They sent the boys out, only long enough to make life difficult for Louis Oosthuizen, among others. Louis, not being quick enough marking his ball, now faces a five and a half footer for par, instead of a two footer, after the wind blew it away. They tried to start, but the conditions were such that play was impossible. The question now is, why did they start at all?
So, as we wait to see whether they'll play any golf today, we have more time than is probably good for us to analyze things and, heaven forbid, try to understand what's ailing Tiger.
There have been a flurry of articles saying that Tiger is officially toast. He's done. He's now firmly relegated to the has-been club. If it's true, at least he's got company; or does he? Has the undisputed best player in the game ever had such a fall?
It's really quite fascinating. All the greats have eventually come to the point that they've had to move over and let the new kids take over. That's life; and that's golf. But never have we seen the greatest player of his generation essentially do it to himself. Tiger has endured public humiliation and injury. Both have likely impacted his ability to continue to play the game at the level to which he had been able to take it. But, he's recovered from injury. He's probably long over his very public humiliation, and the ensuing snickering that took place after the rest of us realized he wasn't quite so special off the course. His moral superiority, real or imagined, was gone. Unfortunately, his superiority on the golf course, which was definitely real, is now gone as well.
We like to say it was the result of swing changes. As Zinger pointed out today, "The artist became an engineer." And, swing changes have definitely been a factor. If you mess with your swing, even if you are fortunate enough to come up with something better, you will have a significant period of time when you will struggle until you can repeat, and trust, the new motion. Tiger has now done it three times, with the ensuing year and a half or so between changes when he did very little in the game and gave the rest of the boys the opportunity to get a Major or two of their own.
But it's now been years since Tiger has won any of the only tournaments that really matter to him, and to us. He hasn't won a Major since 2008. This is not a swing change issue. It is a psychological issue. The problem is in Tiger's mind, not his release pattern. Despite what he says in his interviews, I seriously doubt Tiger really believes his own rhetoric. I doubt he really believes he's the best anymore.
You really don't have to be a shrink to recognize that Tiger has toys in the attic. You just have to be a golfer. He's not the same guy with the driver, and he's definitely not even close to being the same guy on the greens. Tiger doesn't maybe realize it, but he actually admits the problem is psychological. He admits that he's hitting it great on the range. But, when the heat is on, he can't take it from the practice tee to the first tee. The problem is obviously not mechanical, or he wouldn't be a Tiger on the practice tee and a pussy cat on the first tee. It's in his head, and don't think Tiger doesn't know it.
Tiger has lost his confidence. It ain't no crime. All of us have had our confidence shaken in this game. It's the nature of the game. I think the turning point for Tiger was not when he crashed the car, and all the nonsense about his extra marital activities came to light. After all, it was embarrassing, but Tiger knows, and we all know, that he's not the only philanderer in the game.
I think the real psychological blow came when he had Y.E. Yang take him down at the PGA championship in 2008. Tiger lost a Major with the lead for the first time. Prior to that loss, Tiger had to believe that, if he could just secure the lead in a Major, he was a lock to win. After all, he'd done it fourteen times in a row. He may not have expected to win every Major he entered, but, if he could secure the lead, he knew he wasn't going to choke. And there didn't seem to be anyone with the game, or the confidence, to look him in the eye and chase him down once he got his nose out in front. He had that wonderful aura of invincibility. But, since Yang failed to get the memo, and outplayed Tiger when he was supposed to fold like a cheap suit, Tiger hasn't won a Major. It's really no mystery. Tiger's confidence was shaken. The little voice--the voice of doubt that resides in all of us mere mortals--finally got Tiger's ear. He's not been the same since; not in the ones that count.
Tiger was like a schoolyard bully on the golf course. He wanted to beat you up. And he wasn't content just to beat you up, he wanted to humiliate you. He showed no mercy. For the other players, whether they admitted it or not, he was downright scary. Suddenly, this Yang character, who didn't seem to know enough to be afraid, gave Tiger a bloody nose with all the other kids watching. The bully got a beating. And, while the kids might still fear him, they don't fear him quite so much. Tiger isn't quite so brave either, nor will he ever be again, because he now knows he could get a bloody nose, and bloody noses really hurt.
Tiger needs to accept that the problem resides firmly between his ears, as it does for most of us. He needs to forget about going to the range, thinking he can fix the problem there. Because, it's really only a problem if you want to continue being a bully. Tiger should accept that he just isn't all that scary anymore. He's maybe still pretty tough, but his bullying days are definitely over. It's a big adjustment, and one I'm not familiar with, because I've never been able to be a bully on the golf course. But, you surely don't lose your ability to play this game, you just get your nose bloodied sometimes, and you have to learn to deal with that if you're going to keep fighting.
No disrespect, but Tiger doesn't need a swing doctor, he needs a shrink. I say that, not judgementally, but as one who could use a session or two on the couch myself and can spot the symptoms in others. Time to just deal with it, Tiger. Your days of being a bully are over. That's okay, because nobody really likes a bully anyway.
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