As I sat there on Sunday, watching the NCAA basketball, I decided I would flip over to the golf. I was not expecting much. After all, Sean O’Hair was 5 shots up starting the day and, outside of a couple rare instances, 5 shot leads are fairly certain on hte PGA Tour.

The best golfers in the world do not relinquish 5 shot leads very often. This time, the “best golfers in the world” were being chased by THE best golfer in the world!

Man was I wrong. I flipped over with Tiger down 1 and soon he was tied with a clutch, “Tiger-like”, putt on the par 4 15th. He took the lead when O’Hair watered on 16 and Tiger hit a perfect shot, after laying up, to 3 feet for par. Having watered late in a round to choke away a tournament, myself, I felt for O’Hair at that moment.

Then I snapped out of it and began to realize that I was, once again, witnessing something that just should not happen. It is amazing that he is making the kind of performances, that are talked about in history, commonplace. Was ANYONE in the world that watches this game shocked that he got back in this tournament? More importantly, was ANYONE surprised that he won it?

Can you think of any other players that you could put at 5 shots back with 18 holes to play and truly believe that they were right where they needed to be?

The thing that I took from this tournament, other than the fact that Tiger is the greatest athlete that I have ever been lucky enough to see, was the way he played one shot in particular. On the key hole, the 16th, after O’Hair watered and Tiger layed up, he faced 101 yards over water. He hit his shot and spun the ball back to about 3 feet.

I didn’t marvel at the spin, the trajectory, or the putt he made following the spectacular shot. I marveled at the club he chose to play that shot. From 101 yards, you will hear commentators talk about “smooth lob wedges” or the sort from these caliber players. I know that I have sat there at 101 and tried to hit a SW or a LW just perfectly to traverse a hazard.

Tiger hit a PW. Now, his PW is not a 45* lofted wedge like many of us play, his is 49* (or so we are told). I learned something in that one shot. If the best player to ever walk the Earth plays a 101 yard PW (I know, he choked down and didn’t give it the Tiger bash) what am I doing trying to blast SW or LW from there?

The fact is that he erred on the side of good impact rather than counting on hitting it purely. I can learn from that. If I take my normal swing with a longer club than the distance calls for and I impact the ball on the center of the club face, I will get better results.

Tiger rode that to his 6th win at Bay Hill, and his first of the year….did you ever have a dobut?

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