Virginia Is For Families

And he has stress fractures too. But he tore his ACL last year after the British Open. So he has been playing on a torn ligament for almost a year! Here’s what his father, Earl, had to say this past weekend in a commercial for Nike about his son:

I’d say, ‘Tiger, I promise you,’” Earl says as we look upon his son’s unmistakably steely gaze, “‘that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.’ And he hasn’t. And he never will.”

Earl, of course, died some time ago but his words are still around. And now we are starting to see exactly what he meant when he said those words.

Tiger did have surgery for cartilage damage.

“He did not play overseas late last year for the first time since 2003, hopeful that rest could allow him to play more this year. But the pain intensified through the Masters, where he finished second, and Woods said the cartilage damage developed from the ACL injury.”

–Yahoo Sports

So his damaged ACL brought about some cartilage damage and he had that fixed. But the damaged ACL was not repaired. Why? Maybe because it would have required him to stop playing golf this year. He would have missed the US OPEN.

This year’s US OPEN is special for Tiger. He grew up in the area. He has won a lot of tournaments at Torrey Pines.

“Although I will miss the rest of the 2008 season, I’m thrilled with the fact that last week was such a special tournament,” Woods said.

So he walked around on a torn ligament for almost a year so he could play in THIS tournament. It’s not going to get better by itself. He knew he would have to have surgery but he postponed it so he could play this past weekend. And then he found out he had stress fractures too! The doctors told him not to do it according to his coach Hank Haney.

“Tiger looked at the doctor and said, ‘I’m playing in the U.S. Open, and I’m going to win.’ And then he started putting on his shoes,” Haney said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Come on, Hank. We’ll just putt today.”

Tiger made his knee worse by postponing his ACL surgery. He dealt with the pain in order to play in the US OPEN.

The question is did he INCREASE the risk to his golfing career by doing things the way he did them. I guess it just depends on how much his knee can take before it becomes dysfunctional.

I doubt that anybody knows the answer to that question. But it’s clear that Tiger is not being too cautious about his situation.

Apparently life is a lot like the thirteen hole on the final round of the US OPEN to this great champion. He should have laid up but he went with the wood even after his adversary found the tall grass. He was hurt by that decision. He had to go to a playoff.

And then he won. He moved off the thirteen majors and all the unlucky inferences you can draw from that number.

He doesn’t believe in luck. He believes in Tiger Woods.

He believed that he was going to win the US OPEN.

And he did. Along with six or seven other tournaments. Now he can rest and do his rehab. So he can come back next year and win some more tournaments.

Don’t be surprised if you see some of the PGA pros on the tour with this guy taking up bowling next year. It must be incredibly demoralizing to wake up today and realize that you haven’t won any tournaments while Tiger has been winning a bunch with a torn ligament and other damage to his knee and leg.

I’d say, ‘Tiger, I promise you,’” Earl says as we look upon his son’s unmistakably steely gaze, “‘that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.’

And he hasn’t. And he never will.”

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Father’s Day this year was something special. Beth took your blogging buddy out to breakfast and I was able to enjoy lots of treats that you will not find at the local fast food place. And then we wandered over to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens for the special event they planned for the day.

I have some photos to share of the antique cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles. Also a really cool dragon fly! Some of them are posted at Photo LinkLove which has enjoyed or endured depending on your perspective another face lift. I really think this will be the last one for awhile since it incorporates everything I had ever hoped to do to it.

And then there was Tiger Woods and the US Open! Talk about golfing excitement! Tiger put on an incredible show as he fought his way to the lead on Saturday, came out on Sunday and immediately gave it up when he played the first hole as if I had taken possession of his body and then fought back again to tie the leader on the last hole.

So it’s not over yet! We get to see eighteen more holes today. Father’s Day is extended this year for another day! How cool is that? Do you think I can get someone to take me out to breakfast again before the golfing resumes?

Probably not. Tiger hit some amazing shots over the weekend. He was putting shots in the can from all over the place and the crowds were going nuts. And viewers all over the world were no doubt jumping off their couches and doing the same thing. It was a great day for golf.

And Tiger was hurt too. His recent knee surgery is still in the painful stages when pressure is put upon it. And a golf swing will put lots of pressure on it. At some point yesterday the number one golfer admitted taking the number one pain killer and stopped grimacing in pain. But it was an adventure.

