The results remain the same

In the early 1970’s, Led Zeppelin had a hit song and movie called “The Song Remains the Same”. Ever since Steve Stricker enjoyed his victory at last September’s Barclay’s FedEx playoff tournament, the players who’ve competed against Tiger Woods has changed, but his winning results have remained the same.

Not even Bart Bryant, the runner-up at Arnold Palmer’s 2008 Bay Hill Invitational seemed surprised, after his Palmer-like charge during the final round fell one short. Bryant watched on TV with the rest of us as Tiger drained a 25 foot birdie putt to win his 64th tournament, tying Ben Hogan for third overall. We all knew it was a matter of when and not if Hogan’s place in line for total wins would change. Whether you’re a fan or not, watching the drama unfold on the 18th hole was a reminder of how Arnie popularized the sport in the 1960’s.

Personally, I traveled on Friday to visit my brother and his family in Atlanta, so I was only able to watch pieces of the tournament at best. Add to that, on Saturday the NBC telecast was never aired, because the news stations covered the tornadoes that hit the city. As soon as I read in the newspaper that Tiger was tied for the lead, the question was not who would win, but by how many shots. For those who are tired of reading stories about Tiger Woods, trust me, I’d also like to write about someone else. But, until someone else steps up, Tiger is the story.

Watching Tiger Woods is a lot like watching Michael Jordan play basketball in the 1990s, especially during the playoffs. Great players like these guys not only want the ball with the opportunity to control the end of the game, but they thrive on it. Only a chosen few have consistently come through and closed the deal like these two have, but no professional athlete has ever done it like Tiger has throughout his life.

Ironically, throughout the recent winning streak I’ll bet his popularity has dropped, because everyone is tired of watching him win. On the other side, the popularity of Phil Mickelson as a top contender has probably been rising steadily each week. If you polled a group of golf fans with the question, “who are you rooting for to win the Masters”, I’d bet that the #1 answer is “anyone but Tiger Woods”.

Trivia questions:
Who holds the record for the longest winning streak - the most tournaments won in a row - on the PGA TOUR?
-Who is he?
-How many wins?
-In what year?

Who’s streak is #2?
-Who is he?
-How many wins?
-In what year?