Tiger Woods is just phenomenal! He won the 108th US Open ? in what has been described as one of the best US Open victories ever ? limping around on one painful knee that has resulted in his having to take the rest of the year off from competitive golf. He has suffered from a torn ligament for the last 10 months and a further stress fracture in his left leg that he suffered just two weeks prior to the US Open left him in agony. According to media reports, Tiger has now pulled out of the British Open, the USPGA Championship as well as the Ryder Cup and will return to competitive golf only next year, in time to participate in the US Masters.
Therefore, Tiger?s 91-hole victory over Rocco Mediate seems even more impressive. However, it seemed that he was destined to win ? as it always does seem with Tiger.
He chipped in on the 17th hole in round two and then sank a monstrous putt on the par-five 18th at Torrey Pines to move atop the leader board. Inspite of it being the US Open ? one of the toughest major championships in the game ? the next two rounds saw him maintain his challenge and it came down to the final putt on the 18th hole, which Tiger holed for birdie to get into a playoff with Mediate who was watching from the club house. The US Open always has an 18-hole playoff, which saw the two players return to the course on Monday to decide the winner.
While Woods dominated over the front nine and took a three-stroke lead after 10 holes, Mediate birdied the 13th, 14th and made up another two-strokes on the 15th hole where Tiger missed a short par-putt and Mediate birdied to take a one-stroke advantage over Tiger. Pars over the next two holes, saw Mediate one stroke better than Tiger playing the last hole. However, Mediate made two mistakes all week. The first was the short birdie putt he missed on the par-five 13th hole during regulation play, in the final round and the second was his drive on the last hole on Monday which landed in the bunker leaving him with no option but to lay-up and hit the green in three ? making his birdie chance all the more difficult. Tiger meanwhile, hit his second shot on the green and made a two-putt for birdie, opening the door for himself yet again and getting into a playoff. And the rest is history. Mediate found the bunker with his drive yet again in the sudden-death playoff while Tiger hit it on the green and won with a par.
Tiger now has 14 majors to his credit and is creeping closer to Jack Nicklaus? record of 18 major wins. And even though one felt sorry for Mediate ? the underdog, ranked 158th in the world who had made it to the tournament through the 36-hole qualifying for the tournament ? the pain that Tiger had fought off to emerge victorious overshadowed all that.
So even though we are bound to miss him the rest of the season and his absence will definitely take the sheen off the remaining two majors, he will return stronger and more determined. All we can do is wait and watch what he will do when he is a 100%.