Tiger takes a break

Wednesday, 18 June 2008 12:20

First, I'm not a huge golf fan. Certainly many folks seem to either love golf or despise it. The arguments for and against golf would fill volumes and I'm not going to wax on about it during this article. With that out of the way, even for those of us that don't spend countless hours walking the links in search of the "perfect shot", the drama that played out during this year's U.S. Open was epic.

The battle that was waged between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate will not be held up as the best golf ever as far as scores were concerned. After 91 holes (where a typical tournament is 72) both of them were barely below par. No, the scores were not course shattering. What made this tournament so interesting to many was the back and forth scoring resulting in both Woods and Mediate trading the lead between them. The classic underdog story was also played out with Mediate forcing the mighty Tiger into a playoff round and even a sudden death hole.

Tiger continues to dominate the golf tournaments and march forward in his quest to best Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major tournament wins. Winning the U.S. Open brought Tiger to within four wins at tying the record as he has socked away 14 majors. Today, however, Tiger has an even more difficult opponent to beat, his ailing knee.

According to his website, Tiger needs to have surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament. In addition, he needs time to rehabilitate a double stress fracture of his left tibia, discovered just before the Memorial Tournament in late May. With this, the year is over for Tiger and his clubs will take a break until next year.

For now, Jack Nicklaus' record is safe, but given Tiger's past results, not for long. At least his fellow golfers can gaze at the leaderboard and see a different name at the top. The excitement of another epic showdown will need to wait until next year.

For without a Goliath there can be no David. Get well soon Tiger.

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