Golf Digest’s Jaime Diaz described Tiger’s time at the Masters as “…a week in which his demeanor could be described as stone-faced and smoldering.”
Ron Galloway at the Huffington Post, observing from a distance of 20 feet, said that Tiger was “cursing like a sailor” on the practice green. Well, Tiger does have a reverence for the military, but this is a bit much in front of Galloway’s six year old son. But the point is that he was cursing on the putting green for josh sakes!
In another episode at the driving range after his second round 72, Steve Williams removed himself from the vicinity while Tiger barked at swing coach Hank Haney. Haney has devoted much of his time over the last five years to Tiger, his lone student on tour, and he is one of Tiger’s biggest cheerleaders in the press.
And, as I reported the other day along with a 1,000 other scribes, there was the matter of his awful post tournament behavior. Let me add this, again courtesy of Mr. Galloway:
I talked this morning to a crossing guard at my kids’ school who worked the tournament at the clubhouse. He said he had never seen anyone so pissed as Tiger was as he was leaving on Sunday, having been bested by his arch-rival, Phil Mickelson. Tiger bolted his way past most reporters and petulantly stared down anyone who tried to talk with him.
Tiger has lost majors that he had far more reason to be pissed about than the 2009 Masters when you consider that he was playing poorly, started the final round seven back, and had to leap frog half the field. Exhibit A is the 2007 US Open. Tiger lost that one by a shot to the very same Angel Cabrera thanks to a slew of missed putts. And yet, in the post tournament presentation, there he was beaming as if he was the winner while giving his best Nicklaus impersonation to date.
So what is making Tiger so angry, even beyond his usual volcanic standards?
Is the Great Chase Wearing on Him?
Tiger is in the midst of 13-20+ year long marathon. Depending on when you start the mental energy clock, he could be in either his 13th or 23rd year. Did his quest begin in earnest at the 1997 Masters when he proved to himself that he could win majors? Or did it begin at age 10 when he posted Nicklaus’ records on his wall.
In either case, the strain of chasing golf’s greatest player over no less than 13 seasons has got to be wearing on Tiger. People just assume that he’s bulletproof, that he’ll automatically reach 19, and soon, because he’s Tiger Woods. But he’s not a robot. His knee’s proven that. And the god awful behavior we saw at the Masters could telling us that Woods is feeling the strain of the pursuit.
While it’s hardly mentioned in the press, Woods is also in pursuit of the individual totals Nicklaus amassed in each major. You can bet that he wants no less than seven Masters, one more than Nicklaus.
That total seemed doable when Tiger quickly won three in his first six seasons, a pace that made Nicklaus’ prediction of 10 or more seem quite prescient. But then his pace slowed, and he’s won only one of the last seven.
Furthermore, the reworked Augusta National now places a premium on accurate driving, Woods’ biggest weakness. He’s also lost the magic on the greens. For the week he used 122 putts, which tied him for the fourth highest total among those who made the cut. This now marks the fourth straight Masters in which poor putting has cost him the title.
So Woods, who mistakenly upset the karma gods before the tournament by engaging in Grand Slam talk (including the blasphemous “I’ve done it before”) now has to wait another year for a run at golf’s ultimate annual prize. With four Masters he’s got six more tries before he turns 40 to win three more and beat Nicklaus’ six. Once he’s four decades old, he and his knee will likely be on borrowed time, if it isn’t already.
Is the Knee an Issue?
At the post tournament interview Tiger insisted that his left knee is “not an issue.” Really? The complete recovery cycle for his particular surgery is two years, but he’s into only his tenth month. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the knee was not the reason for his poor play, and it does feel fine.
But then again Woods, who has a history of not complaining about his physical woes, is motivated to keep any knee problems under wraps for two big reasons: 1) he wants his sponsors to think they are spending their money on an able bodied performer; 2) he wants his opponents to think they are up against Tiger at his physical best.
Is the Haney Experiment is Growing Old?
Hank Haney said after several months of coaching that he thought Charles Barkley would be doing a lot better. I wonder if he isn’t thinking the same thing about Tiger. Presuming the knee is fine, Tiger’s had three months and a half months to get his swing back, so there is reason to conclude that his swing and his game should be, or could be, better than ever. But it’s not even close.
