Flashback: Arnold Palmer Field In Awe of Tiger Woods

(Editor’s note: As many of you may remember, around this time last year Tiger Woods sank a curling 25-foot putt on the final green to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Doral followed, and many were wondering if Tiger would win every tournament he entered in 2008. At ARMCHAIR GOLF, I filed this Q&A.)

ARMCHAIR GOLF caught up with The Field after Tiger’s stunning victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Q: Thanks for doing this. It must be difficult after such a heartbreaking loss to Tiger Woods. What were you thinking when Tiger was standing over that last putt?

THE FIELD: That there’s no earthly way a human being can make that putt to win a golf tournament. We thought we had played well enough to get into a playoff.

Q: Then it goes in.

THE FIELD: Right.

Q: Pretty clever to throw Bart Bryant at him.

THE FIELD: We didn’t plan it. It just worked out that way this week. Frankly, we’ll take anybody who can play decent and keep his lunch down when Tiger’s name is on the leaderboard.

Q: Tiger’s record and current win streak are phenomenal. How do you explain his dominance?

THE FIELD: Where do we begin? The guy does everything so well. He won a heckuva lot when he had some weaknesses. Now he’s really hitting his stride. What’s Tiger won against us—five straight?

Q: Yes, five on the PGA Tour and seven worldwide.

THE FIELD: Right. Another thing, though, is he really knows how to pick his events. He’s very fussy about his schedule, where he plays, how he prepares. We have to play every single week.

Q: That’s true, but you’re putting about 130 guys up against Tiger every time he tees it up no matter where he plays. Shouldn’t that be an advantage?

THE FIELD: Actually, it’s more like 70 players. That’s about how many make the cut and play on the weekend. So we’re only really putting 70 up against Tiger.

Q: OK, 70. How do you like your chances this week?

THE FIELD: Tiger has won five in a row and three straight at Doral. How do you like our chances? Seriously, over the years our record is pretty good at Doral. But we’re not going to pop off. We don’t want to give Tiger any bulletin board material.

Q: What’s your game plan?

THE FIELD: We just have to go in there and, after our guys make the cut, take it 70 shots at a time and hope we have a good week. It doesn’t really do any good to worry about what Tiger’s doing. We just have to focus on our own 70 games.

Q: And hope you get a win against Tiger soon?

THE FIELD: Well, sure. But even if we don’t we can take away some positives.

Q: Like what?

THE FIELD: We’re doing well on the money list. Some of us will make the Ryder Cup team. Stuff like that.

Q: I see what you mean. Thanks, and good luck this week.

THE FIELD: You’re welcome.