Did Tiger Fart On The 18th Green At The Final Of The Buick Open?

The hullabaloo was initiated by a CBS telecast of last Sunday’s final round of the final Buick Open that captured Tiger waiting to play his approach to the green at the 18th on his way to his rousing victory. Woods is seen moving around, a little impatiently, then lifting his right leg in a rather unusual way before an over-loud blast of what sounds like a fart is captured by the TV sound recorder.

Woods and his caddy both laugh loudly and are then seen looking to their right at someone out of the sight of the cameras.

For a while the world enjoyed a repeat play of this totally frivolous but highly entertaimning peice of golfing trivia on You-Tube, but it soon came off when the CBS claimed You-Tube was infringing their copright by running it.

Since then there have been daily reports and blogs speculating on whether it really was:

-Tiger who passed wind or whether it was
-his caddy, Steve Williams,
- a the CBS on-course TV reporter David Feherty who was tracking Tiger,
- a nearby spectator,
-or even, perhaps, someone having fun with a woopy cushion.

Tiger’s unusual leg lift just prior to the blast and his laughter and broad smile that followed the incident do seem to mark him as the culprint, but the over-loud blast of the fart, or whatever it was, on the other hand, does seem to place the perpertrator closer to the camera and exonerate Tiger.

CBS are maintaining it was not Tiger and saying no more and in recent days more and more people are claiming it was Feherty who was responsible.

One of the relatively reliable golf bloggers on the subject says a “highly placed” source, told him it was indeed Feherty who did the deed and Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register also believes that to be the case.

Here’s what he wrote on Wednesday: “None of this is surprising to me. A few years ago, I interviewed Feherty before the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, and he confessed that he, Woods and Tiger’s caddie, Steve Williams, sometimes have off-camera farting contests during tournaments.

“‘If you see Tiger and Stevie laughing hysterically (on camera) and you can’t figure out why,’ Feherty told me, it might be because one of them loudly passed gas.”

The fact that both Woods and Williams immediately looked to their right after the incident is further evidence that it was the fun-loving Irisman, who would probably have been much closer to the blast.

TMZ.com was another website that carried footage of the incident, but even if you do get to see it, you are not likely to get any closer to the right answer than anyone has got already – and to tell the truth, who really cares anyway.

It’s something every last one of us do at one time or another. We are just lucky we don’t have Tiger’s sky-high celebrity status and do not need to endure the endless cameras that inevitably focus on his exploits – large or small.

Make Your Putting Routine And Watch Your Scores Drop

The use of preshot routines by professional athletes is not new. Look at a tennis player before he/she serves. They do they same routine every time and the reason for this is that it becomes a habit. We are creatures of habit and a good habitual putting routine helps us in two ways. The first is the physical side – holding the grip, taking your stance, making your practice swing etc. The second, and most important component is the mental side – reading the green, deciding on the line, clearing your mind, putting to hole the putt and to accept the outcome come what may.