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Tiger blames putting, not pressure
https://www.sabusinesshub.com/webforum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7330		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  fiona18 [ Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:00 am ]
Post subject:  Tiger blames putting, not pressure
Tiger Woods blamed his putting rather than pressure from a red-hot Phil Mickelson as the major reason for his final round woes at Pebble Beach on Sunday.
Was he trying to hide, both from the public and even himself, the real reason for his second-successive, fumbling Red Shirt Sunday following his failure to hold off a much more humble Robert Rock in the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship only seven days before?
This after Mickelson, who missed a cut and had only finished in the 30s and 40s in his first three starts this season, rediscovered his magic in Sunday's final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am and, after starting the day all of six shots off the lead and two behind Woods, came charging through to his 4th Pebble Beach victory and his first this season with a sublime, bogey-free, 8-under 64 that included six birdies and an eagle.
Woods, meanwhile, who had started the day as the firm favourite and, until then, had given good cause for Nick Faldo, in his capacity as a TV analyst, to say "it's almost certainly going to be Tiger" after the third round, found himself once more tumbling down the leaderboard via what might be one of the worst putting displays of his career.
Playing alongside Mickelson and overnight leader Charlie Wi, Woods first ran into trouble at the 7th where he missed a putt that was little more than a tap-in.
It was all downhill after that as his steely focus deserted him, his cheap Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 Putter skills went AWOL and he slumped to a 15th place finish with a 3-over 75 that left him clearly despondent and head down and looking anything like the Tiger of old as he eased home trailing a buoyant Michel son by as many as 11 shots.
It might be worth recording that as against Mickelson's 26 putts, at least two of which were monsters nobody expected him to hole, Woods needed to make 31 putts, at least two of which were near sitters nobody expected him to miss.
In his press interview afterwards, Woods dismissed any suggestion that the pressure exerted by an on-form Mickelson's had got to him.
"No, not at all," he said. "I still had to go up and post my numbers. I thought I had to shoot 67 or 66 today; that was the kind of the number going out there. But that, of course, wouldn't have been enough, so it was a fun day to be out there, but also, in the end, it was very frustrating at the same time."
"I didn't do it and then thought I could get it in the middle part of the round, but instead I went the other way.
"I missed a ton of short putts today. I didn't hit it as bad as the score indicated, that's for sure but I missed everything. I could not get comfortable where I could see my lines. I couldn't get the cheap Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 Putter to swing. I just could not get comfortable. It was frustrating."
Woods. still looking for his first full field win following his last victory in Australia in 2009 and still seeking his 15th major in his chase after Jack Nicklaus's record 18, had good reason to take a dig at his putting, but a crucial point he failed to address was weather Mickelson's magic had anything to do with it.
In short did the effortless, errorless, always smiling and no longer intimidated Mickelson finally get to him?
Was it in fact Tiger's increasing frustration, especially after he found himself losing ground, an ever-tightening nervous system, too many taut muscles structures and the loss of confidence that so often accompanies such a condition, that was the root cause of his cheap Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 Putter performance.
In fact did he not suffer the very fate he once, knowingly or unknowingly, use to consign on a host of luckless opponents.
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