The Open - Talking point: The big if

Eurosport - Mon, 08 Dec 13:56:00 2008

He might be the best player on the planet, but a fully fit Tiger Woods would have struggled at Birkdale this year, says Eurosport-Yahoo's Will Tidey.

Tiger Woods - 0

All the talk leading up to The Open focused on the man who wasn't there.

Everywhere you looked, experts were lining up to devalue the Claret Jug sans Tiger Woods and bemoan the injury that stole a 15th Major championship from his grasp.

"Whoever wins will have to answer the question 'Do you think you would have beaten Tiger if he was here?' " said Ernie Els.

The Big Easy was not alone in his sentiment.

Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson were among those to suggest this 137th edition of golf's oldest Major would be a good deal easier to win without you know who in the field.

In normal circumstances their case was watertight.

Woods has won two of the last three Opens, and achieved five consecutive top-10 finishes. On a good day he eats links courses for breakfast.

This year, however, the good days have been conspicuous by their absence. The wind has blown from start to finish at Birkdale and that's reason enough to suggest the world number one would have faltered.

Though his father Earl would disagree - having sent his son out in all weather as a boy - Tiger has never been a great wind player. His tendency to be wild off the tee and his high ball plane are not conducive with howling gales. His record at The Open illustrates this.

At Birkdale in 1998, a 22-year-old Woods was blown out of contention with a second-round 73 in fierce winds.

A year later, at Carnoustie, his campaign fell apart in rounds one and three - the two days buffeted by beastly coastal gusts.

Then there was Muirfield in 2002, where Woods entered having won the Masters and US Open, but shot 81 in the third round to crush his Grand Slam ambitions. The weather that day: windy and wet.

Next time round, Royal St. George's was the venue. In strong winds, Tiger shot an opening round 73, complete with a triple-bogey seven at the par-four first. Though he recovered with the weather, it cost him the title.

The Open returned to "Carnasty" in 2007, but on the one day the weather turned Woods shot a 74. He fought back over the weekend to finish tied for 12th, but the damage was done.

All of which demonstrates just how fallible the game's most gifted player can be in the face of mother nature.

When you consider that Birkdale has offered up not one, but three consecutive days of bitter, howling winds and driving rain, the evidence suggests Tiger Woods would not have triumphed.

Will Tidey / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 15 of 15

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  1. Would Jack Nicklaus have won if he was 30yrs younger?­ Would the upstart Woods have won so many if up against­ Player, Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino in their prime, etc­ etc etc. None of them were at Birkdale, age injury or­ whatever, and Padraig Harrington did the business and­ won against the field that was against him. That is­ all any sportsman can do. Let's all have a Guinness­ and celebrate the fact!! And he is now in the Ryder­ Cup team , definate.

    ­ ascotinsuffolk

    From uzthreeparrs, on Fri 25 Jul 2:49PM

  2. If Tiger played he would have won??? If my Auntie had­ balls she would be my uncle. HE DIDN'T, SHE­ HASN'T who cares.
    YOU GOT TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT,HE­ WAS IN IT LAST YEAR AND HARRINGTON BEAT HIM THEN SAY NO­ MORE

    WELL DONE PADRAIG

    From Rowdies, on Wed 23 Jul 4:02PM

  3. Bury my clubs at wounded knee,tiger wouldnt have made­ the cut,the man just cant play in stormy weather.

    From catherinegreen1964, on Wed 23 Jul 10:58AM

  4. It was a classic Open. Harrington is a true champion,­ the way he put his foot on the accelerator on the­ closing holes. Greg Norman is a giant. what a pity the­ press have dusted down their old negative articles when­ writing about this great man.

    From zaiwaladeal, on Wed 23 Jul 10:28AM

  5. As confucious says,if tiger woods no play,how the­ eck,does he win,I know hes good,but not that good,mb

    From catherinegreen1964, on Wed 23 Jul 8:47AM

  6. Well done padraig you were brilliant. You would have­ won even if tiger had played. Good Luck in the other­ majors.

    From brian.mclaughlin4, on Tue 22 Jul 9:04PM

  7. Well done Padraig. That shot on the 17th on day 4 was­ sheer brilliance and deserved to win any tournament. We­ will never know how Tiger would have performed so­ it's a pointless debate. Personally, I think he­ would have been in contention as he always is. He never­ gives up and providing he left his driver in the bag, I­ think he would have negotiated well around the course.­ I am pleased Greg didn't win. No disrespect to him­ but I don't think it would have been good for the­ game had he won. After all, on his own admission, he­ hardly ever plays and certainly doesn't practice.­ He had his day.

    From kestephenson, on Tue 22 Jul 10:07AM

  8. Hi i have read the comments regards "what if­ tiger" all i can say is tiger doeent win all­ majors just 33% of them that he enters and has only won­ one open outside of st andrews which was at royal­ liverpool which was set up for him with no rough and no­ wind and rock hard,but everybody is forgetting one big­ fact Mr Harrington won last year with tiger there so­ the man who beat tiger last year won again this year!

    From mayfitz, on Tue 22 Jul 8:22AM

  9. Typical not a mention of Padraigs win in the headlines­ here.
    From Pat.

    From pat_mooney, on Mon 21 Jul 7:46PM

  10. Hi Will

    Good article. Congratulations on being one of­ the few journalists to highlight the fact that when the­ wind blows in The Open, Woods does not win. This­ fantastic championship shows that The Open is bigger­ than any one professional! Bad luck to Greg, he was­ great; well done Padraig, he was­ brilliant.

    Steve
    Southampton

    From Steve, on Mon 21 Jul 3:44PM

  11. I think a bigger "what if" question should be­ "What if Poulter had converted some more of his­ chances on the back 9, or had a better front 9?"­ For me its irrelevant if Tiger was there or not- fact­ is that he wasn't. End of.

    From Stephen, on Mon 21 Jul 1:54PM

  12. The fact is there was no Tiger playing. So all your­ opinions are only an OPINION, not FACT! So, at the­ end of the day, your opinions mean jacks...t!!!!!!!!! ­ It will be better when everyone in this world wakes up­ and lives on facts, not @#$% OPINIONS! :)) GO­ TIGER!! EAT EM' ALIVE

    From eric, on Mon 21 Jul 12:59PM

  13. The constant media hype about Tiger must really boil­ the p**s of the other top players. Do you reckon Els,­ Mickelson and Monty really wanted to answer questions­ about someone who couldnt compete due to injury. Full­ respect to Woods of course but he couldnt play so leave­ it there.
    Padraig deserved to win the Open and fair­ play to him. Awesome golf coming down the stretch to­ take away the memories of a shaky finish last year.­ Brilliant victory against the worlds best golfers all­ trying their pluck out.

    From The Trout, on Mon 21 Jul 10:53AM

  14. Padraig would've won, regardless - Woods is a­ legend, but those conditions would've even given­ something to tackle with and he might not have­ overcome. His absence in no way diminshes the Open

    From ispurs, on Mon 21 Jul 2:37AM

  15. woods played last year who won the same player who have­ beaten him before head to head so go **** yourself

    From liam, on Mon 21 Jul 12:51AM
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