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He's Good

© Bill Howard

There are a few points that I'd like to make while Tiger Woods' thorough trouncing of the US Open field is still fresh in our memories.

Tiger can flat play. Fast starts are nothing new at the Open. The history books are full of players who threatened to pull away from the field during the first two rounds. Experience tells us that these players invariably fade and are rarely factors in the outcome of the tournament. After an ugly triple bogey early in his third round, Tiger was wobbling on the edge of this historical chasm.

Rather than unraveling and becoming the latest addition to the would be Open champs body count, he played better after that triple than he did prior to it. His performance has been examined endlessly in print and on television. In my mind the most revealing fact about his win is that his margin of victory shattered a record that had stood since prior to the Civil War.

During that era, a major championship field might well consist of no more than a dozen players. They had a full field at Pebble. And my hunch is that they play a superior brand of golf than the contestants of 140 years ago. Tiger crushed them. The degree of his dominance was apparent when you think about the fact that Tiger came very close to picking up a shot on the field every four holes. If someone won a handicap event at your course in this fashion, he'd likely be thrashed to within an inch of his life.

So count me in. He can be as good as everyone has been predicting. I only hope someone will emerge to challenge him.

The most likely spawning ground for this future challenge is Europe. Johnny Miller correctly pointed out during the Open telecast that the abundance of European Tour players in Tiger's rear view mirror was evidence of the fact that the European Tour has caught up to the US. It was one of his rare cogent moments.

The Tour looks to be a Tiger Woods feast for the foreseeable future. Pray hard for a worthy challenger. Without one, Tiger will surely tire of uninterrupted gluttony. In the meantime, we'll just have to sit back and watch everyone fighting for Tiger's table scraps.

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