Is Tiger Out of the Woods?
Posting his best score in nearly a year, Tiger Woods in what has become an unfamiliar place- on top of the leaderboard.
Woods posted a 65 at the Barclays- his lowest of the year- to share the lead with Vaughn Taylor. “It’s exciting to hit the ball flush again. It’s something I’ve been missing all year.” Or, since his divorce just became final, did he really mean “It’s nice to know that nobody will be trying to hit my balls flush. I’ve been worrying about that for a whole year…”
All joking aside, divorce is a terrible thing. Trust me. And despite the fact that Tiger brought this all on himself, I think most people that know how much a divorce can tear up a person, and make them nearly incapable of consistent, controlled and productive thought or practices, understand that getting some of the water under the bridge is the only way to get back to “normal”, if you ever do.
Does and did Tiger deserve everything he got? Did he pay what he should have? Not sure, and not sure it is any of my or our business. What I do know for a fact is, everyone is better off if we all just move on, including us fans.
We’re all better off if Tiger gets back to being Tiger. He will be, you will be (if you are a fan of golf), and his kids will be better off too. nd I just don’t think our energy would be better spent judging than it would be cheering his comeback.
I’m hoping we can get past the bad drive he made into the deep sand of adultery, and get up and in with a brilliant save, of the rest of his career.
I have commented on Tiger Woods’ situation several times on my blog htttp://www.Ethical-Universe.com/blog, most notably back in March of this year, prior to the 2010 Masters. I said at that time, and I still believe that Tiger will find it exceedingly difficult to rise to the level of play he enjoyed for years. With his well documented penchant for being a fantastic front-runner, if Tiger can’t win after leading the field by 4 shots going into the final round, when can he win? From Tiger’s perspective, this was as important an event as a major championship because losing meant going all year without a tour victory. Make no mistake about it, Tiger Woods is still a phenomenal player and a constant threat to break out his slump and have everyone chasing him. Tiger Woods is still a top-notch player and a very dangerous opponent. The simple fact that he could shoot the first 3 rounds in the 60′s and tie for the lead after the final round speaks volumes about this uncommonly competitive man.
But, most of the kudos this time have to go to Graeme McDowell for coming from behind and tying the score in regulation; his 2 clutch putts on the 18th hole for birdie, the first one in regulation and the 2nd in the playoff for the win, were something to behold. This is the stuff of legend; only this time it was not Tiger pulling off another miracle. I truly believe other players on the tour have become emboldened against Tiger and really think they can beat him. We’ll have to wait, however, for the first major of next year to know whether Tiger is ready to (or even can) resume his assault on Jack Nicklaus’s record of 19 major championships. I used to say Tiger was a shoo-in to overtake Jack; but, now, I believe the odds are much longer. I personally do not think he is up to the challenge; he has done so much damage to his own psyche that he will probably beat himself rather than by other players’ heroics.