I got to the course about 15 minutes before Tiger was scheduled to tee off. The timing was just about perfect as it took me that long to find a place near the first tee box. My plan had been to follow Tiger and Holmes until they tee’d off on 5. 5 meets up with the back 9, and I was going to find a place to sit at the 14th par 3 to watch all the other groups come though. I also took my portable XM radio so I could hear what was going on in other groups. On the first hole, I found a place a good distance from the tee box, on the right side. The nice thing about this vantage point was that Tiger’s drive went right over my head. The crowd was sort of shocked by his driving his first shot OB, and became pretty quiet.By the time that they finished the 4th hole, it was pretty clear that this was the match to follow, and since I had my XM to keep up on everything else, I decided to stay with the Tiger/Holmes match. Pretty glad I did.
Most of this report is going to make more sense to those that watched the match on TV, or saw some of the highlights.
On 8, Holmes hit his tee shot off to the right of the green, in a big hole beside the green. From where I was standing, I could not see where his ball went, but I was standing next to a guy who is a member at the course, and he said that Holmes was in a ditch, and it was foolish to even try to play it out of there. I know that he took a stab at the shot, but hit the bank, just as the guy I was standing next to said he had done about 1000 times.
By the time we got to 12, I was on the left side of the fairway, just short of the green. I think this hole is where things really went Tiger’s way for the first time. He hit his drive way right, but he got the luckiest break in the world by hitting the gallery. If you look at the pictures I posted yesterday, his ball hit right where I took the picture of Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson’s golf bag. If he wouldn’t have hit that person, his ball would have fallen off into the desert and he would have had ZERO chance. Really was the luckiest break of the day.
The 13th was an intersting hole. I was on the left side of the fairway, about the same position that I took the pics of Weir and Calcavecchia (please follow the link to my FLICKR pictures to see what I am talking about). When Tiger smashed that shot so far to the right, a lot of people thought that the match was over. A lot of the crowd had started yelling out for Holmes by that point, and were very quiet whenever Tiger did anything at all.
That all changed on the 14th. 14 is where I took the picture of Vijay and Cabrera, it is also where he signed my hat. When Tiger sunk that long putt, and won the hole, you could see him change. All of a sudden he got fired up. Up until that point, he looked like he was running on autopilot. When he got animated some, the crowd really responded and it was the first time of the match that they got pretty loud for him.
Maybe some of you can help me with what happened on the 15th. I was quite a ways down the fairway, on the right side, and Tiger was setting up for his tee shot. Just as it looked like he was in the middle of his downswing, he stopped and stepped away from the ball. The concession stands were behind him, so I don’t know if there was some noise or not. What impressed me was that most normal golfers would have went ahead and made their shot. It really looked like he was beyond the point of no return, but he stepped out of it and then went on to hit a good tee shot. I was actually quite close to where Holmes hit his tee shot.
Tiger made a really nice putt at the 16th. I think that most people realized that it was just a matter of time before this one was done. It really did look like the Tiger that people were there to see.
If you didn’t see the 17th hole on TV, you really need to. Simply amazing, for both golfers actually. I was very close to where Tigers tee shot landed on the right side of the fairway. Pretty close to where I took the pic of Furyk. Tiger was in the rough, and from where we were standing, no one believed that he could get it on in 2 from the rough. Holmes just destroyed his tee shot. After they both got on in 2, I started heading to the green. Got pretty close to it, and with the slope, I had a great view. I think the thing that really got Tiger motivated in the last few holes of the match was his putting, and the Eagle putt he made on 17 has to go down as one of his best. I actually got to see a Tiger fist pump.
This is the third time I have seen Tiger in tournament play, but it was the first time that I followed him for an entire round. I have never been one of the fanboy types for him, I think I have even called him over-rated in the past, but I have to confess that I got wrapped up in all of the hype just during the last 5 holes of today’s round. Those 5 holes were simply amazing, perfect golf.
