Final Pre-Hero World Challenge Thoughts

Regardless of your political views, everyone’s been talking about Donald Trump’s most recent round of golf.  But this time it’s not because Donny was driving across another green in a cart.  Instead, the 45th President of United States of America made golfers around the world jealous when he teed it up with Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, and Brad Faxon at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida on Friday.  (For what it’s worth, the Commander in Chief teed it up with Jack Nicklaus at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Saturday).  And once again, the best part of this round wasn’t how Donny was getting showed up on the greens.

Welcome to the 2017 #heroworldchallenge | @TigerWoods pic.twitter.com/p4MfWOyz32

— Hero World Challenge|TGR Live (@TGRLiveEvents) November 26, 2017

Brad Faxon commented on the group’s play and stated:

“I was impressed with how far he hit the ball.  Probably on the 10 holes that they were both hitting the driver, Tiger hit it past Dustin half the time and Dustin hit it past Tiger half the time. He looked great. I think more than anything, he looked at ease. He was not concerned about swinging hard and going at it with driver. The ball flight, the sound off the club, all of it was right there.”

Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States talks to USA…

Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States talks to USA vice captain Tiger Woods after the final round of the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club on September 30, 2017 in Jersey… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

By the way, Tiger and DJ both played from tips (which measured in at ~7,600 yards).  Furthermore, Dustin Johnson not only has a smoking hot wife, but he also was the #2 in Driving Distance for 2017 (Averaging 315 Yards and Ball Speed Above 180 MPH).

Now, I’m the last person to doubt Tiger, but between 2004 and 2006, Tiger averaged ~303 yards off the tee.  And while I’m sure TaylorMade would love to brag about how the M2 in Tiger’s bag is responsible for those extra 10 yards, at a certain point it’s the Indian and Arrow.  And Faxon isn’t the only one hyping up Tiger.  Rickie Fowler, who averaged 300 yards off the tee, commented a few weeks ago that Tiger was hitting it “way by” him on the range.

A post shared by Tiger Woods (@tigerwoods) on Jan 25, 2017 at 5:25am PST

SO here’s the thing.  Am I pumped about Tiger playing this weekend in light of all this great news?  Yes.  BUT has all this “news” created unrealistic expectations?  Possibly.

Just look at Vegas, who has Tiger at 20-to-1 odds for winning a major in 2018.  And that’s the thing.  Not to badmouth the GOAT, but we’ve been disappointed in 2008 (right leg Achilles tendon), 2010 (back), 2011 (left leg), 2012 (left leg Achilles tendon), 2013 (left elbow, neck, and back), 2014 (back), 2015 (back), and early 2017 (back), and I honestly don’t think golf fans can handle another set back.

At 41 years old, Tiger isn’t his young, mid-20s self that crushed competitors at the Masters.  So I genuinely hope that Tiger’s healthy and that he plays well through the whole weekend.  This way, Tiger can crush the haters (again) and go into the 2018 calendar year truly healthy, confident, and ready to remind the young guns why even non-golfers will sit down and tune in to watch the GOAT in his Sunday red.

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