There's Just Nothing Left to Say

Once again Tiger Woods won a PGA tour event, this time tying Ben Hogan on the all time career wins list with 64. Next up is 'The Golden Bear' Jack Nicklaus with 73 wins. But that's not important right now.

This time Tiger let the field sort of hang around a bit until he decided to drop a 25 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to beat journeyman Bart Bryant by a single stroke to win his 5th straight tournament. It marks the 3rd time in his career that Woods has had a winning streak of at least 5 wins in a row.

Tiger was going against a stacked field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. This tournament ranks just slightly below the TPC at Sawgrass in terms of importance and toughness. It's also known for some brutal holes at the end of the course. Numbers 16, 17, and 18 have been known to cause some serious heartaches for players over a number of years. A bunch of guys hung around with Tiger but for the most part they were no-names. Vijay Singh and last weeks winner Sean O'Hair were the ones expected to give Tiger a challenge. The others were either newer tour members with a 'too happy to feel the pressure' attitude, or some seasoned vets who had the 'I'm not even expected to contend' attitude.

While no one really pushed the pace, no one disappeared either and there were at least 8 guys within 2 strokes of the lead at any time during the final round. Going into the 72nd hole, he was tied with Bart Bryant, who was already in the clubhouse, with the lead at -9. He played his approach shot to the center of the green which had a right, front tucked pin directly over the water (the traditional Sunday pin location). The announcers just so happen to bring up the fact that Tiger hadn't made a putt of over 18 feet all day. Well duh, he made the 25 footer which rolled in on the very last revolution. He exploded as the putt fell, spiking his hat into the ground and then facing the crowd demanding them to rise.

The crazy thing is I don't think anyone was surprised that he made the putt. That's just what Tiger does, he does it often, and he does it better than anyone who has ever played. You got that right folks, we're watching the absolute greatest golfer in the history of the game. Everyone should absolutely appreciate what we're getting to witness in golf. We will never see anyone dominate this game the way Tiger is doing. Honestly we won't see anyone even come close to playing at the level he does every time he's in a tournament. Take Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh. Those 2 guys are all world golfers. They, at one time or another, have shown some serious flashes of dominance on the PGA Tour. Vijay having recently attaining the #1 world ranking for a brief period in 2004. They have also won a lot on the PGA tour. Yet their combined number of victories doesn't equal that of Tiger's number of wins.

Tiger Woods now brings his win streak to Doral and the Blue Monster which doesn't bode well for the rest of the tour. Not only is he the defending champion but he's quite possibly playing the best golf of his career. It's not often that in mid March a golfer has won every tournament he's entered. There's actually some crazy talk of a 'perfect season'. Obviously that's never going to happen but it's also never even been talked about. Tiger is playing so perfect that he's giving the media a reason to talk about it. So sit back, relax, and watch the greatest ever play the game during what could be the greatest season ever.

On a side note, a classless heckler was in the stands and the announcers barely touched on it. Vijay was in the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole, only 2 strokes back, and had to go directly over the water to hit the green. In the middle of his backswing, not after he swung, a douchebag screamed out, "Hit it in the water Vijay!" Vijay hit a great shot to the center of the green which showed the heckler up. There is no place for that in golf, and why no one did anything about it is beyond me. His caddie or a marshall should have found out who it was and forcefully escorted the sap out of the gallery. Vijay gave a harsh glare into the area of where it came from but still had to remain focused on his upcoming putt. At that point he still had a chance if he made a birdie by forcing the guys in the groups behind him to make par. He made a 2 putt for par and showed a lot of class by not even bringing it up in his post round interview. There is no place for that in golf and I can tell you now, the Golf Gods will get that jerkoff back in a big way. I, for one, will not feel bad for whatever they have in store for this classless, yuppy bastard. Say goodbye to your golf game chump!!

For everyone else, we'll see you after Doral.