LIV pro’s gesture will warm your heart, and Tiger ‘punched in mouth’ | Weekend 9
Tiger Woods on Tuesday during TGL play.
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Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com
“Everybody has a game plan until they get punched in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson
I love that quote. It always makes me think. There’s the bravado side — Iron Mike heard your chirps, but you weren’t going to bark after a glove to the chin. But there’s also the exposure side. Tyson seemingly implied that it’s game over, and in his opponents’ cases, it mostly was. But looked at another way, one ‘punch’ gives you a person live and in living color. There’s no more script. How they react in the moment says some things.
It came to mind as I watched TGL on Tuesday — and specifically as I watched Tiger Woods misinterpret standard caddie talk and his red polo become unbuttoned.
To catch you up, during play in the one-month-old, simulator-based league, Woods hit a tee shot 294 yards on a 481-yard par-4, he asked his caddie, longtime Woods confidante Rob McNamara, for a yardage, and McNamara said, “99.” You may know where this is going. In such cases, caddies typically drop the ‘1,’ as it’s a given if you just look ahead. But Woods took it as 99 yards, grabbed a wedge, dumped it short, and hilarity ensued. Teammates laughed. ESPN announcers laughed. You laughed.
Everyone laughed at Woods, the 15-time major winner who tries to guard his public image and words as if he’s defending a lead on the back nine at Augusta. Sometimes he’s successful. Sometimes he’s not. Tuesday, he wasn’t. He was punched in the mouth.
So what did we get? Friday afternoon, I went back to watch. He was animated, mostly toward McNamara. He repeated himself; in the first minute after the mistake, he said “99” five times. He laughed. His tone of voice changed. An in-play interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith was great, too.
Started Smith: “The greatest of all time, Tiger Woods, is still attempting to analyze what the hell just happened. But at least you can smile.”
Said Woods: “No, I heard 99 yards. And so I went out there and hit it 100 yards, and one of the most embarrassing moments in my golfing career just happened.”
Said Smith: “But breaking it down in real life, that’s how you guys speak on the real golf course.”
Said Woods: “Yep, I know that.”
Said Smith: “And you can see the pin and you know it’s 200 yards.”
Said Woods: “I know, I just screwed up. I mean, that was embarrassing.”
Tiger Woods did WHAT? TGL sees maybe biggest shock with his ‘99’ error
It was something. It was a peek inside the Woods’ golf bag, so to say — or at least more than the one offered on TV or at press huddles. As for how it came across, I imagine opinions will vary, and I’ll leave it at that. For sure, he welcomed some emotional release two weeks after he announced the death of his mother.
Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9.
2. The second-best part of the scene? Tom Kim losing it. He may still be laughing.
One takeaway from the week — and the weeks ahead
3. Thursday, via a statement, we were updated on the negotiations on a funding deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. Read the statement:
We have just concluded a constructive working session at the White House with President Trump and H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we have initiated a discussion about the reunification of golf. We are committed to moving as quickly as possible and will share additional details as appropriate.
We share a passion for the game and the importance of reunification. Most importantly, we all want the best players in the world playing together more often and are committed to doing all we can to deliver that outcome for our fans.”
– Statement from Commissioner Jay Monahan, Player Director Tiger Woods and Player Director Adam Scott
In short, a meeting was held, and talks are progressing, which is more than nothing, but less than something. But the feeling is a deal is close. What it looks like is speculative, though a comment from Adam Scott to the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson was notable. Wrote Ferguson:
“I wouldn’t be surprised — or I wouldn’t judge anyone, the members — if reunification happened and they weren’t happy with how it happened,” Scott said, pausing to rub his eyes with both hands before adding, “I hope they’re not spending as much time talking about it as I have.
Trump hosts PGA Tour-PIF ‘reunification’ meeting. Here’s what we learned
“I wouldn’t hold it against anybody if there were negative emotions attached to it, the thought of players coming back.”
A deal isn’t going to stop this conversation. Far from it.
4. ‘Bringing the best players together’ is 2025’s ‘growing the game.’
Best non-GOLF.com read for your weekend
5. What am I reading (besides the thoughtful prose of my colleagues)? This article is worth your click.
Here, Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal writes about AimPoint, a topic that’s received plenty of ink here, a golf website, but not so much on a well-respected, business-based website, and I’m always interested in the fresh perspective. The story was excellent. There’s detail on AimPoint’s proponents and opponents, along with who started it and how it started. I’ll tease the story with just the lead, which is great, too. Wrote Beaton:
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