Tiger Woods.

 29.8.2021.

An American sportswriter posted his story about the 25th. anniversary of Tiger's pro career yesterday. Tiger made his debut as a pro at the Greater Milwaukee Open on 29.8.1996.  He was just 4 months past his 20 at that time. He broke 80 at age 8 in 1984. I'd just gotten my 24 handicap about that time. To play to a single handicap (81) would take me another 20 years.

I'd moved to Seremban in 1995. I'd followed Tiger since they televised his 3rd consecutive US Amateur title in 1996. Like his first Major one year later at the Augusta Masters 1997, where his opening 9 holes was for 40 (4 over par), this US Amateur was also won from behind at the second round of the finals. I have not stopped following Tiger since, every time it's on tv, regardless of the 12-hour time difference. Translated another way, it's "no Tiger, no golf" for me. 

This occasion of his 25th year as a pro must not pass without comment. Golf has been my one addiction since a friend brought it to me 34 years ago. Except I found it at 43, and Tiger at 2. And I'm still trying to find that elusive sweet swing that once in a very long while comes and disappears again. I can understand the very rare special talent that Tiger surely possesses to make him the great golfer that he is. Tok Molod is forever crying "Jemenez", or "Garcia" and whoever just appears to lead the ongoing competition on tv, and he's serious about it, too.  Ong and I share the true admiration for the talent of Tiger. I reminded Ong about this date yesterday, but no comment has come back so far.

The sportswriter listed the 25 great achievements in the 25 years. He seemed to have got it. But I would rather give it my angle.

At the top I would put the 3 consecutive wins at the US Junior Championship, 1991 to 1993 from age 15, followed by the 3 consecutive wins at the US Amateur Championship, 1994 to 1996. Sports writers call it "the six-peat".  15 is not the tough age entering a national Junior golf tournament, although you are playing against the same field of people. And to win it for 3 consecutive years is  incredible. But to follow that up with the tough US Amateur tournament that is repeated 3 years in a row, again, is just crazy, and is truly unbelievable. No one else has done it. Not even Nicklaus. Some golf experts even believe that the US Amateur ranks with the Majors. 

The percentage of his wins against the starts is the second great achievement. For the PGA tour, Tiger has won 82 from 359 starts (22.8%) That's more than once every 5 entries. That includes 15 Majors, second only to Nicklaus (18). But Nicklaus has only 73 PGA wins and 2 Amateur titles. To top it up, Tiger also held all 4 Majors simultaneously when he won  the US Open, the Open, and the PGA Championship in 2000, and the 2001 Masters, for the "Tiger Slam." Again, no one else has done that. 

The third achievement has been the consistency of play as the measure of golf talent, and don't I know this, playing my club everyday it doesn't rain. Tiger has made 142 consecutive cuts in 7.5 years. He has the longest continuous reign as World No. 1 at 683 weeks. Second is Greg Norman with less than half, at 331. At the 2000 Open at St. Andrews, without once using his driver, Tiger never once went into any of the 112 bunkers, and these were real men-traps. I've been to St. Andrews, in 1989. Comeback is a test for steadfastness. In all his Junior and Amateur wins, in his first Augusta Masters win, as well as his 2019 win there, and his play-off win in 2008 US Open, there was unwavering steadfastness when not leading the tournament.

Tiger gave what appeared to be unjustified over-confidence, boastful even, in the interview by a fellow pro soon after turning pro, when he said he intended to always play to win, that second "sucks". Curtis Strange smirked "you'll learn".  But  Tiger won 2 of 7 starts (26.8%) as a pro. He won his first Major in his second year by 12 strokes. Strange  learned. So did all of us, including his fellow pros. 82 PGA wins,  41 European Tour wins, and 24 other worldwide wins have shown that Tiger certainly has learned.

Of course, the money made is the ultimate measure of success. According to Forbes, Tiger has earned a grand total of more than 1.6 billion.  156,382,473 (less than 10%) has been earned on course, the rest off course. The total works out (excluding 2021) to 64 million per year, or 5.3 million per month, or  177,778 per day for 25 long years. Not bad.