We still can’t figure out why he hit a driver into the thirteenth hole after Lee Westwood put his ball in no man’s land and had to take a drop. Why?  And then on the next hole he hit an iron when he should have hit a wood. Why again?  And he lost a couple of shots for what reason?   But that just made the ending even more dramatic as he made a birdie from a hundred yards or so to send the tournament into overtime.

Tiger is a new father himself these days. Maybe that’s why he was sinking putts from all over creation. I don’t know. But it was a lot of fun and a golf tournament many of us will never forget. Want to see a photo of a cool car?

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It’s great to be able to leave the windows open at night and be awakened in the morning by birds singing again. I slept well last night after going out and watching the sunset. Although I didn’t stay away from the television because the Master’s Tournament is on this weekend. Beth and I enjoy watching Tiger Woods do his golf magic and wouldn’t miss him for the world. He is so funny sometimes. Apparently his wife has convinced him to stop cussing when he makes a bad shot.

Because when he hit it into the woods on the 18th Friday evening he let out a “Woodrow!” I didn’t hear anybody comment on this and I had no idea where Woodrow came from. I thought it was one of those pet names young couples invent for each other. But Google once again helped me out. Tiger’s full name is Eldrick Tiger Woodrow Woods?

His beautiful young wife, Elin, may have convinced him that since he has a child now who is watching his every move he shouldn’t swear on television.

I love the way Tiger manages to be a down to earth guy with human failings as well as a golfing superstar. And his effort on this day may have helped his cause. Because he managed to par the hole. The announcer noted that it was one of the most amazing par saves he had ever seen.

And now he is six back with only four guys between him and the lead. It will be a daunting task to overcome a six stroke deficit. And it will be interesting to take a look inside Trevor Immelman’s soul and see what is happening there as well. The world will be watching you Trevor and Tiger is somewhere back there. But “No Pressure!” big guy! Enjoy your day!

If Tiger manages to come back the rest of the way and win it will be pretty amazing. And in my opinion it will be because he acknowledged Woodrow instead of yelling at God in an unpleasant way.

Tiger is now officially among my most admired fellow human beings in the world. He’s not quite up there with people who sacrifice their lives for the rest of us (the title of hero is way overused sometimes). Let’s just say that as a sports guy he is number one in my book.

Earl did a great job.

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Congratulations to Gretchen Mashkuri on this fantastic photo.

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My son Jeremy was born just a couple of months after Tiger and he reminds me of him in lots of ways. He is at the top of my list of amazing people too.

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You all are welcome to come to dinner at our house anytime. And please bring Jordin Sparks along if you happen to see her.

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Tiger won again today and took home some ungodly sum of money. Alright let’s say it. He won millions of dollars today! Not one, two or five million but ten million dollars plus however much he won for winning this particular tournament. It is difficult to imagine making that amount of money playing a sport or doing anything else for that matter. How many CEO’s make that much money in a year!

But Tiger gives a great deal of pleasure to a large number of people who enjoy watching him play golf. And he’s also the kind of person they can admire. He has a great smile. He can start crying in front of millions of people when he wins the British Open and his father isn’t there to enjoy it. And he never stops trying to become a better golfer. Think about it. He is recognized by virtually everyone to be the greatest golfer playing the game. And he’s still out here changing his swing and doing anything he can think of to be a better player.

It may be that he actually loves becoming a better golfer more than he loves winning. He acknowledges being an extremely competitive person. So maybe he is competing with himself as well as others. And if you compete with yourself you can never slow down. It’s like you are on a spinnng wheel. The faster you go the faster the wheel turns. And the faster you must go.

It will be interesting to see how he deals with retirement someday. I hope I’m still alive to see it. In the meantime I bet he learned long ago how to sleep the night before a big golfing showdown with mega bucks on the line. And how important is it in golf to get a good nights sleep? I’m thinking it’s very important and not a lot of other golfers can do it.

I bet he sleeps like a baby and wakes up feeling ready to go. No pressure. What kind of a chance do the rest have if it gets down to the last day? He’s already got a big advantage before they tee off.

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The other thing I find amazing is how he can stop his golf swing six inches from the ball if a bird flies by or there’s a noise. There is something almost super human about this. It’s as if there is a robot in there somewhere. How does he do that? Probably his dad taught him to do it when he was small. He did it again today. He did a lot of things today. And he made it look pretty easy.

Tiger, thanks for showing us so many things.

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More Sports

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/13/university-of-virginia-football/

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http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm