Tiger Woods Blows it for Himself and the PGA

Golf fans were all stunned today when Tiger Woods was defeated by an unknown Y.E. Yang at the PGA championship. The lead was all Tiger’s, and to have seen him blow it, well, many weren’t expecting it to put it lightly. Yang is the first ever Asian golfer to ever win a major event, and this is the first time Tiger Woods ever lost a major on the last day after having held the lead.

Yay? I don’t think the PGA, it’s sponsors, or the casual golf fan are very happy. Tiger Woods in the starter, middle reliever, and closer for the PGA. Without Tiger, as we saw last year, no one cares. Now, people are getting the feeling that Tiger has lost it. He didn’t win a major this year and pretty much choked away the PGA Championship after missing the cut at the British Open.

Woods hasn’t regressed as much as people like to think. He’s still won a very impressive five tourneys in 2009, and has staged some remarkable comebacks this year. Only the more serious fans realize this, but the media will be all about Tiger’s lack of a major in 2009.

Yang winning is good, at the moment. But looking back 20 or 30 years from now, wouldn’t you rather tell your kids or grandchildren about how the greatest golfer of all time beat some other guy in a 12-hole playoff after holing out from the fairway on 18. Wouldn’t you rather have told your grandkids about how Tom Watson, the old geezer like you, won the British Open instead of pushing an 8 foot putt way to the right and self-destructing in a 4 hole playoff?

Yet, this pushes it to another level. You’re talking about the greatest golfer on Earth, losing to some no-name from South Korea who probably won’t win another major. If Tiger had won, it would’ve given hope to next year, a hope maybe he finally does what he was destined to do, win all the major in the same year and pass Jack Nicklaus for the most Major wins ever.

While there are a few more months of golf left, there are no majors, and only serious golf enthusiasts will track these events. Fringe fans will go back to watching other sports, and will be far from enthused about the 2010 golf season.

Golf needs Tiger Woods just as much as he needs more majors. Tiger has given a face to golf, a sport that’s sorely lacked one for so many years. Tiger is golf’s Michael Jordan, and needs to return to this status in 2010.

We need Tiger to be Tiger and everyone else to watch in amazement as he wins Majors, no offense to them, but fans don’t want Y.E. Yang, Angel Cabrera, or Lucas Glover to win. They want Tiger, and Tiger needs to deliver.