Grant Me This
PGA.com contributor Grant Boone says now that Tiger Woods has missed his first cut in a major as a professional, fewer people will be planting themselves in front of their TVs to watch the U.S. Open this weekend, much to the chagrin of NBC execs.
By Grant Boone, Special to PGA.com
If a Peacock cries in a television compound, does it make a noise? You bet it does. In fact, if you cup your ear toward New York City, you'll hear a bird in anything but paradise. NBC's Crying Fowl had its feathers fairly ruffled Friday when Tiger Woods laid an egg, missing the first major championship cut of his illustrious professional career.
The Peacock Network shells out about $20 million a year for the privilege of carrying USGA events, with the lion's share banked on Tiger's nonpareil knack for putting fannies in front of flat screens. When Tiger isn't playing, people aren't watching. When he does, they do. And when he contends, even more so. Actually, when Tiger does anything, people pay attention. More would watch Tiger in line at the DMV than a tournament without him in it. And so, for the first time in a decade, the only Sunday driving Tiger will do on Father's Day will be behind the wheel of one of his Buicks -- "Elin, the Skylark needs an oil change; you take the LeSabre" -- and not behind a U.S. Open tee marker.
More notably, it's Tiger's first Father's Day without his father. We won't have to wonder how he would've controlled his emotions on Sunday because of his inability to control his driver the last two days. He found just a fourth of the fairways on a course that might not yield a low score even if you put every tee ball in the short grass. You go 7-for-28 in the Bronx, and George Steinbrenner will find you five million a year. That same average at Winged Foot earns you a pair of 76s and an early ticket home. (Hopefully, they passed a hat to pick up Tiger's hundred dollar change fee.)
It certainly wasn't for a lack of effort, just his ineffectiveness around a brutish course. The cut came Friday night at 9 over, and that's where Tiger was as he stood in the fairway at No. 4 (his 13th hole of the day) on one of those seven occasions in which he was true off the tee. But a wiped approach and three whacks with the putter dropped him to plus-10. Two more unforced errors at the easily reachable fifth left him scrambling for par instead of taking advantage of his last best chance for birdie or better. Needing to birdie the final two holes to make the cut, Tiger instead made back-to-back bogeys to guarantee that for the first time in 38 Grand Slam events as a pro, the second round would be his last.
Naturally, everyone freaked. A quick check of the USGA Policy Manual confirmed the Open could continue without Tiger's presence. Executive Director David Fay, his bow tie suddenly and significantly tighter around his neck, announced, "Under Rule 24-dash-1, subsection O(h)-No(!), Tiger Woods must be deemed a Movable Obstruction. NBC is awarded no relief from its rights fee or its contractual obligation to broadcast the remainder of the championship. But I am entitled to a two-club length head start before Johnny Miller comes after me for not delivering a golf course that could keep Tiger around for the weekend."
With the cat away, the mice kept playing. And the Biggest Cheese of all has been Wisconsin's Steve Stricker, at minus-1 the only player under par through 36 holes, thanks in no small part to a pair of bunker birdies. Stricker leads a front page of average length hitters and guys who generally keep it in play.
If Winged Foot is brutish, its leaderboard right now is decidedly British. The top 20 includes a Scot (Colin Montgomerie) and three Englishmen (Kenneth Ferrie, Phillip Archer, and Ian Poulter), not to mention a pair of Ulstermen (Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke) and an Irishman, Paddy Harrington.
And then there's New York's favorite adopted son and birthday boy, Phil Mickelson, who's now through both 36 holes and years. An only slightly sloppy 73 has Mickelson four off the lead as he heads into the weekend in pursuit of a third straight major championship and a fourth overall.
Mickelson was already one of the pre-Open favorites. But now that the Big Cut has let the Big Cat out of the bag, this is Lefty's tournament to lose.
Grant Boone is a husband, father, golf broadcaster, and sports journalist based in Abilene, Texas. He can be contacted at grant@greatcities.org.
The views and opinions expressed here do not reflect those of PGA.com or The PGA of America.