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ATLANTA — As the Tour Championship was just getting started, Butch Harmon predicted, "As wet as it is out here, and as good as he's playing, Tiger's going to shoot nothing."
He was right. After a ho-hum 64 in the opening round, Woods carded a 63 Friday, including a front-nine 28. He led by three; game over. Yes, Mark Calcavecchia briefly caught him on Saturday, but Woods reeled off three birdies for a 64 to reclaim his three-shot cushion. It was more coronation than competition on Sunday, when Woods shot 66 to win by eight strokes.
And so we're back to the question that's hung over the game for more than a decade: Will the field ever catch up to Woods? Might he come back to them? Couldn't they just meet in the middle somewhere?
"He's not hard to beat if you're playing as well [as Woods is playing] and you're right there [with him]," a brave Woody Austin said on Friday, becoming the latest Tour pro to try to talk himself into beating Woods.
The quote barely made any sense when Austin said it and got more ridiculous from there, specifically when Woods bettered Austin 64-69 on Saturday.
After watching Woods fight his swing while winning the Wachovia in May, Rory Sabbatini said he looked "more beatable than ever."
Woods dusted Sabbatini 65-74 on Sunday at the WGC-Bridgestone last month.
Austin and Sabbatini failed to heed the cautionary tale of Stephen (nine-and) Ames.
"Anything can happen, especially where he's hitting the ball," Ames told AP before playing Woods at the 2006 WGC-Accenture Match Play.
Woods beat Ames 9 & 8.
We could concede that Woods will never have an equal. He's too good. But two weeks ago Mickelson beat him eye-to-eye in Boston. That was big. That was huge. Mick the Stick had never before came out on top of Woods while playing with him. What's more, Mickelson hinted that he'd benefited from a few of Harmon's helpful tips for topping Tiger. (Surely an instructional series waiting to happen.)
The coach reportedly told Lefty to note how Woods slowed the pace of his walk in the heat of battle, and how he usually elected to putt out before his opponent. As noted on NBC, Mickelson used the latter tactic effectively at least once at TPC Boston.
But just when it appears the other players are narrowing the gap, Woods pulls away. He decimated the field with a record 22-under-par total at the BMW Championship at Cog Hill, which Mickelson skipped, and kept right on going at East Lake, where his front-nine best ball over the first two days was, ahem, 25. Who's going to beat that?
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