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Will Tiger Win Again? No. by Tim Geary
While Tigers Woods’ endorsements have been drying up like a Texas prairie, there is one company for which he would be the perfect pitchman; Medic Alert. Because it certainly appears that the guy who seemed a sure fire bet to eclipse Jack Nicklaus as the holder of the most major championships in history has fallen and can’t get up. I write this the day after Woods missed the cut at the PGA championship. He began the tournament like the Tiger of old instead of the rapidly aging Tiger. He was 3-under par very early in the day and then imploded. Instead of looking like the former number one player in the world he looked like some club pro from central Nebraska. No number one player has ever flamed out this badly since David Duval and Duval was never on the same level as Tiger. Duval couldn't beat somebody just by showing up. Ever since that Thanksgiving nightmare when his former wife discovered his alleged indiscretions, it's as though Tiger has been transformed into Kitten Woods, like Elin Nordegren was some kind of Scandinavian sorceress who put a curse on her cheatin' ex, taking away his gift forever. How else do we explain Tiger spraying his tee shots hither and yon, scaring the bejeebers out of the wildlife that call the trees home and causing spectators to consider wearing hard hats when he's on the teebox? How else do you rationalize his putting woes, this from a man who used to regularly drain every clutch putt he looked at and now has problems with a straight-in 3-footer? Well there is the knee to consider. But the knee, after four surgeries, is supposed to be okay now. And if it really was the knee than how do we explain Tiger winning the 2009 United States Open, when he was literally playing on one leg? There is also the age factor and isn't that something to chew on? It doesn't seem all that long ago that we recall a young Tiger, straw fedora atop his head, pumping his 18-year old fist in the air after
draining a birdie putt that all but clinched the first of his three successive U.S. Amateur championships. But now Woods is 35 (at this writing), not old by any stretch of the imagination, but at an age when the body begins to fray. And then there's the swing, or swings. He's on swing coach number three and this can't be good for the reputation of Sean Foley because scatter guns are more accurate than Tiger has been under the tutelage of Foley. Woods fired Butch Harmon, where his swing was honed. He dropped Hank Haney, where it flourished. and now he's using Foley because he says it puts less stress on his knee. Okay, that may be, but it's putting a lot of stress on his scorecard. Right now Tom Gorman hits more fairways then Tiger and the 14th club in Gorman's bag is made by Homelite. Finally there's the absence of Earl Woods. Tiger's father trained him both physically and mentally, almost from the time he was born. While you can't make a silk purse out of a pile of garbage, Earl molded his son into what he became, an absolute golfing machine. Tiger was what I like to refer to as a test tube athlete. His entire focus was on golf, golf and more golf. Remember the stories of how Earl used to chase away Tigers' girlfriends? Now dad is gone and Tiger no longer has that ultimate support system to rely on. He has no wife, his former best friend and caddie is toting for Adam Scott. Woods has become an island and really should read some John Donne. Is Tiger toast? Who really knows for sure, but this is a player who has never come from behind in the final round of a tournament to win, and guess what gang? Career wise he's in the fourth round and making the turn. Tim Geary is a R.I.-based freelance writer. He sometimes plays 13 holes. Those are the days he shoots in the 60s.
September 2011 | New England Golf Monthly | 61