Monday, April 11, 2005

Determination.

Tiger Woods won his 4th Masters yesterday. It has been 3 years since he won a major and his victory is confirmation that at 29, we still have a lot left to see in this champion. What was incrediable about this victory was that despite having a poor start, Tiger roared back in the later rounds and was able to come into Sunday morning with a lead over determined play by play Chris Dimarco (coming into sunday, both players were below 10 strokes under par, ahead of the rest of the field by at least 4 strokes). Tiger slipped on the last 2 holes of the tournament, which allowed Dimarco to force a playoff. In the playoff, Tiger was perfect, nailing a difficult 20 foot put (it looked that far and looked very hard). I give a lot of respect to Dimarco's play, but Tiger was too much. Tiger is a determined champion and despite the critisism about him changing his swing after having the dominating 2001-2002 years (if it ain't broke, why fix it?) in winning back to back majors, despite the critisism about distractions, despite the critisism of losing the number 1 ranking, Tiger remained determined to his ability and his Master's victory is clear indication of his talent and potential; both as a player and a person. Tiger's father was unable to attend the last day of the tournament as he is not had a good year healthwise. Tiger dedicated this victory to his father. My thoughts are with his family and I hope that in a small way, Tiger's grace as winner, compassion as a son and determination as a champion, can serve to inspire us in our own ambitions.

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