Still loud and proud:
In return to Bellerive,
putter fails Daly at PGA


Aug. 12, 2018

ST. LOUIS, Mo --- Most of our moments in professional sports are rather routine and mundane.

The Cardinals play the Reds too often.

Tom Brady has to play the Jets and Bills twice a year.

LeBron James has to play somebody other than the Warriors.

Blah, blah, blah.

But then we have those moments that make us really love our games, when the buzz and the goosebumps and the thrills and the chills replace the routine and mundane.

A golf course has seldom been more electric than Bellerive Country Club was on Sunday during the 100th edition of the PGA Championship. That's because there was a Tiger roaming these grounds, roaring louder than any Tiger at the nearby St. Louis Zoo. It was this Tiger who created the electricity that lit up this beautiful, docile plot of land.

Yes, Tiger Woods fell short of winning his 15th major championship, but what he did was simply fabulous, a flashback to the glory days of Eldrick Woods, who made others wilt when they saw his name on the leaderboard.

The name Tiger, not Eldrick.

The story from Sunday wasn't about what did happen --- Brooks Koepka winning --- it was about what almost happened.

It's actually kind of sad for Koepka, who's now won three of the last seven majors, including consecutive U.S. Opens. His following of fans on Sunday was nice, like a gathering of folks at a grade school Christmas play.

Golf clap.

Tiger drew a bigger audience than the Pope in Vatican Square.

And these parishioners were very, very loud.

If you care enough to be reading this, you surely know Tiger's story --- the most dominant athlete this century, who then battled injures and demons off the course and fell off golf's radar. Not even a blip.

He hasn't won a major in 10 years and hasn't even been relevant the last three or four, until this year. Would he ever win again? Forget winning a major, could he win anything?

Well, Tiger has been unleashed, he's grown from a non-blip to something larger than life. Again.

We're going to need a bigger radar.

He started this major comeback by making the cut at the Masters in April, his first appearance at Augusta in three years. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open in June, but came back at the British with a scintillating run --- he held the lead with eight holes left on Sunday, before stumbling down the stretch and finishing sixth.

Well, he may have stubbed his toe this Sunday, but he certainly didn't stumble on his way to a second-place finish.

This PGA was decided in about a 30-minute span, ending near 5:45 p.m. Four, long, hot days and about 14 mentally grueling hours of golf came down to a half-hour.

To set up those 30 minutes, let's go back to the first 30 minutes of Tiger's tournament --- bogey-double bogey on his first two holes Thursday, and he was six shots out of the lead before you could say John Daly wears great pants.

But he rallied to shoot even par 70 in the first round, then was 3-under after seven holes in the second round. But then came the rain, and more rain, and the suspension of play that forced Tiger --- who's now 42 --- to play 29 holes on Saturday.

His day ended quite late Friday and started quite early Saturday. This would be no easy task. But on this weekend, Tiger looked 32 and played like he was 22. He didn't buckle, even with all of golf's young lions might flexing their muscles, especially Koepka, who looks like an NFL tight end squeezed into a golf shirt.

Tiger's 66-66 in the middle two rounds kept him within shouting distance, four shots, of Koepka, a massively-talented slugger with a deft short game. But for the overall game of golf, Koepka, 28, is no real inspiration --- the tight end is as exciting as an end table.

Tiger fired a 32 on his front nine Sunday and after birdies on 12 and 13, he was 13 under and within one of Koepka. After a toe-stub bogey on 14, Woods hit his second shot within a foot on the par-4 15th for a kick-in birdie, and he was once again within one.

Go crazy folks, go crazy!

Rest assured, they did. Standing 20-25 deep around the 15th green and halfway down the fairway, they did.

Tiger made a solid par on the tough 16th, but then came to the par-5 17th, which played as Bellerive's easiest hole all four days. He needed a birdie and most expected he'd get one.

Instead, he was lucky to save par, after hitting one of his several off-target drives Sunday.

While Woods --- who had that look the entire round --- was going par-par in those 30 minutes, Koepka went birdie-birdie. And despite a gritty birdie of his own on 18 --- and even when Tiger knew he was basically out of it --- the margin ended at two shots for Koepka, despite a splendid final-round 64 for Woods.

Still, this felt like a two-shot victory for Tiger, not a loss. Thrills, chills and goosebumps, all for a second-place finish.

Thanks for the memories.

Loeffler's Link

Roar of the Tiger: Even in defeat, Woods rekindles days of glory

With Ricky Fowler (orange shirt) looking on, Tiger Woods congratulates Brooks Koepka after Koepka won the 100th PGA Championship on Sunday at Bellrive Country Club in St. Louis.