Tiger Failed Me

Man am I glad there are only 4 major tournaments in golf every year. If I tried to predict the order more times than that it would be too embarassing. My picks for the U.S. Open were extraordinary. Once again, I picked with my heart and got burned. I suppose that is why I am awful at fantasy sports. I just dislike too many of the good players. If you ever need an extra guy for fantasy and are worried you may finish last send me an invite to your league.

Let's see, I had Tiger Woods winning. He did not win, instead he finished in a tie for 2nd, one shot back at +6. I watched nearly all of Tiger's 36 holes this weekend and he was unbelievable. On Saturday he was awesome from tee to green then looked like my brother-in-law on the greens. Then today Tiger's approach shots closely resembled mine, but his par-saving putts were right in the heart of the cup. Had Tiger putted his birdie putts yesterday like he did today's par putts he would have shot a crazy low number on Saturday.

Much the same could be said for my 2nd place prediction, Jeff Quinney. Only one problem, he wasn't in the tournament! Needless to say I did just as well on Friday at the local municipal as Quinney did at the U.S. Open this week. Then my 3rd place finisher was the Masters winner Zach Johnson. One of the keys in picking him was that he wins in Georgia. I thought that would translate well to Pennsylvania (both end in 'ia') but that was wrong. Johnson finished tied for 46th at +20.

In the end I must congratulate Angel Cabrera. He had a bit of a meltdown yesterday and then played a great round today. On the super long, par-5 12th hole he had a 397-yard drive. Tiger went nearly as far if not farther later in the day on the same hole but I did not see him smoking cigarettes on the course or sporting a spare tire like Cabrera. He is the first Argentine to win a major golf tournament so that must be good for him, particularly if he is not married. Because if Manu Jablowme is a national hero this guy must be too.

My last thought on the U.S. Open is that Tiger Woods really let me down. When I saw him on the 1st tee today I was inspired by his physique. The guy looked like a linebacker so I thought I should too. At that moment I decided I was going to do 50 crunchies on an exercise ball everytime he had a birdie. Well, I am not any closer to that 6-pack after Woods dinked and doinked around the course and finished with 1 birdie. Sitting on the couch for 4 hours and only doing 50 crunchies wasn't the phsically demanding chore I had hoped for.

(Photo of Angel Cabrera from Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.)