Column: J.B. Holmes' merry Match Play loss to Tiger Woods shows what's wrong with tour

Chris Baldwin,
Contributor

MARANA, Ariz. - After many crushing, come-from-ahead sports defeats, the loser looks like they require a hug. Yesterday at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, somebody needed to punch J.B. Holmes in the face.

Anything to get Holmes down from his losing euphoria.

You haven't seen a guy this elated over a loss since that basketball team from Angola went down to the original Dream Team in a flurry of Michael Jordan and Larry Bird autographed jerseys. Holmes and his caddie shared laughs, grins, hearty handshakes - everything but a flying leap into each other's arms.

Never mind that Holmes had just let the most dominant golfer in history off the ropes - and Tiger Woods wasn't channeling Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope in Zaire, he was really searching for his swing. Holmes gave back a three-hole advantage with only five holes to go in the first round at The Gallery Golf Club.

But who's counting? Certainly not the merry man.

"When he's hitting putts like that, what can you do?" Holmes said, still smiling like an 11-year-old girl who won free Hannah Montana tickets. "It's not like I fell apart like you see with some people who play him."

When the PGA Tour rep standing next to Holmes in the Arizona sunshine asked if there were any more questions, I felt like asking if Elin had texted Holmes on his iPhone with word that she was leaving Tiger for him and taking half of the Woods' fortune with her. There's little other explanation for J.B.'s near giddiness.

At least from a pure sports perspective.

Which is the problem with expecting anyone in any generation to step up and challenge Woods while he's still playing. It's gotten to the point now where the rest of the PGA Tour might as well be little skinny guys from Angola taking on well-schooled superstars.

It's bad enough when Ernie Els starts hitting balls into one of those custom-made lakes in Dubai as soon as Tiger moves anywhere close to him. At least we all knew Els stood Tiger-spooked years and years ago (and by the look of his match play flameout, you can chalk up Dubai for completely ending the Big Easy's 2008 season in everything but name).

But now, 25-year-olds like J.B. Holmes are congratulating themselves for losing the kind of lead that Woods himself said only the day before you just don't see guys lose in match play?

What's the generation after Holmes going to do, ask Woods for his autograph on the first tee? That's no joke. It will probably happen.

Tiger's brilliance hides Holmes' Tucson acquiescence

Look, Woods hit some great shots to go five under in the last five holes. None more ridiculous than the one he took from the right rough 290 yards from the flag on 17. He laced a 5-wood - his "senior club" as he joked later - that rocketed over the bunkers and right onto the green to set up a long eagle putt he never should have had a chance at on this 601-yard par 5.

This rough shot sent one experienced golf writer sprinting into the fairway to see the marker and whisper scream, "That's 290! 290!"

By then, the only question was how Woods would win it - and Holmes seemed to know it more than anyone. Woods used his huge signature fist pump and a near-Ray Lewis-worthy fist-tap-chest bump-combo from caddie Steve Williams on sinking a long one for another hole on 16. But the truth is, Holmes was already teetering like a kid's show Weeble Woobler when he still had the three-hole lead going into 14.

He started getting even more tentative over shots, began playing even slower and at times Holmes could have given Ben Crane a turtle crawl for his money on this day. He might not have collapsed in score, but J.B. looked like he wanted to pull one of the silver-hairs from the gallery to take his swings.

Meanwhile, Woods was doing his Phil Jackson thing.

"I just kept saying to myself that I could win in regulation," Woods said. "That's what I've always done, even if I'm two down with three to go or obviously three down with five to go. I've been in that situation a lot of times.

"I always say I can win in regulation. It doesn't mean that you always do, but you have to believe that you can."

The Zen is nice. The opponent getting a severe case of I-can't-believe-I'm-beating-Tiger-Woods is even better.

"What could I do?" Holmes asked. "He hit shots that you shouldn't be able to hit."

What could you do? How about a birdie of your own in the last five holes? Holmes was one good shot away from extra holes after having been one more good shot from knocking Woods out almost all afternoon. J.B. didn't just blow that last three-hole advantage - he wasted most of another one earlier, having gone three-up after just five holes.

Woods looked like he was channeling Michelle Wie most of the day. He hit the worst opening tee shot of the 64 golfers in the field, recorded a 7 on the hole. He had to move a tall green pedestrian sign himself, have someone else move a hole sign and someone else move a garbage can to hit one shot on the seventh hole alone.

His drive went so far right into the desert on 13 that even after a drop, you couldn't see him through the bushes.

Late on the front nine, Woods grew frustrated enough to go Jose Pesci from "Goodfellas" on himself. "Come on you muther*****, god****it!" Woods barked at Woods.

Still, J.B. Holmes left Lion King happy with himself. "Tiger's a super guy," Holmes said. "A great guy to play with. It wasn't as ... I'm trying not to say something here ... it wasn't as hard playing with him as I thought it would be."

Now guys are worried about saying Woods' intensity wasn't as fearsome as the rep? What's next? Fright at the thought of disrespecting Tiger's headcover, Frank?

Surely, Holmes hurt somewhere inside though, right? "You have to have some regrets - three up with five to go," I asked/pleaded.

"Not really," Holmes said.

Quick, where's Randy Couture and a steel cage? Somebody needs to knock J.B. Holmes and the rest of this tour awake.

February 21, 2008

Chris Baldwin keeps one eye on the PGA Tour and another watching golf vacation hotspots and letting travelers in on the best place to vacation.