To Beat Tiger, you must Be Tiger

Get in his head to end Tiger's run

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK JUNE 16, 2002

Once again, Tiger Woods' challengers wilted during the final round and Tiger captured another major.  

It seems that these guys can not get Tiger out of their heads, as they make mistake after mistake on Sunday.  This is not to take anything away from Woods - he not only is obviously better than everyone but also he seems to make the others crumble in his presence.  That said, wouldn't you think that one of these guys would string some birdies together and make a run?  Thanks to these chokers, the TV coverage of the golf majors is becoming a bore. 

Tiger simply plays conservatively on the back nine and quietly accepts the winner's trophy.   The most exciting action is watching Mickelson scramble for meaningless pars.

   

The same old mind-set of the challengers (i.e. I'll just worry about my game and not worry about Tiger) is not working.  Instead of waiting for the inevitable brow-beating at the hands of Woods, I suggest they lob the first mental shot at him:  Come to the first tee dressed exactly like Tiger.

Since we know Woods always wears the red shirt for the final round, you should come prepared with a variety of styles of red shirt in the clubhouse.  When Tiger shows up at the practice tee, grab the closest match and put it on.  Complete the outfit with black pants, shoes, and a black logo hat.  Put an animated tiger clubhead cover on the driver.

  

On the first tee, shake hands with Woods and act like nothing is out of the ordinary.  Tell him, "It sure is windy out there today, huh Tiger?".   Somewhere on the first few holes and just within earshot of Woods, have your caddy refer to you as 'Tiger', as in, "I'd use the 5-iron, Tiger..eh, I mean Phil."  After hitting a difficult putt, serve up the patented Tiger celebratory fist pump.  

The risk here is that you focus completely on dressing and acting like Tiger and not on playing golf.  But isn't that what is happening now anyway?

 

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