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No. 80
The comeback is complete. Tiger Woods is back. Sundays are red again. It’s one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sport and, whether you love him or hate him, you have to appreciate him.
Over the course of five years, PGA Tour win No. 80 went from inevitable to improbable to inconceivable to in-the-books.
Roses are Fed(Ex)
Justin Rose’s FedEx Cup victory has been more than 20 years in the making, but he didn’t make it easy for himself. Needing better than T5 to fend off Tiger Woods, the pressure told on Sunday as the Englishman made five birdies en route to +4 as he approached the last. Suddenly he needed a birdie for $10million.
“I’m sorry” said Rose as he tapped in for $10million. The American crowd applauded, but Rose knew they had a different champion in mind. I doubt he’ll lose any sleep over that.
How it Happened
Tiger shared the Round 1 lead after a walk-off eagle completed an opening 65. FedEx Cup leader Bryson DeChambeau opened with a 1-over 71 before making it 6-over with a Friday 75. Heading into the weekend, Rose and Tiger shared the lead at -7; two strokes clear of Rory McIlroy.
DeChambeau went 66-67 over the weekend but the damage was already done as he couldn’t get near the FedEx Cup title with a 19th place finish. Tiger made five consecutive birdies between 3 and 7 on Saturday for another 65 and -12 for the week to carry a three-stroke lead into Sunday. McIlroy & Rose were his nearest competitors; both at -9 after rounds of 66 and 68 respectively.
I don’t care if we’re talking about the best in the world or somebody picking up a club for the first time, if you put a TOUR Championship and $10million on the line as separate prizes, it’s bound to affect you mentally. Tiger opened with a birdie which all but wrapped up the tournament as his challengers fell off the pace. McIlroy managed 3 bogeys and a double with a lone birdie in his front nine to fall out of contention, whilst Rose looked unsure as to whether he was going for the tournament or just the FedEx Cup. In the end, he finished T4. Dustin Johnson shot back-to-back 67 rounds on Saturday-Sunday to finish solo third reclaim his World No. 1 title from Rose.
Thousands flocked to the 18th for Tiger’s finale. A tap-in par sealed it. The crowds cheered, Tiger cried and Thomas Bjorn (probably) cried too.
WITB
A huge season finale saw Tiger’s first win in 5 years, Rose’s most lucrative career title and DJ return to World No. 1. There’s one common denominator we can’t avoid here: TaylorMade.
The TM family have been long been associated with the Tour’s most successful players, but these results are bordering on ridiculous now. Here’s what TaylorMade tells us these guys had in their bags.
Rose and Tiger both use the M3 driver, whilst big-hitting DJ plays with the M4. All three have clearly benefitted from the Twist Face technology this year.
Tiger sticks with the M3 model in his 3-wood, but it’s the M4 in both Rose & DJ’s bags. Again, they’ve all chosen Twist Face designs.
Tiger is Tiger, so he gets to design his own irons. The TaylorMade TW Phase1 prototypes are not available at retail (otherwise we’d all play like Tiger, of course). Rose & DJ have both earned plaudits for their iron play this year. For Rose it’s the P790, and for DJ it’s the P730.
Wedge wise, Rose and DJ both combine the Milled Grind and the Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges. Tiger, though, uses the Milled Grind RAW wedge.
In case you didn’t know, Tiger switches to Scotty Cameron for his putter. Rose’s putting has been cited as the turning point in his career. The vast improvement this season has given him the consistency which resulted in the big prize on the PGA Tour. The putter he uses is the TP Red Collection Ardmore 2. Dustin Johnson- always reliable on the greens- plays with the Spider Tour Black.
Again, Tiger moves away from TaylorMade for his golf balls, but the TP5 balls that Rose uses and TP5x balls that DJ uses have both received high praise on and off Tour.
Written by Joe Carabini
