Opinion: No one seems to know exactly what's wrong, least of all Tiger Woods. But at some point the pendulum is going to swing back in the other direction.
Article Source: NBC SportsWhat are the odds that Woods is done? Zero
Seeded on Mon Aug 9, 2010 10:13 PM EDT (NBC Sports)
— Filed under: sports, golf, tiger-woods, michael-jordan, phil-mickelson, corey-pavin, paul-azinger, curtis-strange
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This article is just another suck up to Woods... for which he does not deserve right now.
First of all, I don't know if anyone not sucking up to him would call Woods the most talented golfer in the world... after all, even when he was winning a lot he would hit more then his fair share of wayward shots. But what made him so dominant was his confidance that he was the best, and no one was going to beat him... and not to mention his confidence with the putter. All the skill in the world will never win a tournament without the confidence to put it together... and thats the problem for Woods. At the start of the year it might have been more a mix of personal and mental issues, its quickly becoming a huge confidence problem more so then anything.
The BIG problem is that once you lose that confidence, there is no promise its coming back, especially with the putter... and every bad round Woods plays it gets worse and worse. David Duval is a great example of a world class golfer who has gone from number 1 in the world to a guy who can't make a cut to save his life. Its not that his swing fell apart and he forgot to play... but because he lost his confidence and his desire to play. Woods is very much in danger of having the same thing happen to him, and his own talk lately, while honest, is not an encouraging sign for thoughs on the Woods bandwagon.
Lets not forget that Woods was having issues back in 2009 before he attacked the fire hydrant. Sure he won six times, but his performance in the majors (all that matter to Woods) was sub-par and he "Collapsed" by his standards in the PGA championship (props to Yang he played very well)... which showed cracks in his game, persona, and confidence. Woods was seen as beatable, and perhaps not as dominant anymore... which would have been the topic of conversation at the Masters this year if not for everything else. Add on all that's happened and how bad hes playing this year... and his confidance very well might never return to where it was before, leaving him ordinary and beatable... if he doesn't just retire.
I'm not saying I would write Woods of as David Duval2.0... but this is not as simple as "Hes playing bad, but he'll be back". He lost his un-beatable personal BEFORE the scandal that has since destroyed his game, and his actions and words show a man who only vaguely remembers what its like to have anything resembling confidantes. With all things being equal I think the Woods fanboys are just to use to how dominate he was and can't accept that he simply might not be back... because to say its "WHEN not IF" shows a complete ignoring of the facts.
Well, what exactly is "confidence", or more importantly, where does it come from? Tiger has (or had) confidence, because of a life-time of excellence. There's actually substance behind that confidence (shall we say golf talent?). You know why I don't have that confidence? (If I can only buy that confidence from Walmart, but I doubt that will help me much even if I had it.) He might not be the straightest driver out there, but that's really moot - it's the whole package that counts, in other words, it's the score (be it putter, short game, scramble, bunker save, you name it. Whatever gets you) that counts. And you should know the scores for the last 12 some years. You can look it up how many times he's won the lowest scoring average for the season (Vardon trophy? Something like that).
Now at this point, it might look like he's lost his way, or his confidence. But did he really lose his grip on the golf clubs, or how to play golf as he knows if for life? I don't think so - nothing a 3-month hiatus and plenty of practice sessions can't fix. I say 5-6 win in 2011.
I certainly wouldn't put the odds that he's done at zero. I fully expect that he's going to retire from golf sometime in 2011.
Tiger Woods & Mike Myers will go on SNL - the search for Tiger's lost mojo!
I agree. Woods is a legitimate phenomenon. It's like saying a concert pianist has lost his ability to play. At the age of three he was demonstrating his prowess to the likes of Bob Hope, something that can be seen on utube. That talent is still there; and when it does come back, watch out!
When Tiger is out of the hunt, half the television audience vanishes. There's not a golf professional out there whose not praying he gets back. Without him, those prize purses are going to evaporate.
While I am a frustrated Duval fan, I think it is a bit unfair (and inaccurate) to say Duval "can't make a cut to save his life". He has, in all likelihood, already secured his tour card for next year and finished second in a tournament early in the season... In fact, his game may come back before Tiger's!
You can tell that he's lost his MOJO.
I am a great Tiger fan but unless he wins a major next year (the only thing that drives him), I can see him retiring. Fingers cross therefore that he solves his outside problems asap and get back to some serious golf and confidence building.