Well, we're 3 majors into the golf season and people are still surprised that Tiger has not won a major. Rumblings have begun that the once foregone conclusion of Tiger demolishing Jack's record of 18 major titles has now become a question of if, and is no longer a question of when. People are beginning to see Tiger as "mortal" now. I suppose it's hard to argue with the whole question of him being beatable now. We're talking about a guy who made a habit out of eating the competition for breakfast.
At the same time, though, can we really be all that surprised at Tiger's regression? I mean, sure, professional athletes of Tiger's caliber have been able to tune out the outside world no matter what, but how much can you tune out when literally everything is going against you. Don't mistake me, in now way am I condoning Tiger's multiple mistresses and the way he handled his family life. I find it repulsive how a man who is given everything, through endorsements and prize money, still manage to screw their life up completely and wonder how it happened. To Tiger's credit, though, he has been very up front and loud about accepting the fact that he screwed up. But I digress. This is a guy who took a significant of time off from golfing. Dealing with family issues, going to the rehab clinics, trying to salvage a once pristine image. Why do so many people seem so shocked that he would come back and not be the dominant force he once was?
Anybody who has played golf will tell you that taking that much time off will affect the way you play. Your body won't be in the same shape, you lose that muscle memory that comes with the constant repetition of swing after swing, your vision slows down and you begin to second guess yourself, and your confidence will take a dive as a result of all of this. If you are wondering if Tiger's confidence is lacking, all you have to do is take a look at his putting. After 13 majors with the same putter, he changed at the British Open this year. You don't change putters unless your confidence is low. I guess the bottom line with all of this is that, as machine-like as Tiger has looked in the past, he's obviously still human, and won't be the same Tiger that goes out and dominates everybody before he even tees off. He probably won't reach that level ever again. But most people would agree that Tiger at 85%, is still better than most of the field at 100%. So now we just have to wait for him to get back up to that 85%.
As for the rest of golf itself, the fact that Tiger is no longer in that dominant mode is great for the game! We still got to see somebody dominate St. Andrew's this year, and it wasn't at all who we thought it would be. I mean, I'm still working on how to pronounce this dude's name! Louis Oosthuizen, if you find out, please tell me! But now we get to see all the other player's playing their best and bringing out the excitement, yes the excitement, that golf has! It is no longer people playing for second. Sure, it's exciting to see Tiger pull of the shots that he's capable of, but it's just as exciting seeing 3 or 4 others go down the back 9 and not knowing who's going to win like with did at the U.S. Open.
At any rate, everybody needs to calm down about all this Tiger stuff. He'll figure it out. The rest of my take on Tiger is to just leave his personal life alone. I know all that I ever wanted to know about his sex life, and then some. Don't get me wrong, he deserves his lumps about what he did, but he's going to get them whether I give him a hard time about it or not. If you've ever been divorced, you know how rough that would have to be; but now imagine that you had to pay half a billion dollars and have every single detail of that divorce advertised and spelled out to every person in the world whether they wanted to hear about it or not. As I said, he'll get his lumps. Plus, throw into it that he's managed to lose this, a smoking hot Swedish Super mode, to come home to, and life is pretty rough.
I look forward to when Tiger regains all of his form, but until then, I will enjoy all of the great drama that will come with each tournament. Golf remains an exciting game, regardless of what Tiger does.
His game has been less than stellar but it is understandable with all the stress going on in his life. He screwed up. Big time. Obviously that is affecting him personally and professionally. I hope he can keep his head in the game, be a good father to his kids, and learn his lesson.
ReplyDeleteDon't cheat if your are married. Especially don't cheat if you are famous. He is an example that money can't buy you happiness, but it sure can create problems.
You want an example of Karma right now? Look at Tiger. He's -$500,000,000, lost his wife, has restricted access to his kids, a ton of sponsors, and isn't really playing well. He is definitely getting his.
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