Scott Cordischi On Sports: Is Tiger Back?
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Is he back or isn’t he?
That is the question sports fans want to know the answer to regarding Tiger Woods as round 1 of the Masters tees off this morning in Augusta.
Once thought of as the “Tiger Invitational,” it is going on 8 years since Woods won the Masters and put on a green jacket at Augusta. But many believe that this drought could end on Sunday.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOnce considered a shoe-in to shatter Jack Nicklaus’ record of winning 18 major championships, Woods has been stuck on 14 since winning the 2008 US Open.
We probably don’t need to tell you what happened to Woods shortly after that last win in a major, but here’s a refresher in case you forgot. Along with a few injuries (knee, Achilles), Woods also went through his customary swing changes during that a stretch, a stretch that included the biggest blow to his golf game which was the implosion of his personal life.
But now it appears as if Tiger is on his way back. Elin is gone but he now has a steady in skier Lindsey Vonn and he has won 6 out of the last 20 tournaments he has played in including 3 this year.
That stretch of solid play has helped Woods regain the world’s #1-ranking and has now rekindled the talk of him possibly matching or beating Jack’s accomplishment of 18 majors.
Granted, Tiger is now 37. But, so too was Nicklaus when he had 14 of his 18 majors under his belt.
So is Tiger back? That depends upon your definition of “being back.” However, if he does win the Masters Sunday, there won’t be anyone who thinks that he isn’t.
-For the record, I’ll take Matt Kuchar to edge out Louis Oosthuizen for the green jacket this year.
-So Ricky Ledo is going pro. I understand the lure of playing in the NBA and the fact that the young man either wants or needs to make money for his family, but I am not crazy about this decision. Maybe he’ll turn out to be a great pro, but I think he could have used at least one year of actually playing in college. Let’s not forget that the young man really hasn’t played competitively in almost two years now. I also feel bad for Friar fans who never got to see him play for their team. Oh well!
-Speaking of Ledo, a little birdie tells me that the Cleveland Cavaliers are hot on Ricky. We shall see.
-And while we’re on the subject of PC hoops, it appears that the source who told yours truly that Kadeem Batts was leaving PC was wrong. It now appears that the Friars big man will return to the program next season.
-Staying with the local college basketball scene, let me see if I have this right. URI extends the contract of Dan Hurley after an 8-win season and PC does the same for Ed Cooley after going 34-32 in two seasons. Wow! I wonder what will happen if either coach leads their program to the NCAA Tournament? On a serious note, I think we can all agree that both the URI and PC men's basketball programs appear to be in good hands with their respective coaches so this should bode very well for the future of both. Now let's get these programs back into the Big Dance because it has been far too long since either has participated in the real "March Madness."
-I don’t know if I have ever seen a 180-degree turnaround from a fan base as quickly as I have from Red Sox Nation this spring. We all went from despising this team for their September 2011 collapse and last year’s debacle to now loving this 2013 version of the Red Sox. The question is, do we love them because they have rid themselves of some bad dudes and replaced them with good-character guys or simply because they are winning right now?
-RIP Red Sox sellout streak. It officially came to an end last night at 794 games.
-Is it me, or does Alfredo Aceves seem like he’s 5 beers short of a 6-pack? Something about that man just isn’t right.
-For all of you Bruins fans out there, this on Carl Soderberg from my brother who is a hockey nut that has lived in Sweden for many years: “He was the 2nd highest scorer in the top league here this year with 1.1 points per game. He was 12th in the league for plus/minus with +18 over 54 games. His team Linkoping just got eliminated in the semifinals. A late bloomer as he is 27 or so and just came up 2 years ago from the farm league. I haven't followed him so much but I would say he is not a (Jacob) Silfverberg but better than an (P.J.) Axelsson.”
-It’s looking more and more like a Celtics-Knicks match-up in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the NBA Playoffs in a couple of weeks. I don’t know about you, but that’s an exciting first round match-up to this C’s fan! You’ve got the Boston-New York rivalry thing going, a superstar in Carmelo Anthony on the other team and a gutty old veteran team like the Celtics looking to take down the hottest team in the league right now. Good stuff!
-It may have gone under the radar a bit, but the Patriots added some big-time beef up front recently with the signing of former Raiders’ DL Tommy Kelly (6-6, 325 lbs). He is a bit long in the tooth at age 32, but managed to rack up 14.5 sacks between 2010-2011. If Vince Wilfork continues to receive double-team attention from opposing offensive lines, a guy like Kelly could be the big beneficiary of that.
-Speaking of the Pats, many are wondering why they would risk giving up a 3rd round draft pick to Pittsburgh to sign Steelers’ restricted free agent WR Emmanuel Sanders to only a 1-year contract. First of all, the Pats are short on draft picks as it is in this year’s draft, and they usually treat draft picks like gold currency. I can only assume that they must feel like he is the real deal a la Randy Moss or Wes Welker whom the Pats also surrendered draft picks to acquire.
-Am I the only one who would like to see Geno Auriemma take a crack at coaching a men’s college basketball program? After winning his 8th national title Monday night, does he really have anything left to prove in the women’s game? In all due respect to Pat Summitt whom he tied with his 8th championship, Auriemma is already the greatest coach the women’s game has ever seen. While he hasn’t racked up the wins (1098) that Summitt did, his winning percentage is better (.863 to .841) than Summitt’s and he would clearly smash her win total if he decided to stay at UConn for another 11 years and coach for 39 seasons like she did. I really believe that the guy could be a successful coach in the men’s game and would love to see him give it a shot.
-Talk about going out in style! The conference formerly known as the Big East won both the men’s (Louisville) and women’s (UConn) national championships in the sport of basketball this season with two teams (Louisville & Syracuse) making it to the men’s Finals Four and three teams (UConn, Louisville, Notre Dame) making it to the women’s Final Four. Sadly, none of those teams will be in the “new” Big East with Providence College with Syracuse, Notre Dame and eventually Louisville bolting for the ACC and UConn joining the new American Athletic Conference.
-If the Dallas Mavericks do draft Baylor’s Brittney Griner in the second round of the June NBA Draft, then Mark Cuban is either dumber or more of a publicity hound than I thought he was. Griner has zero, zilch, nada, as in NO chance of playing in the NBA and being successful. That’s not to take away from her illustrious career at Baylor, but even the worst player in the NBA today would destroy her in a game of one-on-one.
-URI basketball fans are very happy, and rightfully so, that the school was proactive in signing men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley to a contract extension to prevent possible overtures from Rutgers. The Rams should be real interesting to watch next season.
-The Boston Bruins have the best home ice record (14-2-2) of any team in the National Hockey League including the Chicago Blackhawks (14-3-2).
-Red Sox fans can get an up close look at David Ortiz starting tonight. Big Papi will begin a rehab assignment with the Pawsox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. The plan is for the big fella to get anywhere from 20-30 at bats with Pawtucket and, if all goes well, then join the parent club.
-Did you see where the Yankees Kevin Youkilis is hitting .367 with 2 homeruns and 6 RBI? As GoLocal’s Bob Lobel likes to say, “why can’t we get players like that?”