Sure he can afford the mansion, the yacht, the jet and the 100 million alimony.

Will there be another Tiger Woods?

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The 9th. PM

 Sat 28.8.2021.

We'll be celebrating our 64th. "Merdeka" day in 3 days' time. In that time we've had 14 General Elections. That works out to 4.57 years per GE. We've had, by now, 9 PM's. That works out to 7.11 years per PM. But 3 (33%) of the PM's have come in the last 37 months, or less than 4% of the total time.  That works out to  12.33 months per  PM.  There must be  some sort of records, set somewhere, surely.

4.57 years per GE seems all right by any standard. 7.11 years per PM also seems ok. The current Parliament is 37 months old. The next GE isn't due until May 2023, about 2 years away. That's ok, too, even if a fresh GE is called tomorrow. The 3 PM's in 37 months is something else.

When the 8th. PM made the "Sheraton" move in February 2020, less than 2 years after PH pulled the carpet from under UMNO and BN, people were  caught by surprise. It was thought that PH had no less than 130 seats in the 222-seat Parliament. There was no reason for the 8th. PM to dump the PH partners of DAP-PKR-Amanah and the Sabah/Sarawak allies. UMNO was the sworn enemy for GE 14. UMNO had even kicked out the 8th.PM less than 2 years before the GE. And now he personally brought back UMNO to power by renegading on PH and, worse, on the campaign promises! Now the whole gang of kleptocrats, mired in on-going high-profiled court cases, were "invited" back into government ?

The 9th. PM has done what UMNO is always capable of. Play out its saviour, the 8th. PM. There was this new cabinet, with the 8th. PM on top. After the incessant politicking when the people were sufferring  Covid 19, the 9th. PM and his UMNO team pulled the 8th. PM down and got for himself the PMship. He put back a new cabinet. But except for the new PM, himself, the crockery in the cabinet is the same one the 8th. PM put there. Perhaps it's better said in Malay - "kabinet baru dengan mangkuk lama" - new cabinet with old crockery. A cabinet  to put things in, like books and crockery. "Mangkuk" is crockery. But "mangkuk" is also colloquial for "useless, hopeless, stupid, inter alia".

They also say, when something is never going to happen, "don't hold your breath". But I think you can hold your breath for the collapse of the 9th. PM. The proviso is, they start concentrating on Covid 19.

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The 8th PM

 Mon 16.8.2021.

Finally today the 8th. PM tendered his long demanded and long awaited resignation to the Agong, ending the shortest term in Malaysian history. Counting from 1.3.20, Muhyiddin was PM for 1 year, 5 months and 15 days. 

The Agong made him Interim PM until a new PM is selected in Parliament. He has ruled out any General Elections for now, for obvious reasons. Now the wild scramble  intensifies, because it has already started before this. I saw on BBC the US Army aircraft being mobbed by fleeing Afghans, with the plane rolling on the tarmac and hundreds of people clinging to it, some on the closed doors. The newscaster mentioned some deaths following falls. It's exactly what's happening here now.

There have been many names tossed in the last few weeks.  A few had openly offered themselves. The truth is anyone's guess. No party has more than 42 seats (DAP). PKR has lost 30%, and UMNO has lost about the same number,  soon after the GE, but now the remaining UMNO has broken into 2 parts (pro Zahid and anti-Zahid) Bersatu had been the biggest gainer from UMNO and PKR deserters, but has also lost 6 in 2020. Sabah and Sarawak are up for grabs. A handful of Independents could make a lot of money. Like it or not, the same tenous coalition would have to be conjured. You can't trust anyone in Parliament any more, SD's and press conferences notwithstanding.

With the pandemic far from receding, with sop's being ignored, with vaccination in turmoil in some centres, with shops and businesses  closed, the Parliamentary circus is really sickening. I hope the people remember this when the next GE comes around. Choose the person, not the party. Scrutinise the backgrounds and the qualifications.

