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By Chuck Garbedian Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Chuck Garbedian

Published March 31, 2009 at 9:49 a.m.

Tags: tiger woods, arnold palmer, bay hill, sean o'hair

I have always answered the question by saying, "Tiger is the greatest of our time and when he passes Jack for career major wins, he will be the greatest of all-time..."

I have to tell you, if you're a golf fan and even if you aren't, Sunday's finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill provided some of the greatest golf drama in some time. As a matter of fact, the last time we had the sweet taste of something like Eldrick's come-from-behind victory at The King's course, it was last June. That's when El Tigre, playing on one leg, put a cherry atop the United States Open at Torrey Pines -- his 14th major championship.

Woods began Sunday in Orlando trailing Sean O'Hair by five strokes. While O'Hair didn't completely fold, he did buckle. While Woods didn't run over O'Hair, he did run him down and then pass him (with a wink and a nod) by playing the kind of golf we've come to expect him to play. Woods did his best Jack Nicklaus imitation, hanging around and letting the field come back to him while doing just enough to stay in the mix and ultimately notch his 66th PGA Tour victory.

Of course, when the tournament was his to be had, Woods did what he does best. He delivered. Some athletes are born with a sense of the moment. Although there is no clear-cut way to define this, Woods seems to make every pressure putt he attempts. When it counts, he delivers. If you are on the professional golf stage, you might put yourself in position and possibly win a major, but there is no way you win 14 majors by accident and Tiger Woods in no accidental golfer.

On Sunday's 18th green at Bay Hill -- with God, the King, NBC and all eyes on him -- Woods poured his final stroke of the fading day into the middle of the cup. You knew it was going in, I knew it was going in, Johnny Miller knew it was going in, Tiger knew it was going in and yet when it did tumble into the bottom of the glass, the concussion from that stroke was heard all around the game of golf.

Going into the 2008 season, Tiger spoke to the fact that he felt he could win the Modern Grand Slam, that he had won four tournaments in a row before and all he had to do was win the "right" four tournaments in a row to accomplish a feat no other professional golfer has attained. Last season that seemed so possible, simply because Tiger said he could do it.

Now, after an eight-month layoff, reconstructive knee surgery, the birth of a son and a victory in only his third start back on Tour, Tiger isn't talking about the Modern Grand Slam as he did last season. We are.

And should he (gasp!) win the Grand Slam in 2009? Well, then he would be tied with Nicklaus for all-time major wins with 18. As is often the case with Woods, it would be the kind of accomplishment that doesn't just answer a question, but instead makes a statement.

7 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by sandstorm on April 6, 2009 at 10:01 a.m. (report)

"demise"? "flipping out"? i understand your flowery way with the written word is designed to make you seem smarter than you are, but the content betrays you everytime Hainer. you do have decent taste in music though, as evidenced by a previous "talkback" mentioning the Connells, and Tommy Keene, so i won't hold your feet to the fire for riding Tiger's bandwagon like it's the last chopper out of saigon.

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Posted by Hainer on April 4, 2009 at 11:46 a.m. (report)

Floundering in argumentitive quicksand only accelerated your demise here, though flipping out over "gloaming" is indictment enough, I suppose. Below, found in one Google click, are a couple of the more civil "feet to the fire" comments that you claim don't exist. There was plenty of Sanstormian-like petulence littering various golf forums with harsher takes of course, and by virtue of such drivel indeed became the equivilent of "no one," at least as far as this subject is concerned. And I don't have to "repeat" it to affect imaginary certainty. "Most would get a free pass. 0 for 2 for Tiger and people start to question your killer instinct, not your ACL." John Anderson ESPN "With two indifferent results in his first two events since his return from surgery, there were questions whether he would be ready for the Masters in two weeks. Not anymore." Bob Harig ESPN.com

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Posted by sandstorm on April 2, 2009 at 10:36 a.m. (report)

i love the idiotic golf hyperbole! "in the gloaming"!!! seriously, no one, and i mean no one, was holding woods' feet to the fire for his failure to win in his 1st two events back. i repeat, he should have dominated this weak field and he did not. he didn't even so much win as O'Hair choked. think about it. it's not like woods's made some charge and finished 9 under. he just kinda puttered around and kept his pace while O'Hair came to him. you can use terms poetic terms like "gloaming" all you want but it simply doesn't make woods backing into a victory, then showing up his opponent with his diva fist-pump, any more interesting than the bottom line-the greatest golfer ever only beat a perrenial also-ran by one stroke at one of golf's least prestigous events. yawn.

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Posted by Hainer on April 1, 2009 at 2:22 p.m. (report)

Yes, Sandstorm, and you're providing some of the fire he's under. Tiger had indeed come "under fire" (mostly from misinformed serial posters) for not winning in his first two events back after eight months off due to injury/surgery; then he comes under still more fire in his third event for not "dominating from the start" -- for his poor form, apparently, in having to come from five back on a ferocious course by making birdie in the gloaming on one of the toughest finishing holes on TOUR. Further, some of these sophisticates even deign to demean Arnold Palmers tournament (as "silly") as well as the guy who lost by one -- and then, finally, insult the incontinent masses for their enthusiastic appreciation of the dramatic finish, not to mention all those who more fully understand what it takes to achieve such things.

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Posted by sandstorm on April 1, 2009 at 10:06 a.m. (report)

i sure hope so Hainer! and possibly, with my help, people will begin to use the term "under fire" correctly, going forward.

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Show me the other 2 Talkbacks

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