Round 4: World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship
March 13 2011
4:20 pm
Woods takes step forward with 66
DORAL, Fla. — Sunday was easily the best round of the week for Tiger Woods, who closed with a 6-under 66 that seems to have signaled another step closer to where Woods ultimately wants to get to.
“I hit a lot of good golf shots and when I did miss‑hit one, I knew what the fix was right away, boom and I got right back on my run of hitting good shots again,” Woods said. “That feels good.”
So did a round that included seven birdies, just one bogey and plenty of up-and-downs that had been missing from Woods’ game.
Woods also took just 25 putts — in part because of a much-improved short game that is undergoing the same transformation his full swing is.
”Those are key, to be able to keep the momentum in the rounds going,” said Woods, who didn’t miss a putt from inside 10 feet after missing nine from inside 10 feet the last two rounds combined.
”It’s definitely getting better, there’s no doubt. I’m putting the pieces together. Everything is kind of shaping up and heading the right direction, which is good, and peaking right at the right time, right for Tavistock Cup (laughing).”
All kidding aside, Woods feels like his game is rounding into form in time for the Masters, where he finished fourth a year ago. It also helps his confidence tremendously, Woods admitted, to have the kind of round he did on Sunday.
“I had not played a round like this,” Woods said. “I’ve played stretches like this in a round but not for an entire round.”
As for his switch from his Scotty Cameron putter to the Nike Method putter, which he used a few times last year and put in the bag for the weekend here, Woods said it was because the ball comes off the face hotter, which is something he needs for slower, grainy greens.
He may continue to use it, too, if they can shave down the grooves on the face so the ball doesn’t come off as fast for a place like Augusta National.
Speaking of the Masters, when asked if he likes his chances there this year, Woods simply smiled and said, “Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.” — Brian Wacker
Leave your comment
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner - SI Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 
Love it! Fantastic round.
watched most of tiger’s round today and he still seems a little steep on his swing, maybe that is the the new process that will take its time. Apart from that he putted superbly, hit some beauty iron shots and in all truth left a couple of shots out there. Before all the regular Tiger bandwagon bashers rear their dark side, remember 6 under today and had he had another one of them during the week would of been there or there about, looked pretty good today, good signs
good signs for the masters
Well done tiger
who cares? back in the pack with no pressure. if he shot another 66 earlier he’d be right there. well he didn’t so whats the point?
i think you answered your own point there doug!!!! quite obviously trying too hard!!!!!!
Doug…. At what point will you acknowledge that of all Tiger’s indiscretions, negative personality traits, and the fact that he’s an all-around bad guy, the one thing he’ll never have to prove is that he can handle the pressure. To say he shot 66 because there was no heat from the back of the pack could mean that you’re not a golf fan or a sports fan, as only those two types could not have heard of Tiger’s golf resume….
you make a lot of good points Gail,personally Doug is obviously a Tiger basher, played exceptionally well today and will go into the more laid back tavistock cup pretty confidant about his game. I know he has’nt comitted to bay hill yet but he will. If their is anyone who knows their way around augusta it certainly would be foolish too write Tiger out of that event. Over here in England i cant wait too see the guy rub the doubters noses in it , top ten as i write, not bad considering he is washed up (allegedly).
Gail, so Tiger’s an all around bad guy? You must know him personally to make that kind of assessment. Oh, you don’t? Then do you know what kind of person his ex was? Oh, you don’t know her either? Then it’s rather stupid of you to be making a comment like that, don’t you think? Personally, I’d put money on you being a far worse person, based on your comment, than Tiger Woods is. Why do you Tiger bashers put so much of your energy into hatred? If you don’t like him, why are you reading articles about him?
wow one good round lol
Matt like myself is obviously a real golf and tiger fan.I think he will win committ to bay hill and i think he might just win it too..not sure if he has the confidence to win the masters but he will have a good year.he has to start using the nike putter..the scotty cameron is useless for him now.I will be watching the masters in 3D :D and wow..wouldnt it be great to see tiger put on another green jacket!caaaannnt waaaaiiiitt!!
Where is Phil?
