The Tarheel Tour Interview with Tommy Dee: PGA Championship Wrap up

Tommy Dee is the Associate Editor of Golf Magazine and golf.com. He joins us this week to discuss the PGA Championship recently completed at Southern Hills.

Tiger Woods obviously won the tournament by two shots over Woody Austin to capture his 13th major. He is now 40-3 all time when holding a share of the 54-hole lead. He is also 8-0 in majors when holding a share of the 36-hole lead. He has won 30% of the majors he has competed in and has earned over $73 million on the PGA Tour. What are your impressions of Tiger after this week at Southern Hills?

Tommy Dee: Tiger proved once again that he is the best closer maybe in the history of the game. With the state of professional sports today, with the Michael Vick controversy going on in the NFL, Barry Bonds breaking the record with the steroid implications, and certainly the NBA officiating scandal going on, it’s nice to have a Tiger Woods in this era, a guy who’s really a pleasure to watch both on the golf course and off the golf course.

Tiger’s a guy who when he’s on his A game really is just that much better. When he’s not playing well, he still has a chance to win. Basically if he’s on his game as he was last week at Firestone and this past week, he’s just unbeatable. When you think of guys like Stephen Ames and certainly Rory Sabbatini who have dared to question Tiger’s greatness, you can tell from the first tee-shot they just weren’t ready to play. A lot of it is intimidation but more importantly, it’s just that if he’s playing great, he’s going to beat everybody.

Tiger has now won more majors than the rest of the top-10 players in the world combined. He has won 13 of the last 50 majors. If he stays healthy how many majors do you think he will win?

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Tommy Dee: Is 30 out of the question? Probably not. Is there a Tom Watson or a Lee Trevino or somebody on the horizon right now that can challenge and prove they can consistently win majors? Phil Mickelson’s last couple of years have proven that he can win several. Ernie Els, showed signs that maybe his game is close to returning to top form. You have to see who’s on the horizon and the next group of guys that can challenge over the next ten years because Tiger being only 31, he’s still going to be playing his best golf into probably his forties as great a shape as he’s in.

Let’s talk about Woody Austin. It was a great week for him, both on the golf course and in the media room. After his round on Sunday, he was asked whether or not he was intimidated by Tiger and responded by saying, “I’m intimidated by golf, not by any other person”. What do you think about that statement and what do you think that this weekend is going to do for Woody Austin and the future?

Tommy Dee: I thought Woody had a chance. He had great opportunities on one, two and three to go out and start three under and who knows what would have happened had he shot better than one under on the front nine. Woody’s a competitor and anybody who can break their putter over their knee during US Open qualifying and still qualify with a wedge certainly ranks on top of my list.

Don’t forget the time he broke a putter over his head…

Tommy Dee: Obviously watching him miss a couple of makeable putts this week, I can probably see why, but Woody’s a fiery guy and he’ll be a great addition to that Presidents Cup team, a group that’s really missed that fiery competitor. A Hal Sutton or Paul Azinger who’s going to go out and say “Alright guys we’re not going to lose”. Tiger has that vibe to him unquestionably but the team concept in Presidents Cup is one that’s almost like baseball or basketball, where an individual can’t necessarily win the entire thing. Woody’s a guy whose game seems to be peaking. He’s a fiery guy who plays as well tee to green as anybody.

Part of Woody Austin’s grittiness comes from the fact that he has had a tough run to the top. Before the PGA this week, he had not finished higher than 16th in a major. What do you see this second place finish doing for his career and do you think he can parlay his success into a major championship down the road?

Tommy Dee: Well, it goes back to putting. He actually putted quite well this week despite what I mentioned before about missing some early chances.
A lot of times I feel that certain guys are destined to win majors and they have one chance. I think of a guy like Ben Curtis winning the British Open. Had he not closed the door there, I don’t think you would have ever heard from him in a major. My gut feeling is that Woody had his chance, certainly against Tiger there really wasn’t much of a chance, but he did make some noise. Do I think he could break through? I’d probably say no.

With Ernie Els being an occasional exception, it seems like lesser known players like Woody Austin, Angel Cabrera, and Bob May have had more success against Tiger than the more established players like Vijay or Phil. Why do you think that is?

Tommy Dee: I just think there’s no margin for error and I think that the upper echelon guys are guys who think they really should be able to compete. They go out and make early bogeys. You have to get off to a great start and you can’t miss birdie opportunities like Els did. 66 is a great round in the final round of any major. Had he shot 64 it would have obviously been a different story, but it has to be a flawless round. They can’t make mistakes because Tiger doesn’t make any. If Tiger makes a bogey, he comes back and makes birdie. He doesn’t shoot over par in final rounds and I think the choke factor for guys who are either not as experienced, or don’t have as much to lose, is much lower.

