The Tiger Effect

On Saturday I had the privilege of attending the 88th PGA Championship at Medinah, and like most people in the gallery I joined the mass of bodies following Tiger Woods.

Watching Tiger is like watching Michael Jordan in his prime -- it is to come face-to-face with the pinnacle of human athletic performance. His swing conjures an almost emotional, awe-inspired reaction completely different than the "standard" impressed feeling that you get from watching "ordinary" professional golfers (who are already better than 99.9 percent of us).

A statuesque figure, with the perfect blend of power and finesse, Tiger is intimidating enough on his own. But what you quickly come to understand when you see Tiger in person (better than you can understand it on television) is that beyond Tiger's sheer and unrivaled athletic ability, he wields the intangible of a large, energized gallery. And in my estimation (as well as the reports of others) this is a big part of the Tiger effect.

Few golfers generate galleries that line up four, five and six-deep around tee boxes. I saw Phil Mickelson tee off of the seventh, and he had a far larger crowd than the other groups ahead of him, but Phil's crowd didn't have the buzz and energy of Tiger's.

Tiger has herd following him around the golf course.

It is a mass of humanity that splits its time between watching his shots and running ahead of Tiger to get a good viewing angle a little bit further ahead on the course. It is respectful, but altogether different than the meandering galleries that line the other 15 or so holes that aren't experiencing the Tiger effect.

The Sports Network reports that Woods is 11-for-11 when he holds at least a share of the 54-hole lead, as he does in this tournament. So that means when Tiger wins he is in the final group. Therefore, if you are playing ahead of Tiger you are subjected to hundreds of people running along fairways, crowding tee boxes, and encircling greens to get a glimpse of their hero.

It is no wonder that golfers accustomed to still and silent spectators that get people sprinting from fairway to green feel out of place. Add to this the fact that they know they are chasing Tiger Woods, and you can see why the competition often withers.

From Michael Wilbon in the Washington Post:

You thought Jack Nicklaus could win, or might win, or in some cases, like at Augusta National, probably would win.

But it never seemed inevitable.

And since missing the cut at the U.S. Open, that's how it seems for Woods.

...The question now, after 54 holes, is who's going to stop him here?

...Mike Weir, who has won a major, also tied the course record with a 65 on Saturday. And while he has won seven tournaments since his meltdown in the final round on this same golf course in the 1999 PGA Championship, one has to wonder if Weir will suffer any effects from that final-round 80 he shot when paired with Woods that day. Weir, flashing back to that day, recalled: "I was uptight. I just wasn't calm about it. . . . No question it was painful." Weir recalled feeling "spacey . . . kind of spun out."

It's impossible to hear that and not wonder how much of that is directly attributable to being paired with Woods, whose galleries are uncommonly loud and mobile. Tiger, having won four times in Chicago in his career, is as beloved here as Mickelson is in New York. But there might be some divided loyalties Sunday because Donald has lived in Chicago since winning the NCAA championship as a Northwestern University student in 1999. He has two PGA Tour victories and two European victories. He played with Nicklaus during the Golden Bear's final British Open round last year, so he is hardly a neophyte.

But he knows Tiger rolls over people when he's even or ahead. He talked about Sunday being "a little bit different," though he must know it will be massively different. "I don't know whether the local support," he said, "will outweigh Tiger's kind of army following him."

It has been quite humid at Medinah -- play Friday was accompanied by a 70 percent chance of rain. One can't help but feel that the chance of the Tiger effect manifesting itself is at least that high today.