Of Tiger, Ying & Yang, and sports statistics.

18.8.2009.

I lost my ten-dollar wager with  Boon Hoe - that the no: 1 Golfer would win his 15th. major this year. So he lost the last golf Major of the year, in spite of a two-stroke advantage at the start of the final round. Well, he just played conservative golf, while Yang simply played spectacularly. Two strokes decided the outcome from Yang, who simply had the Ying of the day - the eagle chip on the par 5 back nine, and the utility-wood second shot from behind the tree, uphill to the last par 4 that landed about 30 inches from the pin. And Tiger sealed his fate early. Too many missed birdies ( at least 3 ) in the front 9 from distances that he never missed in all of his 12 years 8 months of professional golf. In more than one way he didn't have his Ying, but surely got his Yang !

The Americans are very fond of their sports statistics. Just watch the commentaries on all their sports - baseball, football (the American full body armour version),basketball, swimming,golf and what have you. They painstakingly go to great lengths to calculate everything to the nearest 10 decimal - the hitting average, the running average, the assissts, the stroke, the putting GIR fairways hit etc. They seem to get some masochistic pleasure from all this.

In fact the statistics are the face-saving (the Koreans know all about them) figures Tiger Woods has available to cushion his deep disappointment this time around. 

1. In 13 outings this year, he has already won 5 times. (38.46 % or one win every 2.6 times he plays)

2. In 52 Majors competed in, he has won 14 times. (26.92 % or one win every 3.7 times he plays) 

3. He has won 70 PGA titles , a number only exceeded by two other golfers in the history of the game. 

4. This year he has won more than $7.6 million prize-money from the 5 wins and 13 competitions - an average of $1.52 million per win, or $584,615.30 per tournament. That's more than RM2 million every time he plays, folks. 

5. Forbes published his total take-home pay last year at a cool $110 million (RM 385 million, or RM 32 million per month, or more than RM 1 million per day !).

6. Nicklaus achieved his 18 Majors target at the age of 46, with a total of 73 PGA titles. Tiger is only 33 years old this December. At the rate that he has won, by the time he reaches 46 years, he should win 27.99 Majors and 139.99 PGA titles. 

7. Forbes also says that up to the end of 2007 Tiger's total take-home income was $750 million. That's a 10-year period. By extrapolation, by age 46, when Tiger would have been a professional golfer for 25 years, he should account for an income of $1,875,000,000 - the first sportsman to earn 1.875 billion.

 So, Tiger Woods can afford to let this last Major go to an Asian. It's good for world-wide golf.Of course it's very good for Yang. But it gives hope for all aspiring sportsmen, and sportswomen. Even if you start late, even if you take rice and don't live in Florida, even if you've not won before, if you believe in yourself and keep on trying, one fine day the Ying and Yang might favour you, even if for the only time. 

So there's hope for Mizi. 

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