When Tiger Woods dunked three shots in the water at the 100-yard ceremonial hole at Congressional on Monday, my editor and I exchanged solemn words. "That was embarrassing," I wrote. "Yep," he said. And that was that. Because that's what it was ... embarrassing.
Some folks who watched it, though, thought it was something else. They thought it was a purposeful move. For a variety of reasons, several golf fans un-ironically thought Tiger hit three straight shots into a pond because he meant to. #TigerTruthers, I call them.
A sampling.
@golf_com Tiger did it on purpose. This was a closest to the pin contest against a US Veteran. Vet got on but far away so Tiger put in drink
— Dennis (@dlatto24) May 17, 2016
Tiger is hitting bad shots on purpose, he's lulling the others into a false sense of security...
— ⚒Hannibald⚒ (@daveycunningham) May 16, 2016
Still wondering why tiger just hit three balls in a row in the water on purpose....
— Jordan (@J_AL10) May 16, 2016
I think Tiger put those three shots in the water on purpose and then boom wins U.S. Open. #maybe
— Jeremy Watt (@jeremywatt) May 16, 2016
@GeoffShac@HousefromDC only Tiger could let a war vet win a little KP contest by hitting it short on purpose and get criticized. Lame.....
— normstradamus (@normstradamus) May 17, 2016
I don't even know what to say here. Do these people really think this?
Woods may or may not come back. Who knows? He may or may not win again. Who knows?
What I do know is he definitely did not hit three balls in the water on purpose at Congressional on Monday.
If you think that, you're just delusional.
Also, for those interested in justification: This was a 100-yard shot. One. Hundred. Yards. It's not like he had to bend a drawn 4-iron in there from 225 out. It's a shot you or I could hit. It's a shot three amateurs right before him hit.
Woods landed on the cover of USA Today on Tuesday for his efforts, which is a bummer (for everyone, for multiple reasons). And like my pal Brendan Porath over at SB Nation, the primary emotion I feel about all of this ... sadness.