My Opinion On Tiger Woods And The State Of His Game
As many of you know he missed the cut again at torrey pines and was garbage with the driver. He recently signed with taylormade and will have 13 of their clubs in the bag and the scotty cameron newport 2 he's used. Personally I think he's just about done but would like to be proven wrong. He just doesn't have the magic he once had around the greens combined with the best iron game in the history of the sport. He used to be mediocre in accuracy but had a lot of power. Now he's average in distance and can't hit a fairway to save his life.
I still think he will be the most well known player for at least 5 years (or forever) because the casual golf fan thinks golf is boring without him. He has said in the past that he has no intention of playing in the senior tour so he has a handful of years left to compete in the majors. If he doesn't start playing better his exemptions will fade away.
At this point, I could maybe seen him breaking Snead's all-time wins record but I can't see him winning 5 more majors in his 40s without going to back to Butch Harmon.
Agree with you, sure you have seen the article: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/15278522/how-tiger-woods-li…
interesting read
Absolutely. I think he lost some of his desire when his dad passed away and the rest with his scandal in 2009. Frankly, it seems that the only reason he's playing now is because he used to say Jack's 18 majors were the only thing that mattered to him in golf. If you've noticed, he has sounded a lot more content with his 14 majors then he was in say 2008.
It was sad to see him miss the cut at Torrey Pines. I was thinking he might be back, at least physically.
The next few tournaments for him in the lead up to Augusta will tell everything.
I thought there was little chance of him competing last week. I'd say we'll fully know where he is once the US Open comes around and he's had 10 or so tournaments under his belt.
I think his US open status runs through 2018, everything else I thought he had lifetime exemption for (save WGC), but maybe I'm wrong? Thursday was unfortunate at Torrey, I think the south course was the wrong track for him to come back on. He played reasonable Friday. Dubai will play much better for him this week and my guess is he'll finish top-40.
Masters/PGA champ are lifetime, British is exempt until 60.
You're right about the U.S. Open and WGC.
On tour, win 20 times and play 15 years, you're exempt for life.
Yeah wgc and a couple fedex events require you to play pretty well. I think the best we can see him play is like how he did in 2012-13 but he won't be the 05-08 or the 99-02 tiger. He might win 1 green jacket but he doesn't have the complete game to win the other 3. There's only been a few major champions at 45+ and there is nothing to show that he will be better physically at 45 than he is now.
He just need to be in a stable relationship with a blonde. That will give him a YUGE boost in performance
It looks like his back is still an issue--swing looks stiff and awkward.
Honestly, he needs to go have a beer with Phil and figure out how he does it. Phil probably couldn't lift a 20 pound dumbell and has had greater longevity than Tiger.
He opened with a 77 in Dubai......and he typically has played well at that course.
Grew up looking up to how Tiger played golf, got me into the game and really kept me going. Golf was made as 'cool' as it could be with him on board. Companies followed on and all of a sudden you have metal smashing, fire breathing masculine commercials advertising a Callaway driver. Tiger changed the game and made it what it was today.
At a huge price. He thought he was invincible. Winning, his father, and a pick of the litter of women all combined to give him this idea of "nothing can bring me down, I will live forever"
The past 7 years have been a sobering to say the least to him. I think he's probably a better person after all of this, but his game has no doubt come down from peaks and it frankly won't get back up there. There is too much going against him: his body cannot do what it use to.
Here is a four frame comparison Kostis did on air one time: 2000, 2007, 2013, 2015.
The key to his drive was always in my mind his weight shift. He would transfer his weight so violently and forcefully on the downswing that he'd get this great ball strike, and then his back would torque all the way through. Over time, your back can't do that (hence his surgeries), and his swing has gotten a lot less 'snappy'
This doesn't even show his 2017 swing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3wE3wZkhSU
Long video, but you only have to see his first tee shot. The velocity isn't there, it will never be back to where it was. Like OP said...he's never been known for accuracy, so when his power goes (and it has), he will never be able to recover elsewhere.
Would love to see him win again because that's what I craved as a kid, but the torch has been passed on.
Now...Justin Thomas wins at Erin Hills, who's with me??
Yep. In my opinion the "Squat" move he has made for the past ~10 or so years has wrecked his back and accuracy. If you've watched any of his prime wins or amateur swings he was just as long (if not longer) and was fairly accurate. It also doesn't help that he was training like a navy seal in his 30s.
We will not see another dynastic golfer like this for years.
Ive been hearing alot about him coming off PEDs being the major reason for his rapid physical decline. Do you guys know of any documentation of him using PEDs?
As I am someone who has used PED's in the past I can certainly say Tiger's rapid physical change in bulk/strength was worthy enough alone to raise an eyebrow or two. Tiger also had 14 visits to Anthony Galea in which he paid a total of $76,000 dollars and Galea was linked to ARod and company.
So yes, I fully believe he most certainly was doing PED's. One of the catches with those drugs is while you do get amazingly strong and recover from workouts substantially faster is they don't do jack shit for your joints and ligaments that are suddenly carrying a far heavier load than they were accustomed to. Many ex-roid guys I know have a range of joint issues today from their previous drug use.
He went from 155 in 1996 to 180 in 2003. He is 185 14 years later.
I find it as a slim chance at best. He introduced drug testing to the sport and look at him. He went from 6'0" 155 to 6'0" 185 in 7 years. 185 isn't some massive number, It's not like he went from 155 to 230 in 2 years. He has hit 1000 golf balls a day on top of a few hours of exercise for 20 years. Most people in that situation will eventually have knee and (arthritic) hand problems. I think what took him over the edge was training with the seals when he was over 30 to begin with. I also think he's a pussy with his injury excuses.
All that being said, I would not so quickly disregard it when you consider he is one of the most competitive, ego-centric, and insecure guys in the history of sports.
Anyone else think Tiger just withdrew because he knew he would miss the cut?
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