Talking head on ESPN announced early Aug. 13 in no uncertain terms that Michael Phelps, the fish masquerading as a man, is the greatest athlete of our times. Way better than that Tiger Woods character, talking head says.
A few channels up the dial, another talking head declares with equal conviction that Padraig Harrington, not Woods, should be the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year.
Somewhere Woods is keeping time on a stationary bike wondering when he became an afterthought.
Such is celebrity in a society riddled by ADD.
Make no mistake, Harrington is like a ray of Irish sunshine. A ray with one of the most devastating final-round haymakers since Mike Tyson was mowing down no-names. The man has now hit for a cycle Woods is unfamiliar with, having come from the pack after 54 holes in all three of his major masterpieces.
For the record, Woods has never played catch-up at a major. But, as Tour iconoclast Paul Goydos once figured: “It’s rough when your only weakness is that you’ve never won a major from behind. Wow. Neither have I.”
Yet being a nice guy – and make no mistake, Harrington is one of the best – and having run down a Garcia, a 53-year-old Norman and a Curtis not named Strange isn’t enough to trump history or Woods in the PoY race.
The PoY scorecard for Woods and Harrington is a statistical match – six events, four wins (one major) and six top 10s for Woods; 12 events, two wins (two majors), six top 10s for Harrington – and the Irishman still has a few weeks to make hay. Yet it’s still hard to imagine a PoY trophy without Woods’ name on it.
Here are the top six reasons to help those with short-term memory issues recall why Woods’ 2008 season, however abbreviated, may be his greatest ever.
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Four-for-six. Some call four Tour titles a career (consider that the high-profile likes of Ian Baker-Finch and Ian Woosnam combined for four career Tour titles), and his .667 batting average is Cooperstown ready. Compared to Phelps – who is blowing away the competition and blowing minds in China, but has just a single big game every four years – there’s no contest.
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Walk-offs and walkovers. Woods won by eight at the Buick Invitational, an ominous foreshadowing of what awaited the golf world at the U.S. Open. He followed that with a dominating performance at the WGC-Match Play where he rolled over Stewart Cink, 8 and 7, in the 36-hole final.
Perhaps Woods’ most impressive moment, non-major category, was at Bay Hill, where he scripted a Ruthian finish with his 24-footer at the final hole to edge Bart Bryant for his fifth title at Arnie’s place.
For good measure, Woods limped home to a second-place finish at Augusta National a day before undergoing knee surgery and cashed his annual annuity at the Dubai Desert Classic in February.
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Anthony Kim. It’s easy to get caught up in Woods’ on-course brilliance, but a scene unfolded earlier this year that illuminated his off-course influence. Kim – whose rapid rise has made him the challenger du jour – was waiting for a spot in the WGC-Accenture Match Play field when Woods walked by. The world No. 1 stopped to check in on the young star before moving on.
“That guy,” said Kim, pointing in Woods’ direction, “has helped me so much. Just being there and answering questions. It’s really been cool.”
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Jimmy Demaret, Bobby Locke and Chandler Harper. Can’t connect the dots? They were the winners of the other three majors in 1950, the year Ben Hogan won the U.S. Open in historic fashion 16 months after a near-fatal car crash. Honestly, 58 years from now are people going to remember Harrington’s twofer or Woods’ 91-hole epic at Torrey Pines?
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67.65. That’s Woods’ scoring average. His lowest mark since joining the Tour in 1997. It’s worth noting that Woods didn’t have to endure Royal Birkdale or Oakland Hills, statistically the year’s toughest tests (Harrington did and he has a 69.28 scoring average). But it’s still hard to ignore 67.65.
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A shattered left leg. He whipped one of the year’s best fields on perhaps the year’s most demanding field . . .
on one leg. And all the ladybirds in Dublin can’t top that.
Posted: 8/13/2008
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