I don't know if you watched the "fifth Major" last weekend but Pete Dye's redesigned Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass didn't disappoint when it came to drama. The meltdown came from the much-fancied Sergio Garcia who took a seven on the 17th. With the look of a tragic comedian about him he seemingly hit the exact same shot twice in order to prove he really couldn't get his wedge to the green on the line he was trying to take.
Perhaps he had strong memories of his victory brought about by a stunning tee-shot in a play-off with Paul Goydos in 2008. The most famous hole in golf served its purpose once again with its understated treachery.
Whatever you may think of Tiger Woods you have got to marvel at his golfing prowess but more impressively his mental fortitude. He looked like he was playing solid and sensible golf. He wasn't hitting spectacular shots, he was hitting his fairway finder clubs off the tees, the driver was mainly used for hanging his towel upon.
Tiger hit irons off par fives and generally steered his way around the course not in his swashbuckling style adopted on more forgiving venues. It is the only way to win at Sawgrass. We saw a more mature Rory McIlroy adopt a similar strategy for his best performance at The Players to date.
Not so the less experienced, less heroic looking but more daring in style novice Swede David Lingmerth, who hit a driver seemingly everywhere. With his second-place finish, who could dispute his more reckless strategy.
As Tiger was plodding away around, Dye, through his clever design, was curtailing any other challengers' onslaught with his crusty sub-aired greens which kept approach shots well away from the pins.
Success rate
As you observe the back nine of a tournament you form opinions about who is going to prevail. With an abundance of water, a capricious wind, baked greens and the $9.5 million-life changing Players purse who can be sure? With Woods' success rate for the amount of events played and won – 78 wins out of 300 – how could any sane adult think he wouldn't get the job done?
Woods the golfer takes nothing for granted. A conservative three wood off the tee of his nemesis hole, the 14th, still resulted in a double bogey. The drama intensified on the tee as a passing spectator trod on a twig and cracked the silence as Tiger was about to crush his three wood. He aborted his take-off at the very last nanosecond, as only Woods can do, heightening the drama.
If you don’t think Tiger has golfing demons, you are wrong. He is now cumulatively 13 over par for the 14th hole at Sawgrass. The twig crack was perhaps a little trick in the director’s latest production of the staged drama on the back nine of The Players.
So despite a crushing double on 14 for Woods, followed by his first short sided mistake of the round on the next hole leaving himself in a seemingly impossible position from which to make a par, Tiger made an heroic four.
Even though Tiger doesn’t get the breaks he used to get in his previous days of dominance, as his ball settled into a thick lie to the right of the 16th fairway he still muscled it into the ideal position in the trap short of the pin. From there he got up and down for a birdie.
Woods cosied his ball home with two pars and headed for the scorers room. There wasn’t a hint of celebration or let-up in the most fearsome competitor who understands the importance of calm concentration. Despite being the leader in the clubhouse he was aware he could still have a play-off situation.
Woods’ on-course mental fortitude is in stark contrast to the hugely talented Garcia’s who seemed to let a spat with Woods in the third round affect his performance. He suggested Woods had caused the crowd to disturb him while he was hitting his approach to the second green.
When you are paired to play with Woods as a seasoned professional you know there will be an abundance of distractions from the mob that follow him. They tend to be star-gazers rather than golf aficionados. Tiger is a respectful golf partner but the unruly crowd who gravitate to him tend not to be. There is not much he can do to change that.
So after Garcia imploded on the 17th and Lingmerth didn’t birdie 18 to force a play-off, the world number one, apart from cementing his place as he best player in the world, finally let his game guard down and broke into a beaming smile. Woods has a profound understanding of what it takes to win, a fact that is again increasingly hard to ignore.
