Tiger Woods Puts His Spikes on the Field's Throat, Then Twists

We're going to be as impartial, dispassionate, and reasoned as possible: ALL HAIL TIGER WOODS.

Tiger shot a 7-under 65 in the final round, the best of the day by two strokes, to storm back and take the title at this year's Memorial.

That Tiger's latest victory seems fitting. Tiger went birdie-birdie on the final two holes to effectively put the tournament out of reach on the course of Jack Nicklaus, the man whose throne Woods has assumed. Nicklaus was in the booth all afternoon, and as Tiger tapped in the one-foot birdie putt on 18, Nicklaus left the booth to congratulate him personally. Though the torch was passed long ago, there is no small sense of history in watching Nicklaus laud Woods for doing things he used to do--and then some.

To focus on one man would unfairly obscure the real story of the final round, though, which was the sense of drama and uncertainty pervasive through the back nine. No fewer than five golfers were, at some point in the final few holes, in plausible contention for the title. Moreover, after a disturbing bogey by Tiger on the 16th hole, four of them were tied at -10.

But of the pack, only Jim Furyk, who really needs to drop the last letter from his surname, didn't falter; he hit a beautiful birdie putt on 18 to move to 11 under par. All that did was just make each of Tiger's shots important, though, as Woods had already wrapped up the title.

The single determining factor was probably Woods' driving; in this final round, he hit all 14 of the fairways, never once getting into the type of trouble that usually haunts him on narrow Par 4s. Maybe it was his 10.5 degree driver, up from his usual 9 degrees. Maybe it was improved technique. Maybe it was just plain confidence and focus. Whatever.

The "how" is incidental. The result was his 67th victory, a masterpiece of Sunday golfing.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.