Olde Homestead Golf Club's Blog

When Tiger Woods returned to golf at Augusta National a month ago, things appeared to be improving. At least on the outside looking in, anyway.

One of the biggest concerns that Woods had about his return wasn’t so much with the state of his golf game, but more with how the reception of the galleries and his fellow tour players would play out. When asked this very question a couple of months back in an interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, Woods expressed some concern. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m a little nervous about that to be honest with you.”

Woods would be relieved to learn in that first tournament back that he still had countless fans in the Augusta galleries who hadn’t turned their backs on him despite the scandal some several months earlier, and his peers were likewise happy to see him resume his life back inside the ropes, if for nothing else than to see the end of the Tiger questions that the media had bombarded them with for the last 5 months. To some extent, things finally appeared to be heading back towards some sense of normalcy, at least in golf.

In his first tournament back, Woods would have his moments of both splendor and frustration. But despite the lingering rust that at times seemed more befitting of a struggling 10 handicapper in a club championship than that of the world’s greatest professional golfer, he’d still somehow manage to keep himself in a position to win through the first three rounds. But as the final round would play out on Sunday, it became evident that his life outside of the ropes had indeed compromised his ability to maintain the high standards that for so many years he had met inside of the ropes. That final round of golf at the Masters wouldn’t just expose his rusty swing; it would also reveal the frustrations of a life that had essentially bottomed out.

But for the average spectator, Woods’ first tournament back was in reality a two-part exam. And by most accounts, especially considering all of the chaos in his personal life over the past several months and the obvious rust that still lingered with his golf game as a result, a fourth place finish at the Masters would more than qualify for a passing grade on the first part of that test. But unfortunately for Tiger, the second part of the exam would ultimately account for the lion’s share of the overall grade, in their eyes anyway.

When Woods addressed the golf world for the first time since the scandal in his personal life made the headlines several weeks earlier, he acknowledged that his wealth and his fame had presented him numerous opportunities to stray from his marriage and core beliefs. And near the end of his speech, he went even further to acknowledge that the same sense of entitlement that had come to define his private life had likewise become symbolic of who he had become in his public life walking the fairways. Tiger admitted that he had gotten away from acknowledging the fans in the galleries, and that on occasion he lacked the self control to govern his negative emotional tantrums. In essence, he had acknowledge that his attitude and behavior on the course were at odds with the image that golf has traditionally attempted to maintain throughout its’ history.

He made a vow that day to change. And in doing so, he would no longer be judged primarily by the scores he shot or the tournaments he would win, but also by his ability to harness his emotions and better respect the game. While his most staunch of critics would never doubt his ability to win again, even his most loyal of supporters couldn’t ever fathom the day that their hero would play without the typical emotion and passion that had become such a vital part of his competitive DNA. But Tiger would quickly find out that a lot of people would hold his feet to the fire; some of the same people who for nearly all of his career would go to great lengths to defend him unconditionally; the people that he had relied on to help get inside his opponents’ heads’; the people who were constantly reminding the rest of the tour that he was unbeatable, the very same people that proclaimed him to be “the chosen one” in the world of golf many moons ago.

For 13 years Tiger Woods enjoyed carte blanche privileges and free passes when it came to the media. But the rules would quickly change, as they no longer considered him untouchable after the scandal. They would no longer bow before him and beg for interviews, nor would they serve up softball questions that solicited the typical run-of-the-mill prepared responses. The Tiger Woods interview playbook that they had basically written themselves over the years suddenly became an outdated sop.

Woods has never been a fan of CBS Golf commentator, Peter Kostis, but to be fair – Woods hasn’t been overly fond of any form of media as of late. The last thing Woods wanted to do was field questions about his frustrating final round at Augusta that Sunday afternoon, and after looking back on it, maybe he shouldn’t have. In THIS POST-ROUND INTERVIEW with Kostis, all of the feel-good story lines that Woods had managed to capture with his return would be carelessly tossed aside in the span of two minutes with his defiant, selfish attitude. The fans didn’t want to hear Woods sum up his first week back by talking about his frustrating golf game or how he felt that “people were making too big a deal about all of this” (concerning his pledge to improve his attitude). They wanted to hear Tiger say that it felt great to be playing again, that overall he was pleased to have finished as well as he did in the tournament, and more than anything else, that the fans who have supported him unconditionally over the years would once again remind him that week of exactly why he loved playing competitive golf. But instead, all they heard was someone who was obviously struggling to come to grips with a new reality.

In the following days to come after that interview, sports writers and bloggers across the world wasted very little time pointing out that Woods’ promise to improve his on-the-course attitude was effectively empty, as the world heard him backtrack in that interview with Kostis. Suddenly there would be conditions, most notably that things would have to be going his way, before the new and improved Tiger would surface. That sense of entitlement that he had talked about struggling with in his mea culpa back in February had once again reared its’ ugly head after the fact. But despite playing a phenomenal tournament of golf considering the circumstances, Woods would fail miserably in the most crucial part of the exam – his willingness to change.

To his credit, since that first tournament back Woods has made a noticeable effort to tone down his attitude on the course. But he’s certainly not made it any easier on himself as he continues to struggle with finding his game. He would play dreadfully at the Quail Hollow Championship, posting one of the highest scores of his career in the second round. His +7 score of 79 would result in his 6th missed cut as a professional. Afterward in an interview he was asked about the struggles with his game, and his stoic response was, “It is what it is. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good enough.” When asked two questions later about how shocked he was to miss the cut, he would use the line again. “I went home last year once, and it is what it is.” He would open up somewhat and joke about it a moment later, saying that he was going to go home and watch how the real golfers play over the weekend. But as much as he was insinuating that his game was in such a state of disarray, you could likewise detect the sarcasm when he mentioned watching the tournament at home on television. Anyone who has followed Tiger Woods throughout his career knows him better than that. When he’s not playing in a tournament, he has absolutely no interest in the game. He might work on his swing or play a practice round back home in his luxurious gated community of Isleworth, but professional golf doesn’t seem to exist in his world when he’s not in the picture.

The following week at The Players Championship couldn’t have come at a worse time. He’d just had one of the most miserable weeks of his life at Quail Hollow the week prior, and the TPC course at Sawgrass demanded an even greater degree of control and precision, two things that Woods had yet to find in his game since his return. He would show marked improvement scoring-wise, as he would manage his occasional gaffes well enough to get back to posting under-par rounds. Yet aside from the opening round on Thursday when he was only four shots back of the lead, despite the rest of the field taking full advantage of excellent scoring conditions over the next two days, he was never really a factor for the remainder of the event. And you could tell that he just wasn’t into it. Sure, he would smile and nod to the fans in the gallery, and he refrained from unleashing f-bombs and hurling uncooperative golf clubs. But the focus and passion that Woods had played with for so many years was as lost as his golf swing. And that would never become more indicative than on Sunday.

As the final round was progressing, or digressing in Tiger