Watching a fairly exciting Masters Tournament - good to see Tiger back in the thick of it as well. Molinari and Finau seem very cool players so it should be a great finish. (Leaders are already on the back - teed off early in threesomes, both nines, to miss the bad weather rolling in this afternoon). Played my first round this year last week. Lots of people around my Generation X age are older. Not many younger people. Apparently golf's popularity is waning. The younger generations find it too expensive and time consuming - are so i heard.
There must be some youngsters playing the game. Every year new hotshot golfers hit the tour. Most of them are Americans.
I never thought I would see it again, but WOW, what a performance I first saw Tiger play in a junior tournament at the USAF Academy in the mid '90s. I could tell that he had the game to be a special player. I don't have the words to describe what an amazing ;performance this week was.
After what I saw this week, I wouldn't rule it out. One thing it did was let the young kids playing today know that you shouldn't stick a fork in Tiger quite yet.
The biggest advantage he has is experience, knowing where to put the ball. The youngsters don't have that yet. If he is going to win it will have to be on courses he has that advantage on. Like BPB and Pebble. We shall see
Not to take anything away from Tiger; it was a super story, but Nicklaus' win in '86 was much more compelling to me, for 2 reasons. First, While many of the top ranked golfers of today were in the hunt Sunday, most were young guns who really haven't put many skins on the wall. The contenders who Jack had to overcome in '86 included Ballesteros, Norman, Kite and Stewart, guys who were not only top ranked, but had championships already to prove their worth. They were top names at the top of their game. Second, Woods by his own evaluation afterward in Butler Cabin, "just plodded along" Sunday. He shot 70; nice round, but other than sticking the tee shot on 16, nothing about his round really jumps out at you. He played steady golf and let the aura of "Tiger in contention on Sunday at the Masters" cave in the field. Nicklaus, on the other hand, shot a 65 on Sunday, with a 30 on the back nine. Tiger was good, but he wasn't young Tiger. Jack recaptured his own youth for 2 hours that day in '86. Long birdie putts on 10 and 11, brilliant eagle on 15, just missed an ace on 16, bombing a clutch long putt on 17 to take the lead.....it was true drama like the game has rarely seen.
Was discussing with @tirk yesterday. Tiger didn't really challenge any pins. If Frankie doesn't drown 2 with 2 shot lead Tiger doesn't win.
