Why Tiger Woods Will Not Win the Memorial Tournament

Out of all the wonderful things Dublin, Ohio offers, the hands down best event of the year is the Memorial Tournament. Businesses and restaurants boom all across town. Media outlets flock to Dublin to catch a glimpse of some of the world's best. Thousands of people who can't break 100 analyze the dozens of swings they see desperately hoping to improve their games. And best of all, a bunch of wealthy Dubliners smashed on $9 beers and $16 glasses of wine get threatened, tackled, and maybe even arrested by cops (A scene I saw at last year's tournament that will be very hard to beat this year). While it's not quite a major, the Memorial always draws one of the best fields of any PGA tournament and offers one of the most difficult challenges on tour. This week many of the world's top golfers are at Muirfield Village competing for not only a win, but also some huge momentum heading into the US Open in two weeks. Tiger Woods is a heavy favorite to win his sixth Memorial and his game seems to be finally nearing peak performance. However, Tiger will not win this week. I repeat, HE WILL NOT WIN. This prediction makes absolutely no sense if you look at the two facts I mentioned a couple of sentences ago (And to be one hundred percent honest, I'm not exactly confident in this prediction), but I just don't see career win number 106 coming Tiger's way this week.

Tiger Woods may have four wins already this year, but a win he hasn't had in nearly five years is why he will not win this week. I'm talking about a major victory, and Tiger's last came in 2008 at the US Open. The man who thinks "winning takes care of everything"  (I don't have nearly enough time to prove why this is an absolute ridiculous concept to relate to Tiger...) needs to win a major before he will finally acknowledge he's anywhere close back to his best, and it's obvious all of his attention is being placed on Merion in two weeks. This past week, Woods traveled to Philadelphia to play the course that will host the US Open for the first time, so he could get an experience for the course. With that in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if Tiger takes a complete different approach at Muirfield Village this week. He will be hitting shots he will have to face at Merion. He will be thinking about how this shot or that shot will work at Merion. He will be thinking about who he wants to call up for some fun at Merion. All of his focus is already at Merion, and while a completely unfocused Woods is still probably good enough for a top 10 finish, it will not be good enough for a win with this field. 

The field at the Memorial is full of players ranked at the top in the World Golf Rankings, and their own games will be another reason Woods will not get the job done this week. Two players that stand out to me this week are Jason Day and Rickie Fowler. Day, who recently bought at home in nearby Westerville and has a membership at Muirfield Village, will have a familiarity with the course that will be unmatched by a majority of the players in the field. He has been one of the most consistent placers in majors the last eighteen months, and whenever he shows up to play, it seems like he ends up in contention come Sunday. Fowler, on the other hand, hasn't been nearly as successful as Day, but he was atop the Memorial leaderboard last year. Unfortunately, he fell to the pressure and collapsed during the weekend. The PGA's flashiest dresser claims he learned from the experience, and I think I actually trust him. Fowler is a tour favorite and the Memorial seems to be the perfect time for him to break out of a slump. 

Since picking a winner of a golf tournament is nearly impossible unless you pick Woods, I'm going to expand my short list to five. In addition to the two above, I'll take Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood, or Luke Donald to win this week. Each of the three have been in contention in countless tournaments, but they don't have nearly as many wins as they should. Johnson has always been pegged as an American who has the potential to win many golf tournaments, but has never delivered. Westwood and Donald were both former world number ones, but they did that with consistent top tens and very little hardware collection. All of them are great golfers, but it seems like it's now or never for these three if they want to leave a legendary legacy.

Come Sunday, it won't surprise me if Tiger Woods is in contention to win another Memorial. In fact, I absolutely expect him to be right there. But no matter where he is on the leaderboard, the game's greatest finisher will not get the job done this week. Unless of course, he pulls off a shot like this one: 

Tiger Woods-Masters 2005

Or this one...

Tiger Woods- the Memorial 2012

Or this one............

Tiger Woods- US Open 2008

You know what, this Tiger guy may win after all.

J. Nave 

Fun Fact of the Week: During the last post, The Athletic Acumen surpassed the 1000 page visit mark. And for those of you who may think I just obsessively check my blog to make the number higher, I've disabled my page views from counting. That means, we are averaging just over 110 readers a post. That is way more than I ever expected when I started this on a cold, February night. A huge THANK YOU goes out to all the loyal readers, the one read standers, and the "I accidentally clicked on the link what am I doingers". It truly feels incredible to have a passion of mine being appreciated by so many people, and as long as you all keep reading, I'll keep typing!

LeBron James and his Tywin Lannister Problem... Plus Some Predictions!

Courtesy of Picture Push

Both LeBron and Tywin are notorious for being the best at what they do. No matter what they accomplish, their achievements will be looked down on because of how much we need to hate them, though.

