David vs. Goliath

Tiger Woods is a freak of nature. There is nothing more or less that could be said of him.

He came into this year's U.S. Open with a bum knee. I still picked him to win. A lot of people picked him to win, even though there were quite a few who said he had no shot at the title with the condition of his recently sliced-open-and-fooled-with knee. After his fairly poor round on Friday I told a colleague that Tiger would either be within a stroke or would have the outright lead by the end of Saturday's third round. He grabbed the lead and took it into the final round on Sunday with an unbelievable record of 13-0 in major titles after leading through three rounds. Which means he had the 14th major title in the bag.

Except he didn't.

Rocco Mediate played solid golf while Tiger "The Monster" Woods (as Rocco referred to him as) did something he never does and played his way out of the tournament. After his round he should have been riding in his Buick back to his beautiful wife and vacationing on his private island.

Except he wasn't finished.

He played like crap and let everyone else come back to him. Which they did nicely by the way.

And then of course he came back and sank a few putts to force a playoff on the final hole. So at this point we're looking at an 18 hole playoff on Monday. Advantage - Tiger. Only because Rocco's never won a title and missed more cuts this year than he's made. The number one ranked player in the world vs. 158. David vs. Goliath.

I have never rooted against Tiger nor will I in the future, even if that means I'm facing him in a sudden death playoff on 18 on Sunday. I'd be dumb to think I could beat him.

Except I kind of did root against him today. Kind of.

Only because Rocco Mediate is not Tiger Woods. Only because Tiger already had 13 majors, which essentially cements his place in history. Why not Rocco just this time? A win would have secured his financial future. His family would be set. He, the 158th ranked player in the world, would have had a few doors opened that would not have been there with a loss. Because he smiled the entire time, even when playing poorly.

Tiger won. Rocco finished second but gained so many supporters and was the only person to EVER push Tiger to 19 extra holes of golf in ANYTHING. It was as close to victory as you can reach against Tiger Woods.

Would it have been nice to see him win? You bet. But I'm still glad Tiger won.