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Devil Ball Golf - Golf

Devil Ball Golf

Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:09 am EST

With his Masters victory, Tiger conquers another continent

By Jay Busbee

In that yellow jacket, Tiger Woods looks like he's ready to sell you a house ... perhaps in Australia, which he now owns.

Yes, while you were sleeping Tiger Woods was adding yet another feather to his overloaded cap, winning the JBWere Australian Masters by two strokes and proving that his stunning $3 million appearance fee was a worthwhile investment. Woods was in a three-way tie for the lead but ditched the pack with three birdies in his first six holes. This is Tiger's 82nd worldwide victory in 13 countries, but his first in Australia.

Australia welcomed Tiger like a visiting head of state, and he didn't disappoint. The worst thing that could have happened would have been for Woods to show up to pomp and circumstance, then wander to some anonymous fifth-place finish behind some little-known PGA Tour pro. (Well, the worst would have been for him to miss the cut, but you know what I'm getting at.)

This win is huge for worldwide golf, for the simple reason that the sport has its greatest leaps in popularity when there's a dominant figure -- Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer -- atop the leaderboard week after week, year after year. People gravitate toward the iconic, and Woods is standing as tall right now as he has in many years.

Tiger conquered the United States around the turn of the millennium, and now he's picking off the outlying continents. Phil Mickelson snagged Asia away from him for the moment with the win at the HSBC Champions, but if you think Tiger's going to let that slide, well, you haven't been watching the man in red particularly long. Ahead on the docket: South America, home of the 2016 Olympics.

Interestingly, Tiger's overseas dominance comes at a time when, stateside, he appears as vulnerable as he's ever been. He surrendered a final-day lead at a major for the first time in his career at this year's PGA Championship. This is a time when, every week, somebody could beat Tiger ... but it's still not the same somebody every week. But he's still the guy that golf fans in America want to see ... and now, the bandwagon's welcoming on a growing international contingent.

Still, congratulations to Australia's golf officials and fans for getting maximum return on their investment. And congrats to Tiger. At this point, he's got the whole world in ... well, you know.

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58 Comments

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  1. smoroi
    1. Posted by smoroi Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:20 pm EST

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    ". . .Yes, while you were sleeping Tiger Woods was adding yet another. . ." sloppy performance that barely got him over the top of the bottom 150 world rankings - BUT Busbee could not be expected to bring that aspect of truth in reporting because he is over himself in love with TW.
    Let's see, Phil won in Shanghai over a field of the top 25 pros worldwide and was that victory was panned as an out-of-market, less than stellar field - and Tiger? Bent over the proverbial marketing appearance fee from IMG/TW/JBWere associates, Australia paid out an outrageous amount of money to attract anyone of any consequence. How exactly does world golf 'win'?
    Another foolish drivel-driven post by you, Mr. Busbee
  2. c.madore
    2. Posted by c.madore Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:23 pm EST

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    Woods may be the best golfer in the world, but his behavior is appalling. After watching him at the Australian Masters with his whining and cursing after bad shots and then throwing his driver (and he did THROW it), which ended up in the crowd and thankfully didn't hurt anyone, I am surprised that the PGA hasn't warned him or fined him - or is he untouchable? I wouldn't let my kids behave in that manner anywhere in any sport. Unfortunately for the many kids who do look up to him, he is the poster boy for poor sportsmanship. Grow up, Tiger.
  3. Lamont D
    3. Posted by Lamont D Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:24 pm EST

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    Nice win Tiger looking forward to 2010.
  4. rickeaglecrest
    4. Posted by rickeaglecrest Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:29 pm EST

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    Why do people not give credit, where credit is due. He is the greatest golfer this world has ever seen. You have a lot of cry babies out there Busbee
  5. bulletproof
    5. Posted by bulletproof Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:41 pm EST

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    what the hell do you wantabes get out of these crap articles about eldric woods. a freak disfunctional spoiled antisocial fan-cursing robot that dosen't know how to do anything, including socialize with all his blind-worshipping fanbase..you folks are useless anyway, just like these queer writers!!
  6. dkrusekontrol
    6. Posted by dkrusekontrol Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:48 pm EST

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    Man, such bitterness out of you guys. And really #1, even if it wasn't an impressive win, to suggest Phil is in the same class as Tiger is a joke.
  7. OneWiseWoman
    7. Posted by OneWiseWoman Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:13 pm EST

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    I know that crude & bitter remarks from insanely jealous losers can be annoying, but they should ultiomately be ignored. Every vehement critic of Tiger knows he is the greatest golfer EVER....superior to Jack Nicklaus, leave alone Phil Mickelson! Sure, his behaviour might seem rude & disrespectful a times, but why don't we spend 1/2 as much time criticising Mel Gibson's drunken "Jew-bashing" or Russell Crowe's throwing a phone at a person's head??!! Of course he isn't as great as Gandhi (very, very few people in the history of humankind are!), but he is one of the 10 greatest sportsmen ever. As regards the crude insinuations about his late father, well, People In Glass Houses....!!!! This is a priceless lesson David Letterman learned recently....after years of making a living out of publicly humiliating people for all kinds of misdeeds & misfortunes....now he's the one sheepishly apologising to his wife on TV for his "extracurricular activities"!
  8. Sean
    8. Posted by Sean Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:19 pm EST