According to Rick Lipsey of Sports Illustrated, a growing number of golf’s leading teachers think Tiger’s swing is far off the mark:
T.J. Tomasi, one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers, says Tiger’s swing looks way off and wonders if he’ll ever be like the pre-surgery Tiger. Tomasi says Tiger now misses right and left and often leaves the clubface way open coming down. He says there’s a real chance Tiger won’t get his killer balls triking back. A few of the other Top 100 pros have echoed similar sentiments in recent weeks.
Golfer/swing coach marriages are seldom forever, and the Haney/Tiger union recently passed its five year anniversary. That could be old in Tiger years considering the pressure he’s under as well as those he employs.
Sometimes problems are exaggerated by the media, but Tiger’s vital signs don’t look good. Five events into this season (and four for the stats) he’s hit only 64.81% of the greens in regulation. This compares unfavorably with readings of over 70% in his monster seasons. Why in last year’s abbreviated season alone, Tiger averaged 71.39% on a bum knee! In baseball terms, his 2009 GIR is like an average of about .280 – good, but far from great.
Maybe Tiger is expecting too much too soon from himself and Haney, who is very good, but is no miracle worker. Or maybe he’s thinking that the Haney swing is a mess, and that he’s going to have to find a new teacher (or go back to an old one) and start over. If that’s the case, another overhaul will chew up more precious time on the clock and could render him majorless in 2009.
Will Steve Williams Retire?
Golf for Tiger, more than any other player except Phil Mickelson, is a team sport, and Stevie Williams’ value has been well documented. In Tiger’s own words, Williams has made the difference in at least three of his major titles. But their decade long relationship is now very long in the tooth, and Williams has become very wealthy. He would love to retire to New Zealand to pursue family life and his passion for auto racing. So it’s possible that the angst Tiger is experiencing is starting to eat away at this pairing, and that he may seek an early retirement rather than hanging around till when Tiger wins his 19th.
In any case, Tiger circa 2009 is not a happy camper. His problems might melt away with a W in the US Open at Bethpage Black, where he won seven eons ago. But it is also possible that Tiger is loaded with issues that are causing him to wonder if he’ll ever realize his greatest and grandest goals in golf.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 rexfordbuzzsaw // Apr 16, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Tiger is probably pissed because he wasn’t inconsistent as hell with his ball striking, ran a ton of putts by the lip and still finished in the top-10. Playing like that in contention, would probably piss me off too.
2 rexfordbuzzsaw // Apr 16, 2009 at 6:45 pm
was inconsistent*
3 MikeZ // Apr 17, 2009 at 5:44 am
Well, I think Phil’s point is that he’s reacting out of proportion to not playing well. As you suggest, everyone gets mad when they don’t play well. But as Phil says, Tiger has played worse without being quite so belligerent as he apparently displayed at the Masters.
I’ve been wondering for a while now if the grind of “the Quest” might be getting to him — or might soon start. It seems to me that every golfer has a “pressure threshold,” where the pressure really starts to affect their game when it hasn’t really before. For some guys it might simply be making the jump to the Tour from college. For a lot of guys it’s leading down the stretch toward their first victory. For others, that first “regular” victory may be no big deal, but when it’s that first major, they wilt.
Tiger thus far has been more or less immune, which is a big part of the reason he’s won so much. And I think that may well be because he’s really only had one goal his whole life, to beat Jack. And now that that goal is within sight (remember, this is the first season where he could theoretically have caught Jack’s major total) it’s starting to get to him, as Phil suggests.
I also wonder about the family life. Not that it’s not great, it probably is. But it’s another “layer” of things he has to think about that isn’t golf. For some guys, a new, happy family life probably loosens them up, helps them relax and play better. But that’s not how Tiger rolls. He’s a “focus” player, not a “relax and enjoy yourself” player.
In the love/hate Tiger debate, I’ve always been pretty pro-Tiger. I love watching excellence, and even dominance, in sports. But I also like interesting things to happen. And I think it will make the whole Tiger Woods story a lot more interesting if it takes him, say, 5-8 years (instead of 5-8 tournaments!) to pass Jack. I still want him to do it, but I want it to be hard!