Courtesy of Spoiler TV

Normally, I try and stay as far away from NBA basketball as I possibly can. However, for some reason or another, I have found myself watching quite a bit of the playoffs. Mainly, I was attracted by the Golden State Warriors and their brand of basketball because it was the closest thing to a college team I've ever seen in the league. Their main nucleus, consisting of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, David Lee, and Andrew "The Caveman" Bogut, had not only names I recognized from the college game, but they also played a style of basketball built on three pointers and solid defense, factors I like (If you want to see a great picture of "The Caveman" in action, go ahead and google 'Andrew Bogut Golden State' and look at the second image. It's priceless). I desperately wanted them to advance to The Finals so they could beat the Heat, but unfortunately the San Antonio "AARP" Spurs left Shady Oaks Retirement Home with enough energy to advance. With that being said, as the conference finals begin it seems like the South Beach Super Squad, or the Miami Heat, are the clear cut favorites to win another championship. This notion probably causes a serious emotional response because the Miami Heat are kind of like Nicki Minaj songs; you either love them, or you want to cause severe bodily harm to yourself every time they are mentioned. This sentence and a recent episode of a TV show, however, made me realize that there is a far more accurate symbolism of the relationship between fans and the Heat. We have to take a quick journey into a fake land to find it, though.

For those of you who don't have the great pleasure of watching HBO's show Game of Thrones or reading George R.R. Martin's phenomenal series of books, House Lannister is a royal family in the fantasy land of Westeros that could easily swap places with the Heat. House Lannister is the richest, cleverest, most attractive, most powerful, and most hated family in the Seven Kingdoms. The Heat are the most talented, most valuable, most talked about, and most hated franchise in the NBA. Both of them also share the treasured ability of being equally respected and feared by their opponents, and they have leaders who do the same with such power you have to be in awe.

For the Heat, it is the NBA's seemingly annual MVP LeBron James. For the Lannisters, it is Tywin, the patriarch whose financial pockets are matched only by his manipulative and creative schemes. The similarities between the two men are countless, and I'm disappointed I haven't noticed the startling similarities until now:

1) LeBron definitely has the most superior skills in the game of basketball right now. Tywin has the resources and intelligence to conquer all of the Seven Kingdoms.
2) LeBron has faced enormous pressure his entire career to match the legacy of Michael Jordan. Even for a phenom, becoming an all time great isn't an easy task. Tywin has his own problem of fixing his children's erratic behaviors so the important Lannister legacy will be passed on for generations to come and not become tarnished.
3) Both men are haunted by their pasts. LeBron's "Decision" became one of the most controversial public relations moves of this century and his inability to win a championship for so long. Tywin meanwhile has had to endure the death of his wife and mother, his son being kidnapped, and the incestuous relationship between two of his children (Advantage Tywin in this category).
4) LeBron is hated by an entire state. Tywin is hated by an entire kingdom.

I'll stop the comparisons there because either one, you watch Game of Thrones and your mind is racing to find the other dozens of similarities between the two men, or two, you don't watch the show and are losing interest quickly. No matter your background, you can probably find your own Tywin Lannister to fit the model I just described. There are certain people in the world that we hate because they are set up to succeed in life very easily. We're very jealous of this trait, we grow to expect nothing but absolute and impressive accomplishments out of them, and we slowly develop an extreme hatred towards them. Then, when they finally fail, we celebrate knowing that someone else will finally be able to have his or her own taste of glory. And maybe, just maybe,  it will finally be our turn to get a good fifteen minutes of fame. Of course, there are people that support the Twyin Lannisters in the world, especially if they support a similar cause for you. They grow to become idols, and they are looked up at to provide the proper leadership to achieve a goal. However, for those of you who may support a LeBron James or Tywin Lannister figure in your life, just realize like any other human being, they tend to be self seeking. If they betray you, don't come crying to me. I told you so.

Now that I got my serious and "way too close to literary" analysis out of the way, it's time to make some predictions. And yes, I do realize the Western Conference Finals are basically over at this point and game one of the Eastern Conference Finals is under way.

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SAN ANTONIO IN 5
You know the old expression "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? That's kind of how I feel about the Spurs. Like I referenced above, the Spurs roster should be enjoying retirement on Florida's beaches, but instead they are on the brink of another Finals appearance. Future Rogaine spokesman Manu Ginobili defies every NBA stereotype out there, Tim Duncan has manhandled Zach Randolph inside, Tony Parker still has the quickness to stay with Mike Conley, and Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard are developing into great role players. I think the Grizzlies will be able to steal one game at home, but Gregg Popovich, the only coach in the NBA who I actually think does something, will once again get his team back to the Finals.

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MIAMI IN 6
Right now, the Heat are up two in the third quarter of Game 1. However, from here on out, I don't see them struggling. For one, the Heat have too much talent for the Pacers. While I admire Frank Vogel's efforts, his team doesn't have the ability to match Miami shot for shot, and while defense does win championships, Miami simply has too much offense. Indiana will probably steal a game or two, and since I don't have much respect for the Heat's ability to focus and show up for an extended period of time against a lesser opponent, I'm giving the Pacers the benefit of the doubt. Also, a San Antonio-Miami Finals match-up seems like destiny at this point. An underrated dynasty for the past decade vs. the future dynasty of the NBA? LeBron James/Chris Bosh/Dwayne Wade vs. Tim Duncan/Manu Ginobili/Tony Parker? LeBron trying to get his second ring vs. Dan Gilbert trying to pick another superstar with his second number one overall pick? Erik Spoelstra vs. Gregg Popovich? There's simply too much money on the line for the NBA for them not to rig the two series to end up like this.



J. Nave