[[Tiger]] doubles over in pain after a drive on Saturday

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a sporting performance that compares to what [[Tiger]] has done over the last four days of the U.S. Open. People have been comparing it to what Kirk Gibson did in the 1988 World Series. But really, that was one at bat. Let’s see Kirk do that for 72 at bats over a period of 4 days.

I truly can feel his pain. I’ve played golf on a left knee like that, nearly (or sometimes actually) falling down after a shot in pain. Then, with that pain in mind, lining up the next shot trying to get that searing pain out of your mind so that you can actually pull off a reasonable swing at the ball. It’s just not possible, only I guess it is for someone as mentally tough as [[Tiger]].

I winced, my own eyes tearing up from the memory of the pain I know he was feeling. I waited for what I considered to be the inevitable moment when he’d throw in the towel and say “No more… I can’t take it.” But he didn’t. He gutted it out, on the most brutal test of golf he’ll face all year, playing on one leg, and managed to be in a tie for the victory when the smoke finally cleared.

I think Rocco spoke for everyone watching when he asked:

Mr. Woods, Mr. Woods! Right here! Are you COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND?

Crazy? Perhaps, but certainly driven. To quote Pat Forde of ESPN:

The greatest part of Tiger Woods is the fact that he couldn’t spell surrender if you stuck a dictionary in front of him and opened it to that page. He never gives up.

When all is said and done, if [[Tiger]] is able to pull of this victory, it’ll go down as perhaps the most heroic display of golf ever, rivaling Ben Hogan’s win at Merian (playing on two bad legs crushed in a horrific car accident), and Ken Venturi’s victory at Congressional (where he suffered from heat stroke during the final round but still finished and won).

I’ll be pulling for you [[Tiger]] and wincing in sympathetic pain.