Letter | Tiger Woods: A stalled career
Editor’s note: Tiger Woods is scheduled to return to golf this week at the Masters Tournament after missing several weeks on tour. Next week, the celebrity-studded “Monday After The Master’s” will be held in Myrtle Beach.
No matter the golf topic, today’s PGA Tournament media story lines keep focusing upon the play of Tiger Woods, all questioning what’s happened to the world’s former No. 1 player’s game as he continues to tumble down, reaching the encroaching age of 39 (in December), and what physical injuries have done to him. He’s undergone five surgeries on his ailing back.
In retrospect, many of us ‘ole’ timers still remember how amazed we were when Tiger appeared on “The Johnny Carson Show” at the age of 5, watching him hit shots off a rubber mat with father Carl looking on. And we’ve been watching him ever since, no matter how well he’s playing.
Tiger is now nearing his 20th consecutive season playing professional golf at its highest level. During that time, he’s won 79 Tour events and 14 majors in 322 official tournaments. He remains more interesting than anybody who is winning. He, not even playing, commands more attention than the whole of the field that is.
He was ranked No. 1 for a record 683 weeks, ending 12 different seasons on top, and lodged in the top ten for a record 786 consecutive weeks from 1997 —2011.
But now he struggles to even break par, misses 36-hole cuts, walks off several times and fails to play his way into tournaments. No one ever imagined him playing worse. Now, ranked at No. 104 in the world, it is his worst ranking since before his first PGA Tournament event in 1996.
With all that said, to me there are a few profound reasons for his current struggles, all of which have occurred within the previous few years of Tiger’s game.
It’s not just his approaching 39 years of age and the physical ailments, but also, as he admitted, he has a diminished desire and commitment to practice. Further, his hiring of three swing consultants, which resulted in 5 swing changes, affected his game, all of this occurring within a three year period.
It’s time for Tiger to realize that no swing coach knows his swing better than he knows his own swing. What he needs to do is stop hiring swing coaches, recommit to practice and get back to the pinnacle of his game.
One thing about Woods’ career will never change. We’re all going to continue watching the man in red and black on Sunday’s final day. The focus will always be on his play and he will continue to be more interesting than anybody who is in contention or winning.
The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.
This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Letter | Tiger Woods: A stalled career."