Tiger's bunker shot explanation on #6

[Titleist 670]

After the round, I heard Tiger say in a post round interview that he was trying to hit the ball off of the bunker face on #6 and have it come out to the right so he could pitch onto the green.

 

Based on his discussion with Joe on live TV (seemed like Joe was saying Olesen got it over the lip from a similar position a day earlier), I didn't get the impression that hitting it off the face of the bunker was what he was trying to do.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd like to give Tiget the benefit of the doubt, but part of me found it hard to believe that was actually what he was trying to do with that shot.

[tbowles411]

He tried to make a shot. It just didn't work. Simple. And cost him 3 shots. That's when his tournament ended. Those bunkers were diabolical!

[larrybud]

The first or second bunker shot? If it was the first he needs a lesson in geometry. Aiming right at the face generally isn't going to make it go out sideways!!

2nd one would make more sense.

[Titleist 670]

"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

That's what he said - so he was talking about his first shot. When watching it live, I didn't get the impression that that's what he was trying to do at all.

[Titleist 670]

[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343004372' post='5330670']
He tried to make a shot. It just didn't work. Simple. And cost him 3 shots. That's when his tournament ended. Those bunkers were diabolical!
[/quote]

So if Adam Scott skulled his 3rd shot on 18 today over the green and said "I was trying to bounce if off the clubhouse and knock it close" you wouldn't question that? I'm just wondering if that's what Tiger was really trying to do - I'm not a Tiger hater, but you could hear some of the conversation between he and Joe prior to the blast out and his explanation after the round seemed like he was somewhat trying to save face because he didn't come close to getting it out.

[Spoon]

No way! He looked like he was going for it, hitting it that hard and his stance was indicative of
Going for the pin. He was in contention til that mistake. Oh well what penal bunkers

[TheMoneyShot]

[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343004372' post='5330670']
He tried to make a shot. It just didn't work. Simple. And cost him 3 shots. That's when his tournament ended. Those bunkers were diabolical!
[/quote]

This seems to be a common thing now with TW in majors these days. I wish he could crack the code and get #15.

[spitfisher]

[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004708' post='5330716']
"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

[/quote]

I think he is lying again.

[Cwing]

Why?

No matter what he tried to do, he failed so why would one reason be better/worse than another?

[tbowles411]

[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004807' post='5330720']
[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343004372' post='5330670']
He tried to make a shot. It just didn't work. Simple. And cost him 3 shots. That's when his tournament ended. Those bunkers were diabolical!
[/quote]

So if Adam Scott skulled his 3rd shot on 18 today over the green and said "I was trying to bounce if off the clubhouse and knock it close" you wouldn't question that? I'm just wondering if that's what Tiger was really trying to do - I'm not a Tiger hater, but you could hear some of the conversation between he and Joe prior to the blast out and his explanation after the round seemed like he was somewhat trying to save face because he didn't come close to getting it out.
[/quote]
Hey, I don't know if he said is what happened. I just saw it as the equivalent of, "Watch this! Hold my beer!" He should have just gone out sideways and mitigated the damage. It was his own fault!

[TheMoneyShot]

[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343011083' post='5331438']
[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004807' post='5330720']
[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343004372' post='5330670']
He tried to make a shot. It just didn't work. Simple. And cost him 3 shots. That's when his tournament ended. Those bunkers were diabolical!
[/quote]

So if Adam Scott skulled his 3rd shot on 18 today over the green and said "I was trying to bounce if off the clubhouse and knock it close" you wouldn't question that? I'm just wondering if that's what Tiger was really trying to do - I'm not a Tiger hater, but you could hear some of the conversation between he and Joe prior to the blast out and his explanation after the round seemed like he was somewhat trying to save face because he didn't come close to getting it out.
[/quote]
Hey, I don't know if he said is what happened. I just saw it as the equivalent of, "Watch this! Hold my beer!" He should have just gone out sideways and mitigated the damage. It was his own fault!
[/quote]

The old TW would have not made that mistake.

[ColdFyre]

[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343011083' post='5331438']
He should have just gone out sideways and mitigated the damage. It was his own fault!
[/quote]
He could not have played out sideways to the left. Only thing to the left was super thick rough. He made the right call and got a bad break. That's golf, happens even to the best.

[subrosa]

Next up, Tiger bags a 80 degree wedge

[avrag]

[quote name='spitfisher' timestamp='1343010268' post='5331318']
[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004708' post='5330716']
"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

[/quote]

I think he is lying again.
[/quote]
While I do think that he has done that in the past at times, in this instance, he is telling the thruth. The BBC on course commentator said it either before or right after the first bunker shot.
"Tiger told his caddie that he tried to bounce it off the face and back into the middle of the bunker so that he would have a possible shot for his next."

[bomberman]

While watching this, I thought he was going for the miracle shot and I also figured if he didn't pull it off it would bounce off the face back into the bunker where he would have a decent shot on his second try. He really should have made a 6 there, missing that shortish put only made it less likely anything else in the round would matter

[Jarri]

If you have a fried-egg just 4 inches from the tall bank towards the green, more bunkers on the right and thick rough on the left... what shot does it leave you with?

[b]It was what he was left with as the only possible option.[/b]

So I guess[b] IT WAS [/b]what he was trying to do.

[WHC888]

[quote name='spitfisher' timestamp='1343010268' post='5331318']
[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004708' post='5330716']
"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

[/quote]

I think he is lying again.
[/quote]

PLEASE go back and watch the WHOLE thing unfold again. Woods CLEARLY pointed at the face of the bunker and pointed to the right side of the bunker while discussing exit strategy with Joe, hence "fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right" .