I am not a Tiger basher. He is pretty much my favourite player. I usually don’t even bother watching golf unless he is playing. I agree completely with Doug. Tiger’s swing sucks, and it has for a long time, long before his personal problems. In fact it has been far from great ever since he left Butch. Certainly his record has been unparalleled over the past several years, but that has been despite his full swing, not because of it. I closely watched the development of his swing changes since the 1997 masters, watched him set out what the problems were with his master’s winning swing, and watched him set out the specific things that he wanted to change (some of which I adopted, with surprising success). Go back to 1998 and watch golf channel clips of this, look at his swing plane, backswing, wrist break, and listen to what he and butch were trying to accomplish, and then look at his performance in 1999 and 2000. I think the last time he hit a fairway was some time in 2000 or early 2001 (and no I don’t mean that literally, but when he left butch and went to faldo’s quack after that he reverted back to his pre-1999 swing flaws that had him (a) pushing drives and long irons, (b) hooking drives and long irons, and (c) having very inconsistent distance on his short irons…which has continued ever since). When was the last time he won a US open by 15 shots? He was still the best before his fall from grace, but he was not nearly as good as he was before, at least his swing was not; his overall performance as I mentioned was clearly stellar, largely due to his course management, the fact that his short iron swing did not change much with his new inferior swings, and his short game/putting (which really is amazing…I can still remember watching Tiger hit more great flop shots in one tournament than Mickelboobs hit in the average season). Taking the club inside with a skewed stance, loopy wrist break, and a left arm plane that is below his shoulder plane at the top of his backswing will keep him in mediocrity, with the occasional great performance when his timing is on. Please dont believe a word that I say, just go back to tapes of him and butch on the golf channel after his 1997 masters win, and listen to Tiger and Butch say these things themselves.
he will come good back end of this year, early next. Look at his harmon transition and haney transition. 1-2 years of awful play and then strings of 6+ wins and 6-8 majors. Another one of these runs is in the making, just watch…
jesus wonton that was an epic (lol), proof is in the pudding and he finished top 10, i agree his swing leaves a lot too be desired, far to steep. When Tiger plays within himself i.e his natural talent… he is still unbeatable in my opinion, and when he does this it is the best golf swing too watch
I do not understand why the commentators put Tiger and Phil in the same sentence; you would think that they both turned pro the same year and had been competing in a heated rivalry from the start. I’m somewhat surprised that Butch was able to make Tiger #1 in the OWGR but not Phil.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the big head dip is gone.
When Tiger in the past has had problems with his swing the head dip became pronounced. So it seems to me that he’s now close to playing great golf again.
I think the bad shots now just come as a result of Tiger’s old swing thoughts or patterns still not being totally eliminated. Which leads to some funky swings.
BTW does anybody talk about how Harrington has now struggled for over 2 years since changing a swing that won 3 majors?
AMAZING!! Tiger will roar again!! Love it- Tiger…
Tiger didn’t go to Faldo’s quack(Leadbetter). He went to O’Meara’s quack(Haney). Which to me is because Hank has a swing method that leads to consistent drawing of the ball.
Tiger’s weakness had always been drawing his driver. A shot he needed in the 3rd round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield when he shot 81. That’s basically the round that caused Tiger to switch to Haney. Butch told Tiger they had nothing left to work on. So Tiger said fine. SEE YA!!!
Excellent point Gary
I would be cautious in saying that the tigre is back. Lets see what happens at bayhill. I hope that phill is using these tournaments as preps for the masters but I am wondering if he has lost a bit of game since last years masters. He has been playing sub par for too long now/
A few dead enders left out there. One round doesn’t make a season but it’s a good start. What happened to Phil? He said he is going to play Bay Hill, he really needs to. Both he and Tiger need to. Where are all the euro lovers out there? The big number 1. They seem to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Maybe next week. Look out Tiger haters the end is near. Foly is also the coach for Mahen.
Wonton, went to sleep on that one too long.
Gary, that 81 was wind and rain aided.
