Really quickly…green means win, yellow means top 10.
YE Yang:
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | DNP | T30 | DNP | CUT |
| U.S. Open | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship | CUT | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP |
| PGA Championship | T47 | DNP | CUT | DNP | 1 |
Tiger fucking Woods (amateur in 1995/1996):
| Tournament | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | T41 LA | CUT | 1 | T8 | T18 |
| U.S. Open | WD | T82 | T19 | T18 | T3 |
| The Open Championship | T68[130] | T22 LA | T24 | 3 | T7 |
| PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | T29 | T10 | 1 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | 5 | 1 | 1 | T15 | T22 | 1 | T3 | T2 | 2 | T6 |
| U.S. Open | 1 | T12 | 1 | T20 | T17 | 2 | CUT | T2 | 1 | T6 |
| The Open Championship | 1 | T25 | T28 | T4 | T9 | 1 | 1 | T12 | DNP | CUT |
| PGA Championship | 1 | T29 | 2 | T39 | T24 | T4 | 1 | 1 | DNP | 2 |
Did this really just happen?
Did YE Yang seriously just Hans Blix Tiger fucking Woods? Did a guy with teal fucking grips on his clubs beat the GOAT? And yes, it was beat. Tiger didn’t LOSE the PGA Championship yesterday, he got beat like a red-headed stepchild.
Don’t be fooled by his queer little quote in the press conference saying “I hit the ball a lot better than my score would indicate,” because I say the same thing after every fucking round. Yes, you probably flushed five shots that you didn’t get the intended result from, but YOU’RE TIGER FUCKING WOODS MAN!!! SACK UP!!!
The most surprising thing about yesterday’s result wasn’t the fact that Yang won…it was the fact that Tiger, the game’s ultimate grinder, the dude who never gives a stroke back to the course, the guy who always pulls a miracle out of his ass, gave the fuck up. I mean, how else can you explain it? The guy with one of the greatest short games of all time, and most certainly the greatest putter, flubbing chips and missing almost every putt he looks at? That doesn’t just happen…especially not at a bullshit course like Hazeltine, one he was MORE than capable of tearing a new one.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. Tiger wasn’t supposed to puss out with a whimper to a no-name journeyman. It was supposed to be Duval, Vijay, Els, Sergio, Adam Scott…a transcendent talent who can go shot for shot, not some fairways and greens Korean. I mean…I’m sorry, I’m just struggling for words right now.
I know that golf has a way of evening things out…hell, this year alone we’ve seen a top 5 player in Kenny Perry blow the Masters, a top 5 players in Mickeltits blow the US Open and an all-time great blowing golf’s version of home court at the British Open…and now Tiger? TIGER? No way, he’s like golf Hercules or something…someone with a direct connection with the gods themselves, someone blessed.
Nobody ever wins 100% of the time, and we know that. Jack and Hogan were beaten on numerous occasions. For everything he did for the game, and as sterling his legacy, Arnold Palmer got beat in majors a lot. But this is Tiger, the guy with the legacy so fucking sterling that we just assumed perfection. His is a career that was supposed to be completely unblemished, and you KNOW this is just killing him on the inside.
See, Tiger isn’t Jack or Hogan. Jack was as gracious a competitor as there ever was, a class act all the way. Hogan would take his beating like a man, and then take it out on 1,000 range balls. Jack never faced adversity in his life, Hogan faced nothing but adversity, but what both Hogan and Jack were was human…something I’m not sure Tiger is.
The most puzzling part of the PGA was Tiger’s reaction afterwards…there wasn’t rage, or spite, or congratulations, or anything. The look on Tiger’s face the entire press conference looked like his brain was just saying, “does not compute,” and it makes sense…Tiger probably hasn’t lost in a tournament of this magnitude EVER. Three junior Am’s, three US Am’s, all the majors…the guy didn’t know how to react because he’s probably never been in that situation before.
But if I know anything, it’s this…Tiger’s game is in good condition, rounding into shape after the long rehab process. After the FedEx Cup, there’s four months of relative golf nothingness, time to let this loss stew, to hear the words of a majorless year. And then there’s 2010.
Augusta, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews…
Hope the field had a nice time, because next year, ya’ll are fucked.
I love that Tiger gets a taste of his own medicine in that picture. Celebration scheudenfreude, thy name is Yang.
Yes, he missed a lot of very makeable putts, but he wasn’t making a putt all day. Even when he had the lead he was missing them so it’s hard to say he gave up, when he couldn’t even make the shot while leading.
Tiger takes the Slam next year.
truth.
Sergio Garcia breaks up Tiger’s slam next year.
/Right, Spence!?
I’ll play contrarian for a second, but after every major this year, the consensus was: “Well, that just pissed Tiger off, and the next major at Course X fits his game perfectly. Watch out, field.”
I guess if it’s said after every major, eventually we’ll be right.
Oh noes, Tiger is human!?!?!?!?
rebuilt knee + tons o’ rust + hank haney’s influence > logic
offseason of bullshit + practice + health = grand slam
Solid math skills. Although I’d put it at 2-3 majors. A second slam would be straight ridiculous.