Harry Clarke » Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods at Kingston Heath

hc — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:52:31 +0000

Like 25,000 others I was excited on Friday to see Tiger Woods playing golf in Melbourne. I can’t logically justify spending public money as an appearance fee to attract Woods – I oppose spending anything on the Grand Prix – but given that the money is spent – less than 10% of the subsidy devoted to the Grand Prix – it was be foolish not to enjoy the spectacle. It’s a memory I will keep for a long time.

It was a fantastic day. Hot Melbourne summer weather with a cooling breeze. The sand-belt Kingston Heath a magnificent course – not too long but challenging and very tight. The greens often dome-shaped and lightning fast. The fairways are simply perfection. I’d love to play it. TW has immense driving power so this course was something of a leveler – power will help here on a few holes but accuracy around the greens is paramount. Of course TW is great at doing these things as well but one source of strength has been leveled off. In fact, on balance, Woods likes this thinking-players course.

Woods is a great athlete with a great physique – strong with obvious extreme flexibility. He played for the most part carefully and with great distinction. Very systematic in his approach to everything as were many of the other Australian professionals - Greg Chalmers impressed – he is one of the older golfers worth watching. I also thought TW looked more relaxed than he does in big US events – he chatted and smiled with his Aussie partners.

The final day today – my guess is that TW will take it out. He had a ‘horrible’ round on Saturday but still finished on the pace. Pure class.

Update: Woods took out the title in great style by two shots from Greg Chalmers who was a bit unlucky with his putting the last few holes.

Tiger Woods in Chicago

hc — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:45:29 +0000

A course record of 62 in the third round of the BMW Championship and a move from 1 down after 9 holes to being 7 up after 18 in a tournament that included the best golfers on the planet.

It was an extraordinary exhibition – freakish carries the wrong connotation – by one of the greatest athletes of modern times. I couch-potatoed my way through Sunday watching a recording of the event on Foxtell. 8 birdies and an eagle – his approach shots were laser-like in their precision. The NYT summarised one shot that I watched with disbelief. It seemed superhuman:

The route Woods took to the top of the leader board was paved with the kind of iron shots that defy description and, at times, credulity. His 6-iron second shot from behind a tree in the left rough on the seventh hole was one such shot. Woods’s path to the pin 186 yards away was blocked by a tree that was 10 feet from his ball. To reach the green, he had to hit a fade that would move about 40 yards from left to right. To get to the hole position, which was cut on a ledge in the back right portion, he needed to land the ball softly so it would stop short of the back bunker.

No sweat.

“I had to start that ball left of the green and cut it out of that rough,” Woods said. “I had to take something off of it, which I didn’t want to have to do, because when you’re trying to cut it, you need some speed. I didn’t want to try to take something off of it, but I had to. It came off perfect, couldn’t come off any better than that.” His ball came to a quick stop on the green, some 18 feet from the hole. He missed the birdie putt, but the iron shot gave him the impetus he needed to continue what became a full-on assault on the course, a round that “just kind of built upon itself,” he said.

Extraordinary golf – the final round on Monday in Chicago is mainly about a competition for second place. I was pleased to see John Senden and rookie Marc Leishman from Australia do so well. Leishman is now tied for second and Senden is in a tie two strokes behind Leishman for 6th. But how on earth do these guys keep up with – let alone defeat – a player like Tiger Woods?

Update: No surprises – Wood’s won the tournament by 8 strokes. Marc Leishman the Aussi rookie tied for second.

Anthony Kim

hc — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:06:11 +0000

I have been watching the 2009 Masters Tournament at Augusta the last couple of nights on Foxtel. Augusta is an challenging golf course of great length, complexity and with lightning-fast bent grass greens. The player who impressed me most so far in the tournament is the youthful Anthony Kim a 23-year old Korean American who seems to me to be the most exciting figure in modern golf since the arrival on the scene of Tiger Woods. I am not saying he is most likely to win this event – if I had to back anyone I’d back the near-senior 48 year old Kenny Perry who seems to be playing as well as anyone in golf today. In the first round Kim shot an ordinary 3-over-par 75. But in the second round he shot 11 birdies to record a 10 under par 65. It is a record number of birdies in the long history of the event at August. Kim is as exciting as the Tiger in terms of the daring shots he plays and many (including perhaps Tiger himself) today see him as Tiger’s successor. Not that I am writing Tiger Woods off. He remains the greatest golfer of modern times and at age 33 is still young enough to dominate world golf for a decade or so. But Kim is very young and although incredible talented has a long way to go.

This is a great study of the Kim swing. This isn’t as pure but fascinating – a shot in Kim’s first major win at Wachovia. Incredible strength and flexibility. Dream on Harry – it is tragic.