4 MikeZ // Apr 17, 2009 at 5:51 am
P.S. — the other point I meant to make about Tiger’s family life is that even when everything’s great, fathers can get frustrated — and even cranky — about the demands on their time. Tiger no doubt holds up his own father as a role model. But remember, Tiger was the *total focus* of Earl’s life. Tiger, as some level, probably wants to provide that same level of attention to *his* kids, but he can’t do that *and* pursue the Quest, at least not with the passion and intensity and focus he’s become accustomed to giving it. It can’t be done. And Tiger may be starting to realize that.
5 Phil // Apr 17, 2009 at 7:14 am
Mike
With your description of the pressure you can see a pyramid with levels. Tiger has not yet experienced the highest levels of closing in, one away from tying the record, then breaking it. Imagine playing 72 holes with that hanging over your head.
Excellent points on his family life. His mom is moving to Florida to be actively involved in raising the kids. I wonder how Elin, the mystery woman, feels about that.
6 BD // Apr 17, 2009 at 7:59 am
Great post, Phil. I’ve been critical of some of your anti-Tiger posts, but this strikes me as an admirably fair treatment of the subject.
This is just speculation, of course, but I would guess Tiger was upset at the outcome because (a) he was forced to sit out the better part of a year, nursing his knee, waiting for Masters week to arrive; and (b) he drove back down Magnolia Lane knowing he COULD have won the damn thing. I don’t think there’s any great mystery to why he was so mad.
I’m a bit skeptical of the claims that Tiger’s swing (or his knee) is too messed up for him to continue winning majors. Again, he would have won last weekend if he had just rolled his putts a little better. He’s obviously not FAR from major-championship caliber play, even if we accept his performance at Augusta as evidence that he’s not quite there.
I agree it’s entirely possible Tiger is going to confront some difficult emotions as he makes his final assault on Jack’s record. This is something I had never thought about before, but it only makes sense if you think about it. If, indeed, the majors start becoming more difficult for him to win, it’s easy to see how frustrating speific losses — especially close losses — might become.
There’s also the fact, as you point out, that this has been his life’s mission for as long as he can remember. Part of him might be starting to look beyond the hunt for 19 and thinking, “And then what?” Part of him may be yearning to get to 19 ASAP while another part doesn’t want the chase to ever end!
7 Phil // Apr 17, 2009 at 10:48 am
BD
Thanks. Your point about the “then what” is well taken. He was more than happy to stay at home with his family, and a part of him might be looking forward to the day when he can retire from competition. He’s said that when he can’t win, he’s done. So maybe, as you say, he wants to get to 19 and be done with it. The problem is that 19 majors doesn’t automatically make him the Best Ever.
8 MikeZ // Apr 17, 2009 at 11:22 am
I’m about 3/4 through Mark Frost’s “Grand Slam” about Bobby Jones. And the portrait he paints is one of a very reluctant hero. The way Frost tells the story, by 1928 or 1929, Bob Jones was looking for an “excuse” to get out of competitive golf. It was wearing him down and keeping him away from his young family. At the same time, he didn’t want to disappoint all the people who were (emotionally) invested in him. So he set a goal of winning all four majors (which were different then, of course) in 1930 and then retiring from competitive play. He worked harder than ever, pulled it off, then followed through, retiring from the game at the top with his head held high. Unbelievable. He may still get my vote for “Best Ever.”
At some point it’s going to start to get to Tiger, no? Seems inevitable. Every man faces the “now what?” question sooner or later.
9 BD // Apr 17, 2009 at 1:00 pm
That’s a great book, by the way.
Jones really didn’t have anything more to prove in golf. He knew he wasn’t cut out to tour as a professional.
Simlarly, once Nicklaus got past Jones and Hagen, there was no obvious goals for him to attain in golf.
Tiger has a goal that should keep him focused for at least the next few years. That might work to his psychological advantage.
Phil: I don’t really think Tiger would hang up his Foot Joys at 19 majors. If possible, he’ll want to get 20 just because it would stand as such a great number.
That said, if he gets 19, he’s probably going to be regarded by MOST people, inside golf and out, as the greatest ever. I can’t see people setting the bar for Tiger at some arbitrary number of majors beyond 19.
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