Taming Tiger

For the last decade or so Tiger Woods has dominated his sport. So much to a degree that it's almost unparalleled. Sure there has been Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Michael Phelps, and a handful of others during the same time frame. But Lance retired, and then came back and didn't win. Michael Phelps is a swimmer, and Roger Federer ran into Rafeal Nadal. So that left Tiger as our unheralded hero. Until now.
Tiger was knocked off of his perch yesterday. Not by an injury this time, but by a South Korean named Y.E. Yang. Tiger didn't give this tournament away, he lost it. Y.E. Yang did what so many others before him couldn't do, he beat Tiger. We always here about how hard it is to play in that final group with Tiger Woods. It didn't seem hard for Yang yesterday. Not when he chipped in for Eagle, or when he hit a hybrid over a tree 10 feet from the pin on 18, when laying up, chipping on, and 2 putting would have won the tournament. Y.E. didn't let Tiger get in his head, he got in Tigers.
We've become accustomed to hearing the stats with Tiger. He is 12-0 when leading after the 2nd round of a major, he's 14-0 when leading after the 3rd round of a major. He's 54-0 career wise when going into the final round of any tournament with the lead. All of those things are over.
So what does this mean? We've become so used to him winning. I'm sure most of you watching were like me. You always thought Tiger was going to win yesterday. Even after he bogeyed 17. You thought he'd do something incredible. Even after Yang stuck his second shot on 18, 10 feet from the pin, and had a decent chance at birdie. You thought in your mind, that Tiger will chip in, and Yang will miss. We'll go to a playoff, and Tiger will dominate. That didn't happen. Tiger never made a putt, never had that signature shot that we've seen so often. Tiger choked. You can say what you want, but he went into the final round with a 2 shot lead, and lost by 3 strokes. He was outplayed on a Sunday in a major by a guy ranked somewhere in the 100's. So can Tiger still where his Sunday red? Or does he have to switch it up. Don't get me wrong Tiger could win the grand slam next year, and no one would be surprised. But as for now Tiger let us down. From this point forward every time he's leading we're going to have to remember Sunday at Hazeltine