Tiger Woods played his best round of golf in some time today, shooting a 65 at The Barclays and giving himself a share of the clubhouse lead. Such a performance might well increase his on-course confidence – his general self-confidence, on the other hand, seems plenty robust.
How do we know? ESPNNewYork’s Ian O’Connor reported that, at his post-round press conference, Woods was asked if he still thought he’d beat Jack Nicklaus‘ record of 18 Grand Slam titles. Tiger’s response: “Absolutely.” Now that’s the Tiger we remember.
Tiger’s done his research on this: he mentioned that Ben Hogan, who won nine majors, won all of them at at least 34 (Tiger’s current age). Tiger needs five to surpass Nicklaus. We can’t imagine he’ll pull a Hogan and get to 23, but he’s got the attitude he needs to have to break the record.
Tommy Craggs at Deadspin pre-emptively lashed out at speculation that Tiger’s newly finalized divorce prompted his tremendous round. While yes, that would be too tidy an explanation, we can’t help but wonder if closure + Rory McIlroy trash talk might have had a bit to do with him playing like the Tiger of old.
Whatever happened today, let’s hope it keeps happening. Golf is a more interesting sport with Tiger playing well. Golf with Tiger quietly seeking vengeance on all his doubters? Sign us up for at least five more majors’ worth of that in a heartbeat.
Video of ESPN discussing Tiger’s round, with a few of Tiger’s comments (sadly, the Nicklaus exchange is absent):
AP photo, via