Has Tiger Woods Hit The Wall?????
BY JERRY RILES
Is Tiger Woods still a TIGER or has he been reduced to simply a Puddy Cat?
After 18 holes of the second round in The Players Championship golf tournament played in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida this weekend, the once most intimidating being on a golf course has been relegated to a tie for 26th place shooting a 1-under 71 for the second round.
This is Tiger’s fifth tournament since coming off of ACL knee surgery and he has only won one of them thus far. That was the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Master Card on the last weekend in March.
Just this past weekend he finished fourth in the Quail Hollow Championship. He battled for a 6th place tie in the Masters, a tie for 9th in the World Championships, and a 17th place finish in the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Not the Tiger of old that’s for sure.
He and rival Phil “Lefty” Mickelson were neck and neck down the back nine during fourth round action of the Masters, before they both fell off on the 18th with bogeys. Tiger bogeyed the 17th as well, finishing one shot behind Lefty.
Has Tiger hit the WALL? The wall that haunts most men. Marriage and children. The FAMILY WALL?
With the birth of his second child, son Charlie Axel and of course the love of his life after wife Elin, daughter Sam Alexis, the most dominating golfer in the world appears to have lost some of his killer-instinct.
Many thought his putting game would be incredible since that’s the only thing he could really work on during the time off rehabbing the knee. Not to be. He’s just okay!!!!
At Bay Hill he finished with 16-birdies, 9-bogeys, 1-double bogey, with an average of 25.3 putts per round. Last weekend at the Quail Hollow Championship he produced 18-birdies, 9-bogeys, 45-pars with an average of 28.3 putts per round. And during the CA Championship he dropped in 16-birdies, 51-pars, 5-bogeys and tied for 42nd place with a 28.3 putts per round average.
Once able to block out all distractions, now the eye of the tiger may have a little twinkle in it for the thoughts of the little ones laughing and giggling as Dad plays with them during his downtime.
Elin I’m sure is not a nagging wife, but you can bet she does seek a little bit more attention from Eldrick now that they are a complete family. Dad’s gotta do what dad’s gotta do.
This would definitely put a warm spot in any man’s heart and soften his spirit similar to Samson losing his strength when his hair was cut off thanks to Delilah.
So now is the time for “Lefty”, Zack Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Scott Verplank, Ernie Els, Stewart Sink, Mike Weir and the rest of the bunch to strike while the time is ripe.
Once the kids have gotten a little older and world’s greatest golfer has had enough of family life and is ready to get out of the house more often, watch out golf world because the “Eye of the Tiger” will be back again.
Until then, let’s hope he can at least finish in the Top five of these upcoming tournaments and bring a bit more excitement back to the PGA. Weekend’s just aren’t the same anymore.
I hope I’m wrong about my theory because I like the old Tiger much better. See you on Sunday!!!!
Comments (1)
I think you're being a bit premature. Tiger Woods will be there with all he has, all of the time. He is a champion already, and we should never count him out. I'm sure that the guys in front of him in any tournament will always be looking over their shoulders. GO TIGER!!!
Posted by chuck cilano | May 9, 2009 8:25 PM
Posted on May 9, 2009 20:25