He's injured right now. He was clearly the best player in 2009 after coming off knee-surgery although he didn't win a major.
2010 was obviously a tough year for him and he still had some looks at the top of the leaderboard, lost in a playoff to McDowell at the last stop of the year IIRC.
2011 he has been up and down, great showing at the Masters, but he's played some terrible golf too. Still lots of time to turn it around this year, I'm pretty positive he's got lots left in the tank once he gets his swing sorted out.
He's injured right now. He was clearly the best player in 2009 after coming off knee-surgery although he didn't win a major.
2010 was obviously a tough year for him and he still had some looks at the top of the leaderboard, lost in a playoff to McDowell at the last stop of the year IIRC.
2011 he has been up and down, great showing at the Masters, but he's played some terrible golf too. Still lots of time to turn it around this year, I'm pretty positive he's got lots left in the tank once he gets his swing sorted out.
He needs to just go back to banging pornstars and living however he wants.
Start a new ad campaign, have him out on some big ass yacht, teeing off into the ocean, surrounded by attractive women in bikinis. Give him some cool dialogue, "I'm Tiger Woods, I've won this many majors, I've done this that and the next thing, come at me bro" Fade out....
Nike - Just Do It.
and he's back in business. It definitely won't fit in with Golfs "gentlemanly" image, who cares, ratings for bad boy Tiger would be through the roof.
Throw Lebron on the boat as well, just sitting there tipping the bikini girls or something.
he's an intensely private person who had every detail of his personal life on display worldwide (his doing obviously) and doesn't know how to come back from it.
he'll come back but he'll never be the same player.
His muscles are too big, he was better when he was scrawnier..
He won 9 times in 2009 with those same muscles.
Two major problems with Tiger are the injuries, and his insistence on changing his swing. It's one thing to change your swing, but he's trying to do it while recovering from major knee injuries. He also insists on only playing in a few tournaments each year, tournaments that are played on the hardest courses with the best competition. He can't expect to show up at the majors and win when he is still trying to master a new swing.
Once he figures out his swing he is going to come back and dominate again. He's far too good not to, it's just a matter of time.
Hes not gunna be the guy you all thought. he won't break Nicklaus's record for Majors. I wouldn't be shocked if he never won again. Got rid of the coaches who were there with him at his best, his personal life is flipped upside down and the theres some really good players. The competition is WAY better than it was like 5 years ago, or even 2.
Its more in his head than people think. One of the things that humans all have is their ego and the thought of being invincible. Its what drives people to do stupid things they know could get them killed or in trouble, but they do it because they feel they will get away with it (i.e. people who drive drunk, or 100MPH in a 55, etc). Tiger felt he was untouchable because he had the best of both worlds. He had a beautiful wife and 2 kids with the white picket fence, but he also got to bang all the ***** he wanted and do the freaky things he couldn't with Elin. Once that came out, he no longer had that "I'm God" mentality and as he displayed to the world that the "perfect Tiger Woods" was in fact just like every other athlete out there...a complete d-bag. In order to put all that crap behind him when the divorce was finally final was to get rid of those who were around him that would remind him of Elin and all the stuff that happened. Haney quit, but his caddy was the last person who still had ties to the whole fiasco. Drops him and takes up his BFF to help him out thinking that the change was for the best. Obviously it wasn't. He is pushing himself to be the great that he was before and he is doing it without the help of some of the best in the world.
Eh, I guess I could understand that question. I'm only interested in watching his train wreck continue, other then that I couldn't care less. I enjoy the comical aspect of it all.
-For Tiger, Golf was fun when Life was fun. Right now, life is not fun. And neither is golf.
-Injuries take their toll. Some guys get one and never get back to 100%. Tiger's had more than one. He played on a bad knee for years before getting surgery.
-The field has caught up. All the young kids who grew up watching Tiger as now playing against him and winning Majors. In the past, whenever he field caught up, he raised his own level. Now, he can't do that anymore. Too many guys are too good. It's not an old man's game anymore.
-He's 35. There's very few sports where 35-year olds play their sport at a high level consistently.
I think the invincible factor started before the incident with his wife. The last major he played before that was the PGA, when he blew a 54-hole lead for the first time in a major, and no one had even heard of Y.E. Yang, and no one heard of an Asian winning a major, considering it never happened.
-For Tiger, Golf was fun when Life was fun. Right now, life is not fun. And neither is golf.
-Injuries take their toll. Some guys get one and never get back to 100%. Tiger's had more than one. He played on a bad knee for years before getting surgery.
-The field has caught up. All the young kids who grew up watching Tiger as now playing against him and winning Majors. In the past, whenever he field caught up, he raised his own level. Now, he can't do that anymore. Too many guys are too good. It's not an old man's game anymore.
-He's 35. There's very few sports where 35-year olds play their sport at a high level consistently.
I think the invincible factor started before the incident with his wife. The last major he played before that was the PGA, when he blew a 54-hole lead for the first time in a major, and no one had even heard of Y.E. Yang, and no one heard of an Asian winning a major, considering it never happened.
While I agree with some of your points I do not agree in the least about the field catching up. If Tiger can get his A game back, he will dominate majors like he did in the past.
BTW, Rocco Mediate (who I'm a big fan of) had some things to say about Tiger's recent coaches and I agree 100%. Personally I think he should go back to Butch Harmon to find his game again.
Well, it's true that he's aging. It used to be an older man's game, but that's not true anymore in an era of modern course lengths. He's 35 and that brings with it more injuries and more difficulty recuperating from injuries, from the minor to the major variety. The years take a toll. Younger players enter the game without the same wear and tear to worry about, physically. So it's a factor.
Mainly, though, his mental toughness is shot as a result of his personal life falling apart, and the whole splashed over the tabloids. How does that manifest itself? On the course, sure, in his confidence, but also in preparation. He keeps trying new swings, equipment, coaches, etc. He has no confidence in his game anymore, and he's consequently a far less dynamic player, even when healthy. He defeats himself now.
I've heard $$ mentioned. Tiger may not be going bankrupt but financially, he's nowhere near as well off as he's been in the past. He's admitted that back in the day, he never knew how much money a tournament paid for winning it. When you're not concerned about the prize money, pro golf is a lot easier to play. Now? After paying out $100m to Elin he might be feeling a little bit of a crunch.
Just watched highlights of his Deutsche Bank win in 2006 over Vijay, on one hole he hits a 189 yard six-iron to within 10 feet, very next hole he uses the same club from 150 yards. Nobody on tour today has that ability, and it's what made/makes him so exciting to watch.