Like I said yesterday, again a pretender won a tournament. Where was Kaymer,Lee, Phil, Rory,or ???????. No, Tiger did not win but I’ll lay a bet that the pack was watching and wondering.
wonton….you are a quack. Tiger’s swing was arguably the most consistent from 2007-2009…Sure, point to his erratic driving…I will give you that…but his iron play (long irons included) and his fairway woods were PHENOMENAL…lousy distance control with the short irons??? Are you on crack?! The guy lead almost every year in GIR despite missing 40% of his fairways in that stretch…At Cog Hill in 09 he hit 90% of the fairways for the week, although as I said his driver tends to be his biggest problem. People forget how superhuman his putting in the 2000 US Open was…If you are going to put a tourney from that time period to mark his ball striking by it was the British Open, not the US…And even Jack Nicklaus said the swing Tiger had in the 2005 British was the most controlled he had ever seen. Tiger was awesome with Butch, no doubt. But Tiger never won 23-31 events with Butch, including 7 in a row from the end of 06-07. That was under Haney.
Get a life dude.
Except that if this was a full-field event…his first two rounds would have left him missing the cut. I love how he only plays in events where he can’t miss cuts. Oh yeah, that’s right…his kids control his schedule-making.
He is doing worse than he did last year, by comparable statistics. So enjoy his fleeting fame while he still is able to play competitive golf. It’s too bad the PGA Tour has a “lifetime exemption” policy. It really should be revised, because Tiger is stinking up the joint.
Joe , does that go for Phil too? Or are you just another hater?
one good round?? hmmm..fact:
over 72 holes:
outplayed Phil
outplayed Kaymer
outplayed GMac
outplayed Westwood
Other than Donald…he outplayed everyone ahead of him in the world rankings an “most” but not all of the top 10 in general…
He also didn’t “mail it in” (as people like to accuse), tied with Fowler for the lowest round of the day, kept his streak of top 10 at doral going. There were a lot of positives for putting up a good round on sunday even though he wasn’t going to win.
Joe…you’re just plain full of of it…and now you’re smoking your panties
Tiger is not back….but he will be…this tournament proved to me he could still beat most players with what WILL be his C/D game…had he made those putts inside 10 ft…he would have been right there…despite missing fairways, etc…his GIR was right up there…He was RIGHT THERE with a chance to contend in this thing…the putting killed him.
lol Mike….Joe: this World Golf Championship tournament doesn’t have a cut because it’s for the top 60 something in the world…which despite not winning in 20 straight events, Tiger is still #5 in the world…what”s that you say? 20 straight? what a hack, right? Problem is it’s the same number for Rory, and for Phil too….so I guess the Euro wonder and real life family guy suck too? You aren’t even the 5th best player on your own street I bet. If you are going to hate Tiger, at least come up with some decent stuff, but not him picking tourneys without cuts…that is a serious fail.
Gary, that 81 was wind and rain aided.
Yes it was. But the point is that lots of the holes that day played against the worst wind for a right handed golfer. A hard left to right crosswind to be exact. The guys who were able to draw their driver against it played ok that afternoon. The morning shift had better conditions.
Regardless I have no doubt that Tiger came away from that round knowing he still needed to work on a consistent swing where he could draw his driver when needed.
Through his time with Hank I would say Tiger never really got much better at that. Certainly as mentioned above he played at a high level. But the driver draw swing never really clicked in. As we saw at The British Open at Turnberry when again he played poorly on the holes with a hard left to right crosswind and missed the cut. Which BTW is also a big reason why Tom Watson played so well. He has that draw swing with his driver and played well with the wind.
To be honest when the wind blows hard at the British that’s when you really see weak spots in even the great players games. Tiger has won 3 British Opens. But none in hard playing conditions.
Tiger is the man but his lack of ability to draw his driver when it’s called for has hurt him in the past. Part of the problem you see now is a new swing that’s getting mixed in still with one that he never really perfected.
Tiger will get the old swing thoughts and moves erased from his muscle memory and then he will dominate again. Like I said above. The head dip is gone. So he is close. Really that means the confidence is there with the new swing method but old habits on the course die hard. You see some bad shots because of an impact position that’s just a tiny bit off. So he’s close.
