365 Media Group - Sporting Life and Golf365 - US Open 2008

Woods and Westwood: what a weekend!

It seems amazing to say that Tiger Woods can still surprise us, but this was something extra, extra, extra special, even for him.

He was clearly in a lot of pain. He was clearly not able to produce exactly what he wanted to produce but his resilience and his desire not to be beaten, I think, are the greatest of any athlete in the world.

And I don't just mean in golf. I think you can go through any sport in the world and you will not be able to find anybody with a greater desire to win that Tiger Woods.

I do have some understanding of what he went through at Torrey Pines because when I was playing I tore ligaments in my fingers very badly and literally couldn't hold the golf club and I wondered if I would ever play again.

I still remember, when I came back, the psychological aspects of committing to a golf shot after such an injury and for the first three, four or five weeks of trying to get back into playing I kept topping it because I was so scared of the pain that hitting through the ball, the divot and power of the impact, would cause.

And anybody who has ever played golf knows the left knee is what creates the resistance, the power of a golf swing; the full power of your hit and rotation of your body goes through that left knee.

But that 14th major might have come at a cost to Tiger. I always love listening to Butch Harmon on Sky Sports and he intimated that he might have to have surgery again. And when Butch says that, you wonder if it is based on fact, does he know something we don't know because of his relationship with Tiger?

Mental triumph

If that's the case clearly, he will struggle to make the Open championship at Royal Birkdale, but that's for another week. This was such a mental triumph for Tiger and it would be wrong to overlook it.

Coming up the 18th, on the 72nd hole of the championship, I just couldn't see how he could fashion a birdie and thought he was down and out. When he hit from the sand trap into the rough, I couldn't see how he could make a four.

But when he was stood over that putt on 18 you just knew he was going to make it. It was almost as if he could throw the putter on the green and blow the ball in - he is that resilient.

I also thought Roccoe Mediate's performance at the age of 45 was supreme. I know he finished sixth a couple of weeks ago so he is clearly running into a bit of form, but I don't think he's won a tournament since the mid-90's and I really did think he would crumble over the weekend.

But he proved an awful lot of people wrong and he played the game with the right spirit. And how nice it was to see a guy in contention for a major playing with a smile and acknowledging the crowd throughout. As Tiger himself said, Rocco is one of the nicest guys in the game.

It was wonderful and refreshing to see Mediate run him so close, but you get the feeling that Tiger would have won had his left kneecap fallen off on the back nine. I am sure he would have hopped round and still come out on top.

But even through all that, my thoughts and emotions were with Lee Westwood. I spoke to Lee on Tuesday morning - he was still practising by the way - and can confirm he has now got his desire back to play golf at the highest level.

Immensely proud

When we started working together on his short game at Carnoustie last year, I explained to him very clearly that the difference between him winning 27 tournaments worldwide on a domestic level and winning the major championships was his short game.

It wasn't good enough to win a major and after working with him for the best part of eight or nine months I am able to say very honestly to him that his short game is now 60 per cent better than it was. And that 60 per cent has taken him to the point where he can - and will - win a major championship before he retires.

He has to be immensely proud of his performance at Torrey Pines because when you play with Tiger in the last round of a major, nothing can prepare you for the media frenzy that comes with it. There are more people on the fairways than even Lee, with all his experience, will have ever seen before and the world's eyes are watching - and I thought Lee coped absolutely superbly with it.

OK, he had a couple of loose shots; he hit a poor tee shot at the 10th and a poor three-wood second at the par five 13th and not a great tee shot at 18 when he needed to find the fairway. His driving has always been his strength and he is one of the best drivers in the world but personally for me his short game stood up to the test. It was absolutely fabulous.

He played some shots he simply couldn't have played nine months ago and I'm immensely proud of what Lee has achieved. For me, he looked every bit a major champion.

He came within two shots of winning the US Open and had a putt to get in the play-off and any time a European has the chance to win a US Open we have to savour it. Crikey, only Tony Jacklin has won it in 83 years, so what a fabulous achievement from Lee - and what a weekend for European golf.

Surprise package

Robert Karlsson was just behind in fourth, but you could see that coming. He'd gone second, second, third the last few weeks, he's been in contention and is a brilliant player. It didn't surprise me to see him take his form into the US Open and what a brilliant weekend it was for him.

The same goes for Miguel Angel Jimenez. I have been saying for an awful long time that he could be the surprise package in a major championship, that he could sneak up and surprise everyone, because he's a winner. He's won 14 tournament and his technique just doesn't let him down. It's a little odd, it's not text book at all, but it repeats and it repeats and it repeats under pressure - and that is what you have to do.

Carl Petterson honed his game on the European Tour, went over to the US Tour to learn how to win and makes a fabulous living over there now - but is still one of ours. He's a very, very aggressive player, but also very competent and he did exactly what somebody can do with a great last round, come out of the pack and post a score.

A big thumps-up must also go to the USGA for the way the course was prepared. The fairways were a little wider, the rough was penal but not stupid and I think it was an incredibly fair test, but a very strict test. They have been criticised in the past for the way the US Open courses have been set up, but this year they got it right.

You dont go to the US open expecting it to be easy, you want a challenge. But a challenge that has got an element of fairness about it and there have been times when it just hasn't been that way and there was too much luck on involved.

Let's give the USGA credit for the way the course was set up this year, it was a wonderful US Open. Torrey Pines was a beautiful golf course and a brilliant test.

I have to say though, the only complaint I had is that I am not a fan - and will never be a fan - of putting guys together in groups without it being a draw.

You have your group of the top 20 players playing in the TV slots yes, but you draw them out as to whether they are playing in the morning or afternoon and they fall in the group they fall in.

Hand-picking groups is not what a major championship is about and I really hope the R&A do not follow suit at The Open - with or without Tiger.