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Did Tiger deserve the win at the 2012 Memorial on Sunday? Absolutely. His final round 67 punctuated by a stellar chip-in birdie on #16 was worthy of all the hysterics and histrionics, but the confluence of bad play and unexcused absences from the world’s best certainly contributed. Consider:
Phil Mickelson shot an opening round 79 and promptly withdrew sighting mental fatigue. Was Lefty truly in need of a break after playing three straight weeks and then vacationing with his wife in Italy?
Rory McIlroy missed his third straight cut with a second round 79 and is making huge blunders leading to huge numbers on his scorecard. I’m convinced something is going on outside his golf game that’s distracting and is the genesis for the poor form.
Rickie Fowler, arguably the hottest golfer in the last month, shot 84 in the final round while paired with Tiger. Are you kidding me?
Bubba Watson is still rusty from his one month layoff to recover from burnout, and missed the cut.
Zach Johnson, winner last week at Colonial was mysteriously missing from the field. There was an unsubstantiated rumor that he had been suspended for some sort of substance abuse issue. Seems unlikely, but where was he?
How about Jason Dufner who was also missing from the field. Memorial is an invitational (non full field event) but was the two-time winner this year invited?
Not trying to discount Tiger’s achievement, and he certainly has kept himself out of the news over the last few weeks, which is hard to do, but what happened to the world’s best this week?
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