Running Tiger Woods thread

Having seen his chipping game the last month, I am wondering if he's completely done. He hits 40 at the end of this year. It's entirely possible he'll never win another tournament, much less another major.

 

When your back goes, you're done. Tiger is done.

 

Looking back, I think the beginning of the end for Tiger wasn't the 9-iron from Elin in 2009, but the shredded knee in 2008. It was obvious he was doing incredible damage to that knee and putting the strain on other parts of his body as well as he played tough guy for five rounds against Rocco at the U.S. Open. He fucked his knee so badly he had to take the rest of the year off, and ever since we seem to have these nagging injuries that keep popping up with this guy. Interestingly enough, that 2008 U.S. Open was the last Major he won. Think about that: The last time Tiger won a Major George W. Bush was still in the White House.

 

I agree with this idea, although there was the year (2013, right?) he won five tournaments and no majors. But that might have been the flare of the lightbulb before it dies. He could try to accept he's got a real old golfer's body and adjust his game accordingly, but his ego would never let him do that, I think.

 

Right on. In Jack Nicklaus' Lesson Tee illustrated golf guide, Jack pointed out that miss hitting a 3 wood has far less consequences than miss hitting a driver. Forget the biggest dick long distance driving, get yourself in the fairway more consistently, and hit longer irons into the greens. If I read that Tiger is teeing off with a 3 wood rather frequently, my interest would perk up. Right now, he's killing his body, or what's left of it. Anyway, heard he only hit one fairway before the WD Thursday. When the driver is failing, tweak your strategy.

But leaving your driver in the bag, or better yet, in your car, requires checking your ego. In other words, probably not happening for him.

 

Tiger essentially spent a year teeing off with nothing but 3 wood; his last year with Foley. Didn't work. That kind of thing can only really work when your 3 wood is long as hell and when there isn't a HUGE advantage to driving it long (like at an Open Championship where bombing it brings more bunkers into play) but it won't work consistently. Think about it for a sec. Let's say Tiger hit his 3 wood off ever tee at Augusta and hit 80 percent of his fairways. He hits his 3 wood about 270 yards. Rory regularly hits his driver around 330. Bubba too. Sure, you can make pars hitting it 270 off the tee, but you're still at a huge disadvantage to the best big hitters in the game because they have wedge in their hand and you have 6 iron. So with 6 iron, you're hitting it to 30 feet and they're hitting it to 10 feet. When they make par, it's a tap in. When you make mark, it's probably a 6 footer, because you're not the best putter on tour anymore (not even close). That starts to really add up. And that's when you HIT the GIR, which Tiger isn't even doing all that often with wedges in his hand, much less 6 and 7 irons.

Tiger isn't competing against the course, despite what people say about golf. He's completing against guys 15 years younger. They're playing a game he is no longer familiar with. It's the same thing that he did to older guys on Tour in the 90s and 2000s. He keeps fussing with his swing because he knows he needs length to compete. There's no Jordan fade away jumper in modern golf. You can fool a lot of people with an amazing short game, especially when there aren't a ton of birdies out there. (It's why Mickelson has been so good in US Opens despite driving it everywhere.) But you can't win five more majors at 40+ with a bad driver, bad short game and bad back.

 

Ok, all really good points, DD. I guess he really is done.

 

I think he needs the world to totally recalibrate expectations and let him work through this shit and not hyperventilate over every missed cut. Swing changes take years, not months. Won't happen for awhile, but that's what would help. Jack won in 86 in part because there was no pressure. Everyone thought he was done.

 

Dr. Francesa on Thursday was shouting down a caller, insisting Tiger's problems were all mental and had NOTHING to do with his back. I should have jumped on a flight to Vegas right then and there to make book Tiger would withdraw.

 

A 59-year-old Tom Watson came within a putt of winning the British Open. Tiger's days of dominance may be done. But he isn't.

 

Watson never played like this or had to deal with the wheels coming off. Between 1985 and 1989 -- ages 36 to 40 -- he played 96 tournaments, finished top-25 in 54 of them and made the cut 78 times. He continued to play at least 15 events a year until age 50. And that's while he was fighting the yips too.

Watson followed the normal declining path of an aging golfer. Tiger has fallen to David Duval depths.

 

Every single time we talk about Tiger maybe being done, someone is like "But Watson at Turnburry!"

That was one near-miracle that has no correlation to 99.99999999 percent of ever other major played ever. Gordie Howe playing in this 50s did not mean Gretzky, Lemieux or Orr could do it, even though they all had more talent.