The regular season comes to an end!
DJ – 10.01.08
As we head towards the Baseball post season, and the NFL and College Football and the Premiership (for UK fans) take over our weekends, I will take a quick look back at the year of golf, and reminisce on what a year 2008 has been… I’m sure you will all remember some of these memorable moments!
The hard task, is to know where to start, so how about –
Pre Masters
The four months before the 3rd week in April saw victories for Daniel Chopra at the Mercedes Benz; KJ Choi won in Hawaii, Mickelson won at the famous Riviera. Vijay lost to Steve Lowery at Pebble, and Tiger… Well Tiger won 3 times before the Masters, and they were all different.
He lapped the field at the Buick in January. Came from behind in 3 matches to win the Match-Play in the Arizona desert, with outrageous putting!
And then 10 minutes from his own home, the King’s home; Bay Hill. Who can forget that sliding putt on the last hole, the throw down of the Nike cap, and then the handshake with Arnold Palmer on the 18th green; Palmer said “What else is knew???” Tiger responded “Every now and then!!!”
That moment was pure magic and was definitely one of the highlights of the year.
The Masters and the summer of golf
Trevor Immelman justified his potential with a surprising win at the Masters, holding off Tiger and a bogey at the 16th to win on a very tough Augusta track.
Mickelson won at the Colonial and Adam Scott won the Byron Nelson. Kenny Perry started to hit form and produced some astonishing putting through the summer and two of the hot youngsters Kim and Garcia secured impressive wins at the Wachovia and Players Championship respectively.
Leaving the US Open to later on, the play moved to the British Open at Royal Birkdale and the resurgence of a former star… Greg Norman.
Norman graced the Birkdale fairways as if was pre '96 Masters, with his flowing gold locks blowing in the 40mph winds. With exceptional tee-green play, the 53year old was still in the hunt for his 3rd British Open title right up until the back 9 on Sunday.
However, Padraig Harrington played brilliant golf in the wind, and hit a stunning 5 wood on no 17 and walked away with his 2nd British Open title in a row. No-one could have predicted that a month later Harrington would go on and beat Garcia and capture the PGA Championship as well.
Three majors for the Irishman in a year and the journeyman pro joined elite company with 3; Mickelson, Els and Singh, and surpassing pro’s such as possible hall of famers Furyk, Couples and Davis Love III, and the shark Greg Norman (2).
Post PGA, we all looked forward to the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup and what a couple of weeks were ahead of us...
FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup
With Vijay Singh running away with the FedEx cup and youngsters Kim, Garcia and Villegas playing fearless golf, we headed to Valhalla for the much anticipated Ryder Cup between Captain's Azinger and Faldo.
And the 37th Ryder Cup certainty did not disappoint. As previously discussed on this Blog, (See Red, White and Boo) Captain Zinger planned and prepped as best he could, and the US team recaptured the Ryder Cup in spectacular fashion, with Boo Weekly becoming the unlikely hero of the week.
The players from Valhalla certainly left on a high, and all headed towards the ‘Money’ tournament, the Tour Championship. With Villegas still on top form; the Columbian defeated Garcia in a playoff and captured the title and 2nd place in the FedEx Cup behind Singh. (See Viva Villegas)
And so the regular season came to an end at Eastlake. What was your highlight? Who stood out for you? What golf shot will you remember from 2008…?
Perhaps all those questions can be answered from the same event… Possibly the greatest 5 days of golf ever seen…………..
US Open 2008
The public South Course at Torrey Pines was always going to be a special site for the 2008 Open, but who would have predicted what a tournament it was.
The 91hole spectacular that unfolded between Tiger and journeyman Rocco Mediate in mid-June will go down as one of the most memorable open’s in recent years…
That’s right, did I say Rocco Mediate. The golfer best known for some part-time commentary on the Golf Channel, produced a ball striking display that pushed the World no 1 to the edge of his left knee, and contributed to a Monday of golf, some of us will never forget!
And some of you may have thought TW was faking it a little. Heck we thought the 8 weeks off he took after finishing 2nd to Immelman at the Masters, was to wonder where his Scotty Cameron had been that week. None of us could have predicted an ACL tear, a fractured Tibia, and a stressed Fibula due to extensive training to prepare for his US Open in his home state…
Faking it… Who said that??? Let’s ask Retief Goosen!!! (Sorry Retief)
Anyway, that Sunday and Monday will go down as one of the best weekends of golf ever produced. You have to feel bad for Lee Westwood, who if he had holed a couple more putts could have taken the title away from Tiger or the Rocc!
But eventually, it came down to the 72nd hole, with Woods 1 behind Mediate, and facing a 15 footer, right to left down the hill… For a guy who had been grimacing all week, who had fought through sheer pain after every swing; he now faced a 15 foot putt that was more about guts and nerves, than strength and pain.
Now I don’t know about you, but the Goosebumps were on my arms even before he struck that putt, and when it rolled around the right side of the cup and eventually dropped, I felt like I was Stevie Williams running across the 18th green I was so pumped. I even think Tiger could have knocked out Mike Tyson with those two fist pumps he threw, to celebrate the tie… A tie??? Did we still have a playoff to watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Monday playoff was back and forth all the way… Tiger had a 3 shot lead after 10 holes, Rocco took the lead on the 15th and it took another birdie 4 from Woods on the 18th to tie it up after 90 holes.
90 holes played and these 2 warriors still couldn’t be separated! So the play moved to the 7th hole… And with his first real mistake, Mediate found the fairway bunker! A 2 putt par for TW moments later and Tiger had captured his 3rd US Open title and first since 2002.
WOW what a tournament, what a playoff, what a week at Torrey!
No-one could have predicted the drama that unfolded over those 5 days, and no-one could have predicted what would happen 2 days later. Tiger announcing his season was over, after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left knee.
Who would have thought that par on the 91st hole would have been the last time we saw TW in the 2008 season??
And until next year we will not know what long lasting affect that knee injury will have on the world no 1… We all have to wait till next January(possibly) and wait and see!