Under the circumstances, perhaps the Agong should appoint the "Mageran" to run the country and put Parliament on hold. The lack of a dominant party should be a valid reason. 

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Awal Muharram 1443.

 Tues 10.8.2021.

Today is the first of Muharram, 1443 Hijriah. I was supposed to recite the new year's supplications, something I'd always done before, at Magrib yesterday, but only realized it after receiving sms's from a few friends after Isya'. At fajr today I raised my hands to Allah for forgiveness for the past year's deeds, and asked for guidance for the next one year, amin. Better late than never, I guess.

Following the Islamic lunar calender, I'm exactly 80 today. I was  born, also on a Tuesday, on 19 Zulhijjah 1363.

The Police called last week asking to bring my gun licence book, which I did yesterday. After 2 visits for the same case upon requests by them, I thought this would be the final visit for this year's delayed process.  Alas, it was not to be. I have to come back on 23/8 to collect the signed document. Because the Inspector is not around today. Can you believe that?  And to put salt to wound, they also demanded I settle unpaid traffic summons. When I checked with the counter clerk, I was told I have 7 summons dating back to August 2006 totalling RM 1,000 !  I told the clerk I never received these, because I always paid my summons in the past. She suggested I wait for December for a 50% discount. I'll do that. I jotted her number on the copy of the list she gave me.

This is the same case with JPJ regarding my road tax renewal. It was supposed to be 15/7. By then they have changed the procedure to on-line appointment. Since 16/7 I have tried countless times to get the appointment but kept getting "booking closed" because of overbooking. I turned to the Post Office, but they, too, have resorted to on-line booking, and like JPJ, kept saying "heavy traffic". If it's on-line they should stay open.  And SAINS, in spite of it's name, is not scientific at all. They closed their UTC office, and yesterday sent the 3rd statement for arrears when they won't collect payment.

Now I'm thinking, is the government trying to help us, or to harrass us ? We're trying to pay here, not to collect money.

For me, almost bedridden all this while because of "chikugunya" fever, there was some relief when the Tokyo 32nd Olympics came 23/7 -8/8.  It was strange to see the empty venues in spite of the elaborate preparations. It cost the Japanese government 15 billion. How will they recover that, with no attendance and a 50% drop in tv viewing ?  Even the PM is supposed to be in trouble politically because of the games.

However, the performances in the games were astounding, if the full circumstances inculding the 12-month delay are considered. The salute to the athletes and their backers must be given. They have trained since Rio 2016, then the delay, and now the restrictons because of the pandemic. On top of these, the temperature surpassing 30 and humidity of more than 75 hampered the athletes. And yet 40 Olympics with several world records were still broken. The 400 m.hurldes must be understaood to fully comprehend the 45.94. That time for the flat race would have put the runner on the winner's podium in the national games for the different countries participating. The Olympics points system gives this particular run more than 1,300 points, or third highest in Olympics history.

Malaysia came back with 2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze) and is placed 66 in the tally, fortunately not last. We should look at Australia and New Zealand. Australia has about the same population as Malaysia. They got 46 medals, 17 of them (37%) gold. New Zealand has on;y 7 million people. They got 20 medals, 7 of them (33%) gold. They got 1 gold per million population. The US (no. 1) had 113 medals to China (no. 2) with 88, but only beat China by 1 in gold with its 39 to China's 38. In depth, however, US was far superior with it's 350 million population against China's 1.43 billion. In comparison, India with 1.4 billion people only collected  7 medals with 1 gold. There is a lesson in there somewhere.

On the pandemic front, we're still stuck right in the middle of it. It seems only the politicians are thriving, and Parliament is not even in session!. With 10,961 deaths, the death/million figure is 334, higher than India (307),Phillipines (262), Thailand (94), Vietnam (38), Singapore (7), and China (7). Of course China, India and Indonesia have numbers I cannot believe.  And for 2 years I had to be the imam in the house for 4 Hari Raya prayers. Schools have been closed for forever. What's going to happen to their education? The point is, we're still in a deep hole here.

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