Texas Children's Houston Open

Memorial Park Golf Course



The Loop

Tiger. Vegas. Against all odds.

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It wasn't that long ago when he was the master at exceeding our excessive expectations. We all climbed that never-ending beanstalk into the sky together, ignoring what turned out to be a weak root system.

Yes, Tiger has a bad leg, and some will say his putting is suspect, but it's that sprained tissue between the ears that continues to trouble me.

What in a world full of weird stuff was that series of tweets he sent out yesterday?

Was that really a seven figure poke at the golf media? Will he actually write a $1 million donation check to his own foundation just to have broken up what must have been total boredom by Mr. Hyper Competitive?

HA! Ha. ha.

The punkish bully went out to the electronic school yard and started flicking ears of all the little people, determined to pick a fight. One that he knew he would win. (It had been a while.)

Prior to his AT&T National press conference Tiger sent out this tweet:

Almost press conference time. I'll donate one million dollars to @TWFoundation if no one asks me about the leg.

He followed it up with:

Press conference time. Off to visit with my best friends.

Bet was over after first question but of course I'm going to give the money to the @TWFoundation.

No, I'm not a doctor, but let's just say I stayed in a Holiday Inn last night, my diagnosis is the man is crying for (more) help.

Post-presser, I spent the rest of the day pinballing around Vegas gathering notes on good golf in the same town where, oddly enough, Tiger lived out several chapters of his crazy fairy tale. And as I made my way back to my room, I looked up and I finally saw the top of the beanstalk. It came in the form of the odds of winning the U.S. Open, posted on the big board at the sports book at Mandalay Bay.

Forget the Official World Golf Ranking. What I'm about to share are numbers that mean something, and, as an added bonus, they are numbers we can understand.

Oh, how Mighty has fallen:

Luke Donald is the favorite at 8 to 1.Phil Mickleson is 9 to 1.Bubba Watson and KJ Choi are 12 to 1.Lee Westwood and Dustin Johnson are 15 to 1.And then there's Matt Kuchar and Tiger Woods at 18 to 1.(Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer are 20 to 1.)

After Sunday at the Masters, I wrote that I was prepared to appreciate Tiger the competitor again. On Tuesday, while monitoring Twitter and watching his press conference, I sprained a ligament.

So I guess Tiger is right where he wants to be--back at the base of a beanstalk. Now it's him against the odds, the media and the rest of the world. The poor billionaire can't stand prosperity. He also can't stand being bored.

Happy climbing, Tiger.

Odds that I'll be watching the rest of this one from the ground? Even money.

--Matty G.