Remember in the early 2000's when every major tournament focused on what they called 'The Big 4'? It was Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, and Retief Goosen. Tiger was the number 1 ranked golfer but the other three kept swapping spots for a couple years. Vijay Singh would be included in the mix every so often and in 2004, claimed the #1 ranking for a few months. That was until Tiger finally got his new swing clicking.
The big 4 is no more. Basically it's the big 1. The only guy left from that era is Mickelson. He's the number 2 ranked golfer at the moment but the others have fallen a bit. Ernie is somehow ranked 4th, Vijay is ranked 10th, and Goosen is down to 29th.
It could be that they put so much effort into trying to tame Tiger that they've ran out of gas. It could be that Tiger demoralized them like he did to the rest of the tour. One thing is for sure, as each one has faultered, Tiger has only gotten stronger. It's gonna be a long time before he gets knocked down a few pegs.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
What Happened to the Big 4?
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6 comments:
You got that right. I hate to throw this out there... and the huge Tiger fans (I am one of them) are going to snap but, could it actually be possible that Tiger Woods, in some indirect way, has hurt the game of golf?......Simply because he is too f_ _ _ _ n' good? Is it possible? There isn't a big anything anymore (no big 2,3,5 etc). Even when we had (at one time a big 5 with Goosen) look at what happens......Goosen drops into the 20's. Its happened to Els as well. Back in the day, you never heard of Gary, Arnold or Jack dropping to #20 or #30. Why?.......They played 'cause they loved the game!
Gentleman,
I must disagree on this a bit. Keep in mind I am a lefty fan, so as an avid golfer like most of you, you do realize how hard it is to maintain a solid round, let alone a year, or now even a decade. We need to face facts that Tiger is one of the best ever, period! He has not demoralized anyone, he has maintained a higher level of performance that no one else can match. Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sir Byron Nelson, Jack, Arnold, Greg Norman, Nick Price, were able to hold on for 1-5 years at the top. Then just as we have all experienced in a single round, it will disappear, hooks, slices or lip outs. They all get a glich in the swing, need a new putter or a new coach. Tiger is that good. Phil, Ernie, Ratief, all great players who played hot form time to time, they just have slipped for no other reason than it is GOLF. Tiger will eventually start slipping too. No one can play that good for that long, right?
I have to respectfully disagree. Tiger is pretty much immortal. Unfortunately for the rest of the PGA tour, he will not "lose his swing" or develope a "glitch" anytime soon. Linckstir, you said it best....Tiger is THAT good!
I'm gonna have to agree with god of thunder. All you have to do is point to the 72nd hole at Winged Foot. There isn't a snowballs chance in hell that Tiger makes a double bogey when he only needs a par to win a major. Also, the only hiccup Tiger had was on the 15th hole at the Masters last year. If his approach shot is 1 yard longer he wins the entire tournament. However, it hit the bank and trickled down into the water. Tiger is in everyone's head, Mickelson is the only one who can at least tolerate his intimidation a bit. But Tiger doesn't get in their head when they play each other, he gets in their head every time he wins. the way he wins. And that when he's in the field, there's a 70% chance he'll win. When he tees it up, they're already playing for 2nd. Not to mention, Tiger isn't stopping any time soon. These guys are sorry they were born when they were. Well how sorry can they be? They don't have to work a day in their life.
Butch,
You proved my point in your statments. When Tiger plays everyone plays for second. Not because Tiger is on the course, but because Tiger will post 4 65's or beeter, while the rest of the field will post one 65 and three 69's. Tiger is that good. The field trying to shoot 65, they just can't do it for 4 rounds, or 4 years!
Thats the entire point. Tiger doesn't crumble when the rest of the PGA tour does. As a former athlete (shut up Butch) I played baseball, football and wrestled for many years. I can tell you this.......when someone "has your number" and can defeat you 99 out of 100 times and you know deep down in your heart that this indvidual is that much better than you, and you associate competing with this person to losing,.....thats in your head.....period. It gets in your head and its hard to overcome no matter how tough you try to be or how un-intimidated you wish to appear. Psychologists like to say, "the greatest predictor of future behavior is past behavior" Well, you can directly relate that to competition. If somone has beaten you 99 out of 100 times, don't you think you know whats coming when you meet for the 101st?
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