Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie eliminated citing putter failure

Tiger Woods’ hasty exit from the HSBC Matchplay Championship was blamed on his putter. I think his problems were more about the speed of his putts rather than the line. His untimely defeat looked almost as bad as Michelle Wie’s last place finish at the Omega.

Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk were also in the same boat.

Paul Casey was worried if anyone would watch the event after his win over Goosen. “I think we lose some TV ratings", he said.

Michelle Wie didn’t need a crystal ball to know that she would be ousted after yet another dismal showing at the 84 Lumber Classic. Tee to green Wie’s game was acceptable but her putting could have saved her which makes her loss even more painful.

What’s a good way to get some television ratings this weekend? Since Tiger and Wie have some free time on their hands, why not a friendly matchup between the two big draws? But the rule on the green should be to make everything from three feet a “gimmee".