The Hard Truth: Tiger Isn't a Good Putter

Coming into this week’s British Open (or The Open Championship for any European readers), one of the biggest stories on the Tiger Woods front was the decision to use a different style putter because of the speeds of the greens at St. Andrews.

This decision was criticized by analysts, who thought that abandoning a putter that had won him 14 majors and 80+ million in earnings was a mistake.

Then, in a span of the tournament, we heard them go from that view, to Tiger’s new putter is the next piece of technology that will revolutionize golf, back to the idea that he should make the switch back because he isn’t putting well.

I have a better idea about why he is struggling with his flat stick: he isn’t a good putter.

This might be a foreign concept to most, but that is because we spend all of our golf watching with Johnny Morgan in our ear telling us how amazing of a putter Tiger is the instant he makes a simple five or six foot putt.

Take a look at his rankings amongst his peers on putting the last six years:



2009: T20

2008: didn’t play enough to qualify for stat

2007: T48

2006: 137

2005: 33

2004: 20



Would you say those are the rankings of one of the best putters in our generation? I don’t think so.

As you can see, the lack of quality putting over the past tournaments isn’t a recent thing. It has been mediocre his entire career. What separates Tiger from the rest of the field is his amazing ball-striking. Putting is the wild card in the winning equation.

In all three majors this year, Tiger has hit the ball well enough to win-that goes double for the Masters, where he was playing as well as I have seem him play in years. Despite this fact, Tiger doesn’t have a Major Championship this year because of his failures with the putter.

Hell, it only makes sense that he change his putter…his old one wasn’t working for him.

Morgan would like to make you think that he “is having a tough day with the putter” every day that you see him, but the statistics that I have shown say otherwise.

Remember the scene in Happy Gilmore where Chubbs takes Happy to a miniature golf course to work on his putting? We might not be there quite yet, but we are close.

Woods seems to be struggling with reading putts, speed, and even having a consistent stroke. He is zero-for-three in putting skills.

Now, before I get struck by lightening for criticizing Tiger, I must say that I do believe Tiger Woods is still the best golfer in the World and that I do think that he will pass Jack Nicklaus in career Majors.

That being said, if he wins the five more majors he needs, it won’t be because of his putting, it will be in spite of it.

The Best of the 2000's Part 1: Best Stories

As the end of decade approaches, it is time for us to look back at the last ten years. You have most likely spent hours watching what are the most remarkable moments and best players of the decade over the last week, so I won’t bore you with that. Instead, I will remind you of the funniest or absurd stories and players of the decade. I will cover the best stories, my favorite people, the most annoying people, and my favorite teams. Enjoy¹.

FAVORITE STORIES OF THE DECADE:

Whizzinator (2005)- I start with this because some people don’t remember it and that is a shame. This is the funniest story of any decade, not just this one. In 2005, Minnesota Viking runningback Onterrio Smith’s carry-on bag spilled all over the floor of an airport and out fell what appeared to be a fake penis. Now, before you make a dildo joke here, stay focused because it gets better. As it turned out, this prosthetic penis, coined the whizzinator, was used to pass drug tests by storing a sample of clean urine inside it in the event that your drug test had to be done in front of a witness. You simply pulled out your fake dick and took a piss with it. Not funny enough for you? Would it be funnier if I told you that there was a website that sold them in different colors and sizes so there was one that fit everyone²? Yea, I thought so.

Tiger Woods’ affair (2009)- hopefully you still remember this, seeing that it happened like three weeks ago. You know why this story is so great? I am a die-hard Tiger fan and this will never get old. Nearly everyone alive has made a joke or skit about this and they are all hilarious. The SNL skit was comedic genius and the CollegeHumor one was just as legendary. Tiger, I love you and all that, but watching your epic fail of a private life made my year.

XFL (2000-01)- In 1999, WWF president Vince McMahon had an amazing idea…he should create a competing football league that was just like the NFL, except give it a bunch of stupid new rules³, and have half of the game focus on the cheerleaders. Smart right? My favorite part was the name. Most people assumed “XFL” stood for the “eXtreme Football League” but that is where it gets fun. You see, there was already an “eXtreme Football League” so McMahon couldn’t use it. Instead, he made it so XFL just didn’t stand for anything. After two horrible years, the league folded and people finally realized that starting another football league was retarded⁴.