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    While you were sleeping?? I don't know about you but I was watching live. Please stop with all the Phil mentions. We all know last week in China was the FIRST time Phil had won a tournament while playing with Tiger in the final group. Nobody cares if Tiger curses..other athletes do it so deal with it. Tiger has brought new energy to golf so if you want to watch sweet prissy golfers who don't curse, then don't watch Tiger. Tiger is the highest paid athlete for the last 8 years so his formula is obviously working.
  9. KarenA
    9. Posted by KarenA Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:34 pm EST

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    Go Tiger! He really did deliver. There's so much pressure on him, all eyes on him, especially in a tournament like this where it's built around him. He HAS TO win. And well, to no one's surprise - he did. And the final round, he did not just barely win. He went 4-under and by the end - the tournament was won. Tiger resorted to conservative play. He didn't have to do anything more. I understand it's frustrating to haters to see Tiger win. To see 25,000 people turn out just for him. For an entire content to treat him like a rock star. But that's just how it is. Tiger is global and I think that's what the haters hate the most: that the cheers of everyone else is so much louder than anything they could muster. Oh well. I'm happy he won. Go Tiger!
  10. oliver c
    10. Posted by oliver c Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:40 pm EST

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    All the hate remarks about Tiger will not make Phil or any other golfer better. And the comments about his late father are senseless! Whatever the man did wrong (if he did), he still gave the world a golfing wonder! I challenge the ones who are critical of him to give us someone better! On to 2010, TW!
  11. Ron H
    11. Posted by Ron H Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:43 pm EST

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    I'm glad that Tiger got treated so well in Australia, but he showed up for the appearance money.
    The field was like a Nationwide tour event. Jack Nicklaus won a boat-load of Australian Opens.
    Back then, he probably got $10K in appearance money. The gap between Tiger and the rest is
    getting smaller, little by little, and within a year or two, it will be smaller still. He's not going to
    continue to win at the pace he has in the past. There's going to be more Y.E. Yang's in the
    future! As "Newman" would say....someday you're cushy world will come crashing down around
    you, and I'll be there in all my glory watching!.
  12. Ron H
    12. Posted by Ron H Sun Nov 15, 2009 1:57 pm EST

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    "inkman" Does your Mommy know you're on the computer and being so mean?
  13. Shawn
    13. Posted by Shawn Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:47 pm EST

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    Change the Tiger pic for blog, it looks like a younger Nipsey Russell. lol
  14. Noel
    14. Posted by Noel Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:49 pm EST

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    Y.E. Yang was not impressed.....
  15. TRUE CANADIAN
    15. Posted by TRUE CANADIAN Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:21 pm EST

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    Tiger rules,he is the best the golf world has ever seen,and ever will see,all you fans who don't like Tiger HAVE A real problem and you know what i mean,{race}
  16. Carlos
    16. Posted by Carlos Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:33 pm EST

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    He's bigger than US Steel - Hyman Roth
  17. rotina b redhot
    17. Posted by rotina b redhot Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:00 pm EST

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    I know that this is not the masters that tiger wanted to win but it will do!!!
  18. JJ
    18. Posted by JJ Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:04 pm EST

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    Yahoo - There are more than a few nasty comments here that should probably be deleted.
  19. Victor
    19. Posted by Victor Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:09 pm EST

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    Just like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and so on, as in any other sport, someone will come along who has learned and has the ability to be better. This people is Tiger Woods time. just like Jacks records would never be broken, so on goes the story. What you really need to do is get off the crude ugly remarks. Some of you put people on a pedestal and snatch it out when you do not like what they do, GROW UP!!!!!
  20. Mike
    20. Posted by Mike Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:44 pm EST

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    #22 - True that. A lot of derogatory comments that need to be deleted...or how about not approved in the first place? A little comment regulation would be nice. Not going to happen, but worth a shot.
  21. BigVern78
    21. Posted by BigVern78 Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:54 pm EST

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    Tiger deserves credit because he is the most dominant player, without a doubt, of all time. This victory was a piece of cake for him compared to others, given the strength of the field. Even so, it is hard to win being off your game. These other guys are still professional golfers, not hackers like most of the people leaving comments here, including myself.
    I am sure it makes financial sense to pay Tiger millions of dollars to "just show up." Tiger may be worth it, given that we may never see someone like Tiger in our lifetime.
    BUT can you step back and take a look at where we have come. Forget the 3rd world where 5 dollars can by a guy food for a week. In America, the supposed "land of opportunity", we have millions of people who are struggling to pay their bills, not because they are irresponsible, but because it is an unbelievably difficult market for people to get employed or stay employed.
    In this environment, it really is frustrating to see millions of dollars spent on professional athletes. I couldn't save a million dollars if I worked the rest of my life and worked my butt off given how much it costs to maintain a family with a respectable salary, yet we pay Anthony Kim a million dollars to win a challenge golf event that barely anybody will watch... I just don't get it.
  22. Jay
    22. Posted by Jay Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:59 pm EST

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    wow.get a life tw haters.
  23. Bob
    23. Posted by Bob Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:02 pm EST

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    Inkman, you are a waste of humanity and you should be deleated for good. you are a
    depraved piece of junk. take you,your computer, and your filthy mind and go play in the
    highway traffic. you know nothing about golf. iam surprised that your filthy remarks
    were even printed. you are a useless sicko.
  24. Chris C
    24. Posted by Chris C Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:04 pm EST

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    There is Phil... and then there is Tiger. Phil can only dream of the moon and the stars. Tiger is the Universe, as far as golf goes, and anyone who cannot admit that is pretty much in denial of the bigger picture here. Phil does not even resemble a true athlete...too many Big Macs and Twinkies.
  25. First L
    25. Posted by First L Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:29 pm EST

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    all these people who hate on tiger woods' achievements are racist. plan and simple.

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