Stephen Ames is a player with a good resume and a great golf swing. He talked a good game before losing to Tiger 9 – 8 in the Match Play Championship. This time he gave Tiger his due respect and still shot 76. Why does he play so poorly with Tiger?

Tommy Dee: Again I think it was just one of those things where Ames knew he had to go out and hit the first fairway. Once he missed the first fairway after being aggressive and hitting fairway wood off the tee he became defensive. His decision to lay up from there was one that was questioned on CBS and I think rightfully so. You need to be aggressive. You need to go out and try to figure out a way to make pars against Tiger.

That first hole, that first tee shot, snap hook left, really affected him a lot and he was never able really to recover.

What do you think about what Ernie Els said on Saturday night about the fact that the tournament was basically over and he would bet all his money on Tiger to win? Is that just sort of a throwaway comment or is that the kind of thing a guy like Ernie Els, who is one of the best players in the world, just isn’t supposed to say going into the final round of a major that he’s in contention to win.

Tommy Dee: I think Ernie’s a pretty coy guy with the media. I think he looks at the media with a tongue in cheek attitude. He knows when Tiger is on his game and he knows as well as anybody. I think back to a few years ago when they were playing in Hawaii at the Sony Open and Els was playing great and Tiger was playing great and they had that fantastic play-off. Els knows when Tiger is on his game. I think those quotes were kind of Ernie realizing that Tiger was on top of his game this week.

Listen to this quote, “I love to play the game but my heart is really with hunting and fishing. I had a good day, it was fun but what would be even funner is if I’m sitting at the house catching a 10 pounder.” That quote is from Boo Weekley after he shot 65 in the third round of the PGA Championship. He had a putt to shoot 63 and tie for the lowest round ever in a major, but he would rather be on his porch fishing. What do you make of Boo Weekley?

Tommy Dee: He’s a character and he’s a guy who’s just unbelievably talented and had a great week this week finishing in the Top 10. Off the golf course he’s a reporters dream. There’s no filter with Boo Weekley and again we get back to the point of that’s what golf needs. If you want to say it’s because he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, that could be, but he’s a quote machine and any writer’s or columnist’s dream.
I think the quotes are the old saying that ‘ignorance is bliss’ for Boo and as long as he’s not worried about going out and trying to shoot low scores, he’s going to continue to have a lot of success. You make a great point about 65 after the third round. Maybe he just doesn’t know what he’s doing. He doesn’t know how he got there or why he’s there. He’s just trying to enjoy every moment while thinking about fishing.

Let’s talk about someone who is a little less fun for the media to deal with. Vijay Singh missed the cut this week ending his 2007 quest to win a major with his best finish a T-13 at the Masters. Can Vijay bounce back and grab a few more majors or is he finally showing his age?

Tommy Dee: I think he still has stuff left in the tank. Everybody talks about Tiger’s regime but if you’ve ever seen Vijay or ever heard of Vijay’s workout regime, it’s something that not a lot of 20-year olds would be able to accomplish. He does it on a daily basis. I don’t think he’s done at all. It’s just one of those down years for him. I think he will always have a shot to win the Masters. The U.S. Open doesn’t really set up well for him nor does the British Open, but the PGA is a place where if he’s driving it well and making a couple of putts, he’s going to be able to be in contention. So I think moving forward he still has a shot at the Masters or the PGA Championship.

After signing an incorrect scorecard at the PGA Championship, how would you compare Sergio Garcia’s mental game to Tiger’s? How long will the hangover from the British Open last for Sergio?

Tommy Dee: Not being able to close the door at Carnoustie a couple of weeks ago is something that’s going to impact him. He came out in the first round and played well but I think that it’s going to take him a while to be able to get back into it. It’s not like he had a proven track record of being on top in majors, it was kind of his first real chance to go out and win. Those opportunities don’t come along for him often and when you throw in the disappointment factor, I think there’s going to be some layover time with him before he can get back into contention.
In terms of his attitude towards Tiger, It’s probably a magna cum laude 4.0 student at Harvard versus Boo Weekley between Tiger and Sergio. He’s got a long way to go and until he addresses that he’s going to have some problems winning majors.

Thanks again for your time.

Tommy Dee: No problem. I always enjoy it.

Readers can listen to the Tarheel Tour Radio PGA Championship Wrap Up Show for more insight on a variety of topics from Golf Magazine’s Associate Editor, Tommy Dee.