screw the conservative strategy.

 

What we'll never know is whether he didn't hit a longer club because he still doesn't have the "feels" or whether he truly thought having the longest approach of the day* on 18 gave him the maximum chance.

 

*Note that the announcers made this comment. I suspect there might have been some longer approach attempts throughout the day.

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