Different Strokes: A light-hearted look at golf

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  • Tiger Woods finished in joint-last place at his own invitational. What a gent.

    In a new column on Sport360, Alex Dimond brings you a light-hearted look at the world of golf; this week, Tiger Woods shows his hospitable side, bad news for fans of anchor putters and Rory McIlroy goes all 50 Cent.

    TIGER CASHES IN HIS CHIPS

    Whenever you host a party it is customary to provide a snack or two. Last week, however, Tiger Woods went above and beyond in his hosting duties at the Hero World Challenge, laying out a selection of chunky chips for spectators—and the audience at home—to feast on.

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    Played at the Isleworth Country Club for the first time (a venue previously better known for its role in the garish team event, the Tavistock Cup), the Florida course was graced with both the sublime and the ridiculous from its select 18-man guest list. Unfortunately it was the host injecting the ridiculous, and one of the younger guests producing the sublime.

    Struck down by an illness that left him with a sore throat and upset stomach, for the first three days, Tiger Woods sounded like Dirty Harry era Clint Eastwood and played like Gran Torino era Clint Eastwood as he stunned those watching.

    His first tee shot on Thursday (his first competitive shot in four months) flew out bounds, and it got little better as he ended up carding a five-over par 77 that led to derisory headlines.

    By Sunday, as the fever broke, Woods was sounding and playing more like his usual self;although it nevertheless seemed fitting that he was the first person sent out alongside good friend Steve Stricker, a man who is essentially a part-timer at this point.

    Woods—who comically mishit a handful of chips as he struggled to get to grips with a new release point, the early result of work with new ‘swing consultant’ Chris Como—eventually finished in a tie for last in his own event, going above and beyond the call of duty in the hospitality he showed to other competitors.

    “I like what I’m doing right now,” the 38-year-old, whose long game looked better later in the weekend, insisted on Sunday night. “Obviously there are some things that I can do with my short game that I definitely can work on.

    “[But] I think if I stay the course that I’m on right now that I’ll be physically able to do what I want to do, and that’s the biggest difference.”

    Whether that enables him to return to major-winning ways in 2015 remains to be seen. While Woods was scrambling to at least break 70 over the weekend, 21-year-old Jordan Spieth was busy completing a Tiger-esque 10-shot victory—putting together rounds of 66-67-63-66 to underline that a brilliant new generation of players has established itself in the four months since Woods last played.

    The Texan beat Woods by 26 shots, finishing 26-under for the tournament. Swede Henrik Stenson was the best of the rest, but even he admitted the whole thing had been a “one-horse race”.

    Afterwards, Spieth said that the win capped off “the best golfing year I’ve ever had”, which felt a bit like Macaulay Culkin announcing after the release of Home Alone that it was the biggest film he’d ever done. Unlike Culkin, of course, Spieth will be hoping this is just the start of bigger and better years to come (although Richie Rich was a pretty great film).

    In his second full season on the PGA Tour in 2014, Spieth finished second at The Masters and made solid runs at both the US Open and Open Championship. He made the USA Ryder Cup team comfortably (emerging as one of the few Americans with real credit from the defeat) and then capped things off with wins in Australia (at the Australian Open in Sydney) and at Isleworth.

    Into the top 10 in the world rankings, he is still the same age Woods was when he won his first major (and a year younger than Rory McIlroy was to the same landmark)—and full of confidence heading into next year, when that maiden major will be the target.

    The Texan is not the longest hitter on the tour, but he has a precise, repeatable swing and, something of a rarity in the modern game, can move the ball both ways on demand—a skill that elevates him above many top professionals. His biggest strength, however, is arguably his brain: Like Woods in his prime, Spieth is a level-headed competitor who analyses every eventuality while out on the course and rarely makes a strategic error.

    His lack of length will always be a disadvantage when more erratic long-ball hitters like McIlroy or Bubba Watson are in full flow, but consistency is a valuable commodity in golf and Spieth’s should almost guarantee he has a long and successful career.

    That is great (especially for him) but, thanks in part to the exploits of Woods and more recently McIlroy, emerging stars like Spieth will always face final judgement based on their performances in the majors. Entering his third full season, the challenge now is to make a similar impact on the biggest stages, rather than just end-of-season money-spinning invitationals.

    “In order to take it to the next level and try and win majors, I got to look to Rory,” Spieth acknowledged. “He’s the youngest guy, the one with the most success.  He’s No. 1 in the world and setting the bar. He’s the one we’re all chasing. 

    “I think I did a good job of starting that chase these last couple weeks.”

    The chase may have started, but it is in 2015 where the race should really heat up—with Spieth having positioned himself as one of the biggest early threats to McIlroy’s pursuit of the ‘Rory Slam’ at Augusta in April.

    And then if Tiger can find his rhythm again, or at least stop fluffing his chips, golf really could be set for a special year.

    DROPPING ANCHOR

    While pros around the world are finally starting to think about Christmas plans, things might not be so relaxing for a few of them in 12 months’ time. At the start of 2016 the anchored putters made famous by the likes of Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley will be officially banned, forcing a change in technique for some big-name stars that have enjoyed revitalised careers by holding their putter against some part of their body.

    Scott, for example, won his first major only after switching to a long putter, while the likes of Bradley and Webb Simpson (who both won their first majors with an anchored stroke) dispensed with conventional, short putters before they even entered the professional ranks.

    Some of those players are at least making adjustments ahead of time: At Isleworth Bradley used a short putter again, after an on-off relationship with one at points this season, with his tied-third finish encouraging him to believe his career can continue to thrive once his preferred belly putter is outlawed.

    “This was one of the biggest tournaments in my career to show myself that that putter is not an issue,” Bradley said. “Actually, [it’s] probably the best I’ve putted all year. It was a good surprise. 

    “The setup is a lot different. Stuff that I kind of took for granted I have to really focus on and dial in. But I’m really proud of the way I putted this week. These greens are really tough. They’re super fast. About as tough as it gets.”

    That might be encouraging, but the fact Bradley would put the short putter in play at all indicates just where the Hero World Challenge lies in the modern player’s list of priorities (it is, at heart, a meaningless end-of-year swansong elevated by Woods’ involvement).

    In many ways it was the perfect chance to try something new: It will be a completely different test when Bradley decides to (or is forced to) use a short putter in a WGC event or a major.

    RORY’S BIG PIMPIN’: BEST OF SOCIAL

    An interesting aside: Monday’s updated list saw the first time that Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth have all been inside the top 10 in the official world golf rankings.

    That’s interesting, but McIlroy is still way out in front—after all, he is the only one who turned up to last weekend’s NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Seattle Seahawks dressed like 50 Cent in the video for P.I.M.P.

    Elsewhere in social media, Luke Donald got a scare at the Nedbank Challenge when an over-zealous rules official suspected him of improving his lie.

    And finally, here’s Tiger emulating every self-respecting hacker everywhere by hitting the big ball before the little one.

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