Sabbatini made to pay for trash talk
An exuberant Tiger Woods fan, he heckled Rory Sabbatini during the final round of the Bridgestone WGC Invitational at Akron. Peeved that the feisty South African has repeatedly told the world that he believed he would beat Woods whenever the opportunity presented itself for a head-to-head between the pair, Banky saw his chance as the players approached near the 9th fairway.
“Hey, Rory, do you still think Tiger is beatable?” he shouted.
Most sensible pros would have ignored the remark even though the gap between the pair was widening. But Sabbatini asked that Banky be removed from the golf course — and, surprisingly in my view, he was.
It sounds like Sabbatini will never learn. Undoubtedly he is a fine golfer but the worst club in the bag is his mouth. As someone so wisely commented on Sunday night, “Woods should pay him to talk, the others should pay him to shut up.” He had gone into the final round a shot ahead of Woods, just as he had in the Wachovia Championship in May. Tiger won then with 69 to 74; this time it was even more humiliating, 65 to 74!
It was magnificent stuff by the world number one and has surely silenced, at least for the next few days anyway, those who were all too ready to write his golfing epitaph after he failed to capture any of the three major championships contested so far this year. Not for the first time, Woods has answered his critics in the most emphatic manner. His put down of Sabbatini was a classic of understatement: “Everybody knows how Rory is, I’ll just let my clubs do the talking.”
Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh and Stephen Ames are three others who have talked up their prospects against Tiger and later wished they had bitten their respective tongues. In the 1997 Masters, Monty hinted that Woods might not hold up under the pressure of a third round pairing with his good self. Woods shot 65 on his way to victory whereas the Scot took 74 and eventually tied for 30th.
Singh came out with a classic at the 2000 President’s Cup. He allowed his caddie to sport a “Tiger Who?” hat. “Just joking”, claimed Vijay, but Woods didn’t quite see it in that light. The Fijian was made to hole out the shortest of putts on the way to losing their head to head by 2 and 1.
Ames was in similar frame of mind to Singh in the build-up to his first round meeting with Woods at the 2006 World Match Play Championship. Asked what he thought of his chances, he suggested that “Anything can happen, especially where he’s been hitting the ball of late.”
Ouch. Tiger made him pay as he won each of the first nine holes on the way to a 9 and 8 victory!
As for this week’s US PGA, the last of the majors, beginning at Southern Hills, Tulsa, on Thursday, Woods observed: “The idea was to win this and be playing well going into the PGA. I feel very good about the week.”
The triumph was his sixth in the Bridgestone, his 14th in 25 World Golf Championships and the 58th of his career. He has already emerged victorious in four US Tour tournaments in 2007.
Can anyone stop him claiming his 13th major championship victory this week? It hardly looks like it. Although it’s not exactly the most salubrious city in the US, Tiger said: “This may be my home from home, they’re always out there supporting me,” but he does have one reservation about this week.
“Normally I return to my home in Orlando before going on to the next tournament but I immediately left for Tulsa,” he said. “But I’m not really anxious to get there, what was the temperature there today, 120?”
Not quite, but it was still a little disconcerting to look out of the bedroom window at 5.30am yesterday and see a sign stating it was already 80 degrees. An hour or so later, the local radio station was warning about “excessive heat conditions” later in the day.
That kind of stuff doesn’t help anybody, not even Woods, and does little for the Europeans’ hopes of bringing the Wannamaker Trophy back across the Atlantic for the first time since the Scot, Tommy Armour did so in 1930.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
