Tiger Woods’ final blow to Justin Spieth: A sarcasm for a man who doesn’t see stick around
In the seventh edition of The Match to golf, Woods was defeated by long-time friends Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.
Cross-armed, the 15-time major winner watched on as the victorious pair were presented with commemorative bracelets. All night on December 10, trash talk had rained down like bullets under the lights at Florida’s Pelican Club, but Spieth had one left in the chamber.
The joy out of getting this does not match the joy of standing here with Tiger being so upset that he had to stand here and watch this, said a giggling Spieth.
Woods alone boasted six more majors and 31 more PGA titles than the three greats of the game beside him combined, a mind-blowing disparity that Spieth was well aware of. Yet, it was this very gap that made the final blow that much more satisfying, the Dallas-born golfer explained.
It was sarcasm for me. He’s a guy who you never think about seeing stick around and have to sit there while somebody else won. He was very far away from the award ceremony a few times, because he didn’t lose many times.
The friendly competitive atmosphere of the event was created because of the back-and-forth between the mic’d up players and the commentary team.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/golf/jordan-spieth-trash-talk-tiger-woods-spt-intl/index.html
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The relentless verbal warfare waged between Thomas and Charles Barkley took center stage over the golf itself at times, as a role reversal that Spieth had originally been anxious to take on.
“Us four together, we’ve all had a pretty good relationship … bringing out a lot of people and a lot of interest, I think that really helped [us] get comfortable.”
In the first four rounds of the Presidents Cup in September, the long-time friends became only the third pair in history to go unscathed, as a perfect 5-0-0 run extended their record across the President Cup and the Ryder Cup.
When we are playing, it takes some of the pressure off because you don’t feel that much pressure and one of them will just laugh, and you just get a bit more comfortable. On the good holes, we are hyping each other up using phrases that are funny to him and I.
Take your best friend out in a high-pressure situation. It gives the back end a benefit and it makes you feel really comfortable.
After bursting onto the scene with three major triumphs inside his first four years on Tour, a relative slump saw the former World No. 1 fall outside the top 50 for the first time since his historic rookie season in 2020.
After finishing runner-up at The Open a year ago and ending a 1,355-day trophy dry spell in April, he has gone from strength to strength, becoming the first player in History to win 13 times on the Tour.
When he teed it up on Sunday he wanted to try to have a chance at winning at least two majors.
Even in the midst of an underwhelming opening round at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona on Thursday, the world No.1 found a way to add another slide to his near-endless highlight reel of remarkable shots.
His troubles were compounded when his tee ball went over the path running down the right side of the 11th hole, and he was left with an even-par 72.
The ball’s final resting place, lodged in the dirt close to a metal fence, made for grim viewing. Most golfers would just settle for getting back on the fairway, because of the lack of room to swing.
But as he has shown time and time again, McIlroy is not most golfers. With a chop of his pitching wedge, the four-time major winner punched his shot through a corridor of spectators and trees, the ball settling on the green just over 40 feet from the hole.
Incredulous gasps from the onlooking crowd were mirrored on social media, with the PGA Tour tweeting a video of the shot captioned: “Are you kidding[?]”
He was more than happy with the outcome, given the precarious position he had found himself in, as he tapped in for four to walk away with par.
A fourth bogey of the day on his 16th hole saw McIlroy card a two-over 73, leaving him tied for 82nd and seven shots adrift of Canadian leading pair Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, who impressed amid windy conditions in Scottsdale.
The Hero dubai Desert Classic was the start of a remarkable run of seven consecutive top four finishes for the 25-year-old Northern Irishman.
Pushed to expand, McIlroy continued: “Because I do. I’m playing well. I feel that I have been as good as ever, I feel like consistency-wise.
“I said at the end of last year, I feel like as complete of a player as I ever have. If you just look at my statistical categories, there’s no real glaring weaknesses there. I’ve worked really hard on that, to try to become a more well-rounded player.”