\jeff{krimmel}

Is This As Good As Golf Gets?

I just finished watching Tiger Woods win his fourth consecutive tournament. I’m really not a big fan of all the hyperbole that is commonly found in sports analysis today, but I’ll go ahead and wade into this territory: does Tiger Woods play golf as well as we will ever see anyone play it?

I don’t mean this week, specifically, because it was clear that Tiger Woods wasn’t playing great golf by his own personal standards. Having watched most of the last two rounds of this weekend’s tournament, I thought Tiger was at best playing one hole well for each hole he played poorly. And it was clear that he was trying oh so hard to play conservatively. He just wanted to make as few mistakes as possible, and sometimes even that wasn’t working for him.

And he still won. How frustrating must that be for the other professionals? It’s not like Tiger Woods is playing against some beer swilling, overweight amateurs. (Though some of the professionals fit that physical description.) He is competing against the best golfers the world has to offer, arguably against the toughest fields any golf tournament has ever seen. Tiger Woods plays poorly, again by his own standards, and they still can’t beat him.

Is anyone going to play this game this well ever again? Is this the best Tiger can play? Or is he going to get even better? He’s 30 years old, which is pretty much dead center in the prime years for most American professional athletes. I would imagine the window for golf is wider than it is in baseball, basketball, or football. How many more big time tournaments can Tiger play average at best golf and still beat the field?

It’s pure insanity to watch, but I really am enjoying it.