Joe, Tiger’s first event last season was??? As for Tiger’s Sunday 66, that’s gotta sting a little, I’m betting. Keep spewing your nonsensical drivel, you’re clearly an informed, knowledgeable source, we hold our collective breath in anticipation of your clever observations. Do attempt where possible to include facts, in context, if that’s not too much trouble. GO TIGER!!!
Gary: you are making too much sense be making comments here.
And don’t even get me started on Westwood – the bloke has won one tournament in the same period Woods has gone winless, and that was thanks to Garrigus gift-wrapping the St Jude for him.
stranger, pointing out the odd anomalous week for certain stats does nothing to counter my point, but as I said ignore what I say and go look at what Tiger himself says about certain aspects of his swing, why he wanted to change them, what happened when he fixed them, and what happened when his ego got in the way of his brain and he went to Haney (thanks for correcting me Gary) and went back to the inside loopy backswing the set him up for pushes and hooks off his driver and long irons and inconsistent distance on his short irons. As for GIR, why don’t you look at his average distance from the hole on his short irons. All of those kick-ins we saw during his last few years as an amateur and first several as a pro were few and far between…luckily he is a great putter. As for his great long irons, how are his eagle stats compared to others since 2001? I have not looked, but I assume they are not as good as they should be for someone so long off the tee/with irons and with such unbelievable talent.
Gary sorry about that, it was Haney (it was my other perennial favourite Norman who went to Ledbetter, who appeared to have asked Norman to wear a skirt and stop knocking the face off the ball, with poor results). He has certainly excelled despite poor driving and long irons, I just wish he would re-test his old driver/long iron swing and see what he could do.
lol
Here is another thing to think about.
Tiger is basically the ultimate shot maker. He always will play the shot that is required. I would say if he was the type of player who mostly played 1 shot then this all would have clicked in faster. So it’s just taking a bit longer. But when it does then look out.
An example was today when Tiger had a 2nd shot to a Par 5 with an iron of about 260 yards. Tiger played a shot that maybe if pulled off perfectly would have required a 15 yard draw to the back left pin. Instead he drew it 13 to 14 yards and had an almost impossible to get close bunker shot. He ended up getting a par as opposed to having a legit eagle putt.
So that’s how close you can be sometimes to playing great.
It’s going to take a while for Tiger to understand Foley’s methods. I don’t really understand some of the angles he has been instructing Tiger to do, but he’s the teacher, not me. I would love to see Tiger refold his elbows and recock his wrists on the follow through like he used to. He does it on some shots, but you can tell he’s trying to guide the ball with a low-rounded finish when he’s uncomfortable. Of course, 66 is still awesome. Go get ‘em Tiger!
Gary…right on…its not just swing mechanics…he himself said several weeks ago he’s trying to incorporate these into quite a number of shots he has to make…low, high, draw, fade, and many others
It’s hard to get a swing close to perfect. but it’s easy to criticize someone who is trying to do it.
Tiger keep the feel till US Master, well done!
Wonton….you no clue 4th in gir he put average you look fool. How butch taste… you go boom boom long time soldier boy.
Hey Stranger,,what’s your last name?
than fiction?
Afraid to post a real name? haha
I don’t recall all those stats, but this one i know for sure:- if added up all the weeks of players who have made to #1 OWGR from 1997, their total number of weeks in #1 is still insignificant compared to what Tiger has accomplished. So, don’t compare heros to legend.
WOW, despite all the scrutiny Tiger is making good progress. Tied for 10 is nothing to sneeze at witha field that includes the top 60 golfers in the world. Think about it, he didn’t even play his best and ended up ahead of Kaymer, Westwood, Mickelson and Mcdowell, so yeah, don’t scratch out Tiger just yet. I give him two/three more tournaments before he wins again.
it was good to see tiger play well today. He didnt really drive the ball well all week but if he had putted better, i do believe he could have been in contention. He had a number of putts on thurs, fri, and sat that he should have nailed. he burned the edges on many holes during those days. if he had made half of them, its a different ball game. I am however tired of all those commentators talking about how great the euros are. While good, we still have a number of great players here in the states. I dont think it will be too long before more americanos are back in the top ten!
luv it tiger….keep it up…hope to see u win more grandslams..
