In case you were wondering how Tiger Woods made out Sunday at the Bridgestone Invitational, seems he had a pretty good run of it — or so a headline on the website of the now 30th-ranked golfer in the world would have you believe.
Soaring finish? “After rough start, Tiger soars to finish at Firestone,” reads the Mark Soltau-bylined piece on tigerwoods.com. Apparently, while Woods couldn’t find the fairway with a tank (he hit five of 15 on Sunday and was DFL among the 76 players in the field), his iron play was “stellar,” Soltau wrote Sunday night after his boss limped to a tie for 37th on a course on which his ex-caddie now has eight victories.
My, how the long-ago No. 1 has fallen. Where once winning was the only acceptable outcome of any event in which Woods nailed a peg into the ground, it’s now great news if the player the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan calls “Just Another Golfer” birdies three of the final four holes and posts an even-par 70 on Championship Sunday.
“Considering Woods hadn’t played competitive golf in three months,” the post continued, “he was pleased with his overall performance.
“’Absolutely encouraged,” he said. “I hadn’t played since April, so it’s been a while.’”
Woods, who told the press prior to his first round that his expectations were the same as always — to hoist a trophy on Sunday — appeared to have changed his tune after watching his ex-caddie Steve Williams pull the clubs for winner Adam Scott.
“I just keep plodding along,” Woods said. “You have to understand, I’m fresh. I haven’t played, so it’s nice for me to get out in this competitive atmosphere, no matter how I was playing just to figure out how to score because I haven’t been forced to score.
“At home, playing money games with my buddies is just not the same as being out there and being forced to have to post a score,” Woods explained. “It’s a different deal.”
Key to the week, Soltau — former Golf Digest contributing editor turned Tiger Woods’ mouthpiece — added, was Woods’ physical health. “[My leg] feels great,” Woods said. “It’s a different kind of feeling.”
At least the post conceded that Woods, who tallied a 1-over 281 for the week, pulled up 18 strokes back of Scott. Strikingly, there was no mention of Williams, who has certainly minced no words in striking out at his former employer.
No, Tiger left that to his agent Mark Steinberg, who took time out of his busy schedule managing his one and only client, to complain that Woods’ ex-bagman should get his facts straight before shooting his mouth off. Among many inflammatory comments that flew out of Williams’ maw in the aftermath of his new golfer’s convincing Firestone win was the charge that Woods fired him over the phone.
Liar, liar, pants on fire. Nuh uh, said Steiny.
“I’m stunned I’ve had to talk about this situation last night and today after Adam Scott’s good win,” Steinberg told Golfweek. “I feel sorry for Adam. But I’m tired of [Woods] taking shots for two years. When someone says something patently false, I feel the need to speak up. To say he [Williams] didn’t get fired face-to-face is ludicrous and tiring.”
Back to you, Stevie.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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