Rule 45 – Thou Shall Not Dare Challenge Tiger

In Tigers Authorized DVD collection Charles Barkley makes a good point that it aint trash talk if you can back it up. Today we examine a few players that have tried to trash talk tiger only to end up with tiger egg on their face. The first, latest, and perhaps stupidest, is Rory Sabbitini who is kinda like one of those annoying toy dogs with a piercing bark. You desperately want to kick it as soon as no one is looking. Anyway, less than a week after shooting 74 compared to Woods 69 to win the Wachovia, Rory pipes up “I think he’s more beatable than ever. The following week he plays with Tiger in the final round and shoots another 74 to Woods’ 65. Do we really need to say anything?

Other attempted challenges at Tigers domination include Vijay Singh at the 2000 Presidents cup when Vijays caddie wore a cap with “Tiger Who” on it. Tiger beat Vijay 2 and 1, but the match was memorable for the fact that not a single putt was conceded by Tiger. To Paul Tesori’s (Vijays caddie) credit, he came up and said “Hey, bro, I meant no disrespect to you at all, to which Tiger replied “Whatchoo talking about Tesori”?

Next on the list is Stephen Ames 2006 Word Accenture matchplay words of wisdom. When asked about his matchup with Tiger, Ames jokingly said “Anything can happen, especially where’s he’s hitting the ball”. Tiger went whompo, won the match and when asked about Ames comment replied “9 and 8”, the result of the match.

The only golfers to have beaten Tiger head to head seem to be those that shut up and pay him some quiet compliments. There’s a lesson to learn from all of this: Let your clubs do the talking.