Sorry jumped ahead aftr reading the moron who said Tiger went to a “Faldo-quack” and has been pushing and pull drives and long irons and has been very inconsistent with his short irons…hmm..why dont you try ..oh hey, this website..pgatour.com..go take a look at the statistics on tiger’s short iron game from 06-08 and then try to come back here and sell that BS. No wait, wait..I’m guessing you are still right..the results don’t mean anything..he was just the best iron player for 3 years straight on tour with that swing…but yeah, you know what you are talking about
Two Comments: You all are forgetting that Tiger’s fellow competitors are not exactly standing still waiting for him to regain his prior dominance. There are several dozen emerging and established world class golfers out there who are hungry and capable of reaching the top. The competition is much deeper than even 5 years ago. Secondly, Tiger’s game isn’t close to what it was in even his mediocre years and, let’s face it, his skills are eroding. Whether he will regain his form is highly debatable; another major? Out of the question.
One good round with no pressure! Yeah he is back…. NOT! The guy is toast. To many young guns out there and Tiger`s run has been over for a year now.
MMM, yeah his run was over for more than that between late 97 and early 99 and late mid 03 to mid 05…but…this time its for certain! All that constant talk about golfers reaching their prime in their early to mid 30s has always been BS right? Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer? Who are they? They don’t know crap right? Let’s face it, Tiger was nobody before Elin…oh wait…its the other way around..What exactly makes you think Tiger won’t be anything after Elin? Get a grip on reality people. There is absolutely NO evidence that Tiger is washed up. Just hope by a bunch of either jealous people, racist people, angry people or just plain angry jealous racist people. Spare us your hateful hopes.
any you are harry….potter?? Tiger haters 15 years from now will be saying, “well I know he had 20 majors and 86 tour wins, but he was on the juice and he had no real competition”. Give it a break guys, he will go down as the best and even if you don’t agree with that he will go down as top 3 undisputed. The guy has accomplished more by 35 than all but two golfers have their entire career!
Bien Joué Tigrou….La prochaine compet sera la bonne !
Jack had one 14 majors by age 31, Tiger one his 14th at age 33. Jack was second in majors 27 times! Tiger has maybe a couple of majors in him left at best. Everyone raves he’s the greatest ever, but statistics don’t verify that. He’s yet to prove he’s better than Jack and probably won’t manage to, seeing he’s got his demons on his back now. It must be hard facing the public with everyone knowing he cheated on his wife over 100 times and now he’s all about ‘family’! Give me a break!
Aaron you are right Tiger was on the juice. The PGA tour waited untill after his surgery to test. It is common knowledge among tour players and Caddies. The Doctor he used was busted for roids. So the only one he didnt help was Tiger!! Yeah right.
Tiger who? One round, whoopie.
Rock seems to have rock between his ears.
George is wired to the moon!! Lets all talk about how many times Jack finished 2nd (why does that make him the best ever?) basically Westwood! And it was 19 majors he finished 2nd in.. check before you speak!! We are all at the old cheating arn’t we?! Tiger is male and thats what males do.. fact! Role on Augusta! ITWT!
some good points and tiger is a proven winner but not with swing version 3 – he hasn’t even contented with this swing unless you count the chevron but not sure i would.
it is a valid argument to suggest 66 in round 4 in middle of the pack proves nothing and to certain extent tiger is given no leeway as he set such high standards, as a winner not as a person just for clarity.
im sure he will get back to winning eventually but i dont see him getting 19 now. i hope he does as id love to see history been made – hopefully if he does achieve it he displays some humility and grace.
Creo que Jack Nicklaus fue el mejor de la Era Jurasica del golf, donde los dirigentes de la PGA eran seres discriminadores (ya que no dejaban al publico comun ver los eventos de golf) y colonialistas, (ya que el mismo Jack es dueño de campos en mi patagonia argentina , seguramente comprado en una “OFERTA” que le habra hecho algun politico corrupto de mi pais).
