Tiger Ties Nicklaus; Thoughts on US Open

Tiger Woods won the Memorial Tournament, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, on Sunday by shooting a phenomenal 67 in his final round, while other players fell back as Tiger was having a classic Sunday Tiger surge. Woods tied Jack Nicklaus' 73 wins Sunday to put him T2 on the all-time wins list, just behind Sam Snead's 82 wins. Woods' win Sunday brought up many questions and evoked many comparisons between his game and Nicklaus'. Including the shocking snippet that Jack reached 73 wins at age 46 while Tiger accomplished the same feat at 36 years of age on Sunday.

It was very cool to see Tiger and Nicklaus talk together at the press conference after the trophy ceremony. (And as a side note, CBS broadcasted it, which just tells us we are in the dog days of summer because they never, ever do that. Even if it is Tiger.) Nicklaus joked about Tiger winning his 73rd tournament by saying, "Tiger had to rub it in my face here, didn't he?" Woods won 2 tournaments held by golf legends this season, March's Bay Hill Invitational, held by Arnold Palmer and Sunday's Memorial Tournament to boost him to that 73rd win. Tiger had this to say about winning that 73rd tournament, "It's special for me to do it here. to do it with Jack here.....it just makes it that much more special." To go along with the love-fest between Woods and Nicklaus on being tied together for the second most wins all-time, Nicklaus had his own love-fest with Woods' chip-in on 16 during Sunday's final round. Nicklaus said, "That shot at 16 is the best I've ever seen here", then Nicklaus also went on to say, "That was the most unbelievable, gutsy shot I've ever seen", concerning Woods' chip-in. Nicklaus continued to be very high on Woods' by saying, "He(Tiger) just played one unbelievable, smart round of golf today."

That "unbelievable, smart" round of golf Sunday for Tiger Woods evoked one question from sportswriters, fans, analysts, and basically everyone around the world: Is he back? When asked during the post-tournament press conference if he was back, Tiger replied, "I'll let you guys figure that one out." I think the hitch in answering that question is, how should we define back? With regards to Tiger Woods, do we consider back to be returning to the form of his astonishing run from 1997-2008, which has never been seen before in the world of golf and more than likely will never be duplicated, or do we consider back to just simply being the best golfer in the world. With all due respect to Mr. Woods, I think we should think of being back in terms of the latter. I say this because I believe the 1997-2008 Tiger Woods is long gone, and we will never see anything like it. No one, maybe not even Tiger, knows how eroded he is after being shamed and injured at times these past 4 years. Even if we consider Tiger being back as just simply being the best in the world, which obviously isn't so simple, I still don't think Tiger Woods is back. Although I am a huge Tiger fan, winning 2 tournaments on courses he has famously dominated over the years does not constitute, to me, as being back. It would take a win at a major championship for me to say Tiger Woods is truly back.

Maybe, just maybe, that evasive major win for Tiger could come at next week's US Open in San Francisco at the Olympic Club. After Tiger's win Sunday, the Las Vegas Hotel now has Tiger at 6/1 to win the US Open. Tiger won at Bay Hill right before The Masters and many analysts had Tiger winning The Masters because that win at Bay Hill caused Tiger to enter Augusta with confidence, but that didn't work out, Tiger finished T40th. Now 2 months later Woods enters another major championship with confidence after winning the tournament 2 weeks before. Will the results be different this time? Who knows but four times Woods has won his last start before winning a major, the, 2000 US Open, The 2001 Masters, and the 2006 & 2007 PGA Championship. In 2000, that last win before the US Open? The Memorial Tournament. Tiger Woods may not be back, in some peoples opinion, but my boss Taylor Zarzour tweeted Sunday after Tiger's win, "Bay Hill was a sign but this is an all points bulletin", and if Tiger wins the US Open next week, everyone around the world would have to say, Eldrick "Tiger" Woods is back.