Miguel Tejada (2008)- After agreeing to talk with an ESPN reporter on the network’s new show “E:60” under the thought that it was regarding steroids, Tejada was blindsided worst than a deer after jumping on to the beltway. Instead of steroids, Tejada was interrogated about his age. Tejada started out confused and stated he was born in 1976 as he always has. Unfortunately, the reporter was a little bit more informed. He (or she, I don’t recall) had his REAL birth certificate which show that not only was he two years older, but also showed his last name was spelled T-E-J-E-D-A. The look on his face was priceless and made for awkward pause. His response? Storming off the set. He pulled the “Screw you guys, I’m going home” comeback that Cartman⁵ pulls so much.

Michael Jordan as a General Manager (2001-present)- What he did as a player is almost totally negated by what he has done as a GM. Harsh you say? Ask anyone in Washington D.C. and they will agree. In the nations capital, he used the 2001 first overall pick on the biggest bust of all time (Kwame Brown), and followed that up with first round picks of Jared Jeffries in 2002 and Jarvis Hayes in 2003. To small a sample you say? After being exiled from D.C. Charlotte decided they wanted to suck and gave him the reigns of the team. What did he do? Draft Adam Morrison number four overall in 2006, traded the ’07 pick for a washed up Jason Richardson, and an undersized DJ Augustin in ’08. I could go more in depth here, like talk about him trading for the cancer known as Stephen Jackson, but I won’t waste your time. I just did? Damnit…sorry.

Post Game Conferences- We have entered the YouTube era, where if you say something dumb in a conference, you are a legend by the next morning. The best by far are Jim Mora Sr.’s, known just as “PLAYOFFS?!” Allen Iverson’s on practice, and Denny Green’s on how the Bears “are who with thought they were.” If you haven’t seen these, you are voiding yourself of a good laugh. I would love to make fun of these, but nothing I say can do them justice. They are comedic masterpieces on their own.

The Congressional Steroid Hearing (2005)- This decade will always be known for the rampant use of steroids by athletes in all sports. While this is a serious concern for almost all, the congressional hearing was filled with unintentional hilarity. Let’s go over the top three funniest factors:

1. Mark McGwire- I’m not sure what McGwire thought the purpose of the hearing was, but he didn’t seem to realize that it was about him. He was asked about his steroid use about a thousand times, and every time, he said “I’m not here to talk about the past. I’m here to discuss the future.” That might have worked out, if there was ANYONE there that wasn’t attending strictly because they wanted to know if he took ‘roids

2. Sammy Sosa- Slammin’ Sammy had been in the MLB for 15 years by the time of the hearing, and despite this fact, he seemed to need a translator at the hearing. I had seen the man speak perfect English in interviews a thousand times, but I guess that is irrelevant⁶.

3. Rafael Palmeiro- After the hearing, Raffy was definitely the good guy. He was the only one who spoke freely, and said convincingly that he did not take steroids. People constantly spoke of how honorable he was and praised his outspokenness for about four and a half months…when our hero tested positive for steroids. His response was so classy. Blamed teammate Miguel Tejada for giving him a B-12 injection that caused the positive test⁷.

Next: Favorite and Most Annoying People of the 2000’s

1. This seriously took me for freaking ever to write. If you don’t enjoy this, go fuck yourself…seriously

2. Do you think a black guy would be able to pull out a three inch white penis and be believed? Me neither.

3. Things like no fair catches on punts, or starting the game by replacing the coin toss at the beginning of each game with an event in which one player from each team sought to recover a football 20 yards away in order to determine possession. (think start of a dodgeball game)

4. Wait…that’s not true. A bunch of morons started the UFL this year despite a history of failed leagues and being in one of the worst economic times ever. At least the XFL had a contract with NBC! The UFL was broadcasted (and not seen) on Versus

5. If you can’t recognize a South Park reference, I can’t help you. Stop reading.

6. It wasn’t going to matter. Even if Sosa somehow did manage to forget the entire English language in one night, it’s not like you need to know much English to plead the 5^th after every question

7. Best part, B-12 isn’t on the list of banned substances and couldn’t possibly have triggered the positive test. Honestly, if you are going to lie AND throw a teammate under the bus, make sure it’s a plausible story