Tiger Woods es un “HOMBRE” joven de verdad que tuvo mayores logros que el dinosaurio anterior, ya que comparemos que la competitividad actual es cada vez mas dura , sumando la tecnologia, cada logro de cualquier jugador se valora muchisimo. Hablando de Tiger Su vida privada es SU vida privada , no tiene nada que ver con lo deportivo.Ademas hablando del tema creo que ELIN fue una trepadora que le saco 750 millones de dolares, buen negocio para un divorcio, ademas de rebajarlo como hombre, y lo destruyo animica y economicamente.
Esto comprueba que ella nunca lo amo, a mi manera de ver.
Con respecto a su juego, para mi lo mejor que tendria que hacer es cambiar de caddie, (yo fui caddie desde los 12 hasta los 22 años)y elegir a un chico nuevo que tenga experiencia.
Creo que el volvera a los primeros planos porque se lo merece como el mejor golfista de todos los tiempos, ademas porque ayudo mucho a la gente mas humilde sin estar obligado, y porque popularizo un juego tan hermoso como es el golf.
GO TIGER GO
from Argentine
Hola y buenos dias a todos los parlantes de habla hispana, creo que debemos seguir dando muestras de apoyo a TW pues él le puso pasion por el juego en un tiempo en que como dice el tocayo eran unos pocos los que seguian las acciones del tour, por otro lado he dicho que ya está buenos de hablar de la vida privada de TW oprque son acciones privadas; su juego de ayer fué bueno como el mismo dice porque fué consistente y no por tramos como otra veces; reitero mi opinión de que pronto él tomará el juego por donde debe y de nuevo lo ovacionaremos como el Tiger que es, en verdad él debe plantearse unos cambios, pero son su desición, gracias.
A 66 from back in the pack where he had no chance. No big deal here. How many 67 were shot from back in the pack with no mention by the writers?
So Tiger had one good round this year. A blind squirrel even finds a nut once in awhile.
I’m not very good at predicting the future of Tigers game, but I’m sure none of you are either. These are not predictions,they are hopes and dreams. From lovers and haters all, just wait and see what happens.
I know you hate to think that his future is not in your hands.
Nice round but remember her hit two drives under 200 yards and one of them went 122. Are you kidding me? And he has shot rounds like this before so he is delusional, I don’t think he believes in the swing and BTW Butch went 1-2 this weekend including 2 pressure shots and a put on 18 for watney and dustin ran right up behind him. Oh yeah for you “he is a pressure player” people he was downed by graeme at his own tourny, yang got him in ’09. The clothes are off the emporer and he doesn’t care. He is a family man, just like Jack there are bigger things in the world than smashing alittle white ball around.
I don’t really care how good a golfer he is,or used to be good I have no respect for this pig.You don’t cheated on your wife to a dozen skanky women like that,that’s just not acceptable.I hope he will continue to struggle until he retire.
for the appologists out there nobody has done it better over 10 years than tiger, there I said it. Happy? It’s a matter of age, swing change (when not needed), his excuses (which you NEVER heard before), deciding that family actually matters, and the competition not crumbling like a bunch of teenage girls at the sight of Justin Beiber. Yes, I just said that!
lucy— In the name of the almighty Jesus H. Christ, “let he without sin cast the first stone”, or if you aren’t religious always remember to care for your glass house when throwing stones. We wouldn’t have redemption without first making a mistake.
tiger needs to crawl back to butch with his tail between his legs and beg for forgiveness, when he was with butch the difference in his swing between then and now is like comparing caviar to cabbage,
Lucy, I feel very sorry for you. I hope you find happiness in your miserable life. That kind of hate can only come from a scorned woman.
Tiger played very well on sunday. If he could play the first three like that then maybe he will be a shadow of what he used to be. I look forward to seeing him at the top of the leaderboard next time
It was a great round. hey you Tiger bashers let us get the fact straight. He is #3 all time golf winners. He has 14 Majors under his belt. He has won more PGA tournaments before he was 30 than most of the twenty something today combined. He is still 34 years of age. Has at least 7-10 more years of good golf left. He will surpass Nicholas and possibly post 83+ tournaments before he is through. Let us give him a break.
Tiger’s No. 5 seeding is very deceptive. He has lost more points in 2011 then anyone in the top 50 and he’s only gained 15.178 points this year, which isn’t even in the top 30 for points gained. With the limited schedule that he plays his ranking is going to plummet.