[bigred90gt]

[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004708' post='5330716']
"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

That's what he said - so he was talking about his first shot. When watching it live, I didn't get the impression that that's what he was trying to do at all.
[/quote]Reading that quote, it doesn't sound like he wanted it to come out of the bunker. It sounds like he wanted it to bounce right and back into the fat of the bunker so he would have a shot.

[dwing]

[quote name='avrag' timestamp='1343028991' post='5332516']
[quote name='spitfisher' timestamp='1343010268' post='5331318']
[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004708' post='5330716']
"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

[/quote]

I think he is lying again.
[/quote]
While I do think that he has done that in the past at times, in this instance, he is telling the thruth. The BBC on course commentator said it either before or right after the first bunker shot.
"Tiger told his caddie that he tried to bounce it off the face and back into the middle of the bunker so that he would have a possible shot for his next."
[/quote]

Tiger's full of BS if he said he was trying to bounce it off the face back to the middle. He could've simply taken an Unplayable & got 2 club lengths dropped back in the bunker giving himself as good a lie as possible for the next shot. He went for it & failed.

Could it be he didn't know the rules? No chance. He went for it knowing it could be a huge momentum swing if he pulled it off.

And just as Tiger does on every other shot that doesn't work out , he takes liberty to bend a badly failed swing into something that was a "near perfect" ... ie; the "just 1 yard off" comment. I do think he actually believes what he says is true because of his personality makeup.

[Willie Malay]

Makes much more sense on the second shot. No way it is logical it would go right on the first unless he's a complete idiot, which I'm not discounting.

[triplebogeyblues]

I am confused why anybody believes Tiger would lie about what he was trying to do?

[joe81005]

[quote name='whcwhc' timestamp='1343050436' post='5333258']
[quote name='spitfisher' timestamp='1343010268' post='5331318']
[quote name='Titleist 670' timestamp='1343004708' post='5330716']
"The game plan was to fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle to come back at it," Woods said. "Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me."

[/quote]

I think he is lying again.
[/quote]

PLEASE go back and watch the WHOLE thing unfold again. Woods CLEARLY pointed at the face of the bunker and pointed to the right side of the bunker while discussing exit strategy with Joe, hence "fire it into the bank, have it ricochet to the right" .
[/quote]

Great post. Go back and watch it again. TW and Joe actually make mention of being able to get it up and down from in the bunker (right of where is plugged lie is) should TW not be able to get it out on the first attempt. Tiger says yeah, responding to Joe asking if he could get it up from right of where his plugged lie was. Stop trying to make TW to be a liar in everything he says.

[Willie Malay]

[quote name='triplebogeyblues' timestamp='1343051467' post='5333342']
I am confused why anybody believes Tiger would lie about what he was trying to do?
[/quote]

Uh, you think he told his wife the truth about the 20+ women he was banging? I rest my case. Tiger will say anything to get you to believe him that he thinks you will believe. He's a master of controlling minds that can be controlled.

[triplebogeyblues]

[quote name='Willie Malay' timestamp='1343051627' post='5333368']
[quote name='triplebogeyblues' timestamp='1343051467' post='5333342']
I am confused why anybody believes Tiger would lie about what he was trying to do?
[/quote]

Uh, you think he told his wife the truth about the 20+ women he was banging? I rest my case. Tiger will say anything to get you to believe him that he thinks you will believe. He's a master of controlling minds that can be controlled.
[/quote]

Eventually.

[joe81005]

Dwing,

Have you ever dropped a ball in the bunker? I have, and almost all the time, it plugs. Yes he went for it. Calculated that if he didn't make it, it would bounce right and then he could get up and down for a bogey. The ball went left, rather than right and the rest is history. He was just one yard off. In a game of inches, one yard is a lot.

[Skaffa77]

My impression was it looked like he was trying to hit it over the lip and hit it fat right into the face of the bunker. His strategy may have been to try to hit into the face so it would go right, but my initial perspective was that he wasn't aimed that far right to really make that happen.

It was a tough position and he did a better than I would have done. The irony is his overall course strategy should have prevented this whole situation as the hole was something of his unraveling that day. I do realize this was a greenside bunker, but for the first 3 days of the tournament, his strategy was really to play away from the bunkers as much as possible to prevent that kind of a blow-up. Last day, his strategy wasn't nearly as sharp (this was before he got a bit more aggressive) and he just wasn't going to get lucky again like he did with a holed out bunker shot.

[DieHard519]

He knows the rules, but he probably thought that instead of taking an unplayable, he'd go for it because if he pulled it off it would be amazing, and if he didn't, it would just be further back in the bunker. Little did he know that wasn't the worst case scenario of going for it.

Then to top it off, he sits down uncomfortably on his left knee and takes a strong hack at it. I tried sitting like that on my carpet, and making a torqued motion.....it's straining, and not very smart of Tiger to do that. It could've been a season ender type move.

[Llortamaisey]

I don't think it's that far fetched to think Tiger was trying to use the bank. Heck, Roy McAvoy banked it off a port-a-potty in the 96 US Open.

[proguy]

[quote name='tbowles411' timestamp='1343004372' post='5330670']
He tried to make a shot. It just didn't work. Simple. And cost him 3 shots. That's when his tournament ended. Those bunkers were diabolical!
[/quote]

His poor putting cost him the extra stroke. Tigers short game is very suspect and I am convinced until he spends 6 months on short game he wont win under major pressure.

[farmer]

Nothing to do with Tiger, but those bunkers are as artificial and contrived as anything done by anyone but maybe Desmond Miurhead. The myth of "natural" hazards being a part of true links golf was exposed. The R&A should be embarrassed by leaving players with the choice of playing out of standing water in bunkers or dropping into mud.