He is 35 with a bum leg and lost his edge he was holding on to tight just like Cougar and at least 10 guys are looking to be Top Gun!
Lucy has a point. The public view of Woods (which was largely mythical) is in the dumper, and will never recover to previous heights. However, most guys don’t care about that. They just want to see him play well. He putted well on Sunday, and shot 66. That was the story. My only comment going forward is that Doral is not a very tough course (34th hardest on tour) and Wood’s wayward driving could spell trouble on the tougher courses.
I think Wonton is mostly right. Tiger before 2000 was a much better golfer. Obviously he worked better with Butch. Nevertheless there seems to be a trend towards a flatter swing plane. Mat Kuchar is perhaps the best example and living proof that consistency can come from a single plane and a flat backswing.
I don’t know what Tiger’s obsession is with constantly changing his fundamentals. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Look at Jack, even today he continues to swing essentially as he did throughout his career. He never really changed. Ben Hogan did and he began to win but he did not have the kind of success before his transformations as he acheived after. In his case change was necessary.
As far as Tiger bashing goes, I think he deserves a fair amount of criticism. His personal life is his business but most of the bashing is the result of the public image he has projected over the years. Let’s face it he does not come accross like a nice guy. As he would say: “it is what it is”. Plus, he set himself up for this.
To criticize is fair, but to hate with this kind of deft is not right. He isn’t Hitler.
Agree with Jay, even if he only averages 1 win per year for the rest of his career he’ll top out at 80+. Throw in 4 – 5 majors to go with it and your are easily talking 85 – 90 total wins. And BTW for anyone who says he is not the best or even in the top three, the closest active players to his accomplishments are Phil M. and V.J. whom only have 1/2 of his win totals. After that it’s Davis Love with a little over a quarter then Els, Furyk, Couples and Pavin all a 1/4 or less.
Please, stop mixing private life and golf.
Try to evaluate Tiger when he plays, and not when he doesn’t, due to surely real family duties with his kids.
Those who cannot understand it, probably don’t even know what a family going through a divorce means.
To all Tiger’s haters: get a life, while all the real sport fans wait (and someone hope) to see a great golfer trying his best to break the most difficult to beat world record.
Don, right now he isn’t top three….heck he is barely holding on to top five and unless he starts putting together some wins he is going to fall out of the top 10 and probably out of the top 20 before year end.
Throwing around useless facts about what he accomplished years ago doesn’t help his current standing. Heck in 2010 Bill Haas had more wins then Phil and Tiger combined. Doesn’t really mean a darn thing does it?
For me personally, Tiger is the worst thing that ever happened to golf.
I think tiger has done for golf a great deal, he took the average poor or middle class family and gave there kids a chance that a dream can come true. Lets face it, golf is boring and might be fun to play, but boring to watch. But how many kids from the farm towns of america knew much about golf, before tiger was all over the tv. lets face it, there is more rural america, then big cities.
Any people people have trouble dealing with fame and power, especially at a young age. Ya forget about majic johnson and so many other people out there cheating on there wife and ect, even Micheal jordan could not dominate all the time. and that was a team built around his talent. Golf is all up to that person, we all have good days and bad days. And surgery and injuries take time to heal and he gets older and newer better players show up, doing amazing things. If he gets his right head back into the game and works harder at it, then partying he could be top ranked again, if not, hopefully top 10.
Scott, not one pro golfer out there will agree with you. Since you make a living from playing golf, you don’t care how much money they make. Purses are a lot higher now with Tiger than it would have been without him. That’s a fact . Go peddle your hate somewhere else.
For me personally, Tiger is the worst thing that ever happened to golf.
—-
Have to agree with Jim, no pro golfer will agree. Tiger is single-handidily responsible for taking golf to an insane level is terms of prize money and he will have also inspired a lot of young players eg. fowler, mcilroy etc. His positive impact is undeniable but I believe the game would survive without him no problem, the TV deal and prize funds might take a small hit but I think golf is in good health.
I dont think the media does a good job of reflecting the level of public interest in Tiger, I think they are way more interested in him than the average viewer/reader is hence the feeling of saturation coverage of Tiger. For example, on a Sunday when Tiger isnt in contention and doing nothing special he shouldn’t be in the coverage so much, I want to see meaningful shot/putts.
I don’t see anyone else with 85 comments on any other subject. The coverage is justified.
It seems you both miss the part where I said for me personally. I completely agree that other pro golfers are happy as a pig in mud but all that Tiger has done for me is make television coverage of golf unbearable to watch and make it impossible to get a tee time.
I think Nike has as big a part as tiger does in taking golf to this insane level. They are the ones that stepped up and got Tiger signed to a huge sponsorship deal and marketed the hell out of him. Nike wasn’t even interested in golf before they saw the potential in signing Tiger. Nike put tiger in front of everyone and sold him to the world.
Tiger Woods takes a lot of flack for things that are totally out of his control, The Insane Media.
Woods does not operate or instruct he TV Cameras to follow his every step, nor does he call in and tell the Commentators and Analysts to all turn into Middle School Gossip Queens, to Micro-Analyze every single shoot he Hits while ignoring 95% of the rest of the field. So if you want to say things like Tiger Woods is the worst thing Ever happen to Golf, that’s just stupid! The Tabloid Media is the Worst Thing that Ever Happened to Golf!
Rosco, you are right that its not Tiger’s fault that the golf media has made him the only face in golf but the only reason the media keeps showing him is because that’s what people want. Tiger takes the flack because true golf fans can’t go and yell at the idiots who only want to see tiger. Its not really tiger that everyone is upset at….its the tiger fans who are just tiger fans and not golf fans.
Jim, the only reason there is so many comments is because of the media coverage. Take the media coverage away and the comments stop. If the media treated tiger like every other golfer then we would only see Tiger when he is deserving of coverage. When was the last time the No. 5 player in the world got a news article written about him because he shot a 66 and finished 10th? If the constant tiger in your face coverage goes away then you loose the Tiger Only fans….which personally, I think is better for the game of golf.
Scott, if your problem is Tiger’s coverage, why don’t you just shut down the tv and get out playing?! I play a lot, read a lot, watch a lot of golf, Tiger is not my favourite player but I don’t care about his overexposure: at least his phenomenon made golf a little more affordable for the masses (outside US, where the game wasn’t so popular), and as I wrote before, watching someone trying to break the Golden Bear’s record doesn’t happen every now and then!
To all tiger’s bandwagon basher… don’t write him off just yet. Why wasting time ranitng here? Form is temporary, class is permanent. Tiger never cease to thrill and amaze us. Just wait and see. 2 majors in this season!
Lucy…love him for who he is, not who you want him to be. Go get a life!
fiber, I can’t really get out golfing when there is snow on the ground :). Its hard to watch golf when every second shot is Tiger. Most tournaments that tiger is in I don’t even bother watching anymore. I find it much more enjoyable watching the tournaments he is not in. I don’t know about where you live but where I live the cost of golf has gone through the roof because demand has gone through the roof with people who want to be like tiger. Last year my buddy and I were paired up with these two guys who both had tiger head covers and the only golf talk they could muster up was about tiger. It was obvious they hadn’t golfed much before we even saw them swing (they were both wearing jeans, running shoes and red nike golf shirts). Once they tried and I mean tried to hit the golf ball we knew we were in for a long day. To make things even worse, when we got to the first green they drove their golf cart right onto the green.
You make a good point about new so called golfers not caring to learn the etiquette of the game. That’s what the marshals should be trying to look out for. Youth always trying to find a short cut to everything.
Jim , u really love tiger don’t you?
Jason, no ,I just don’t believe in hating anyone just because I don’t care for their personal life .I don’t hate any athlete, but I do respect talent and Tiger has more than any other golfer that I’ve ever seen.
Scott, sorry for answering so late but I’ve been playing…:)
What you’re talking about is surely true, but it’s not Tiger’s fault.
In Italy, where I live, golf is getting more popular (and cheaper, and less snobbish) also thanks to his phenomenon: there are more public courses around and, as downside, also more people with no etiquette understanding.
But you can’t deny that if he can be back on track, his race for Nicklaus’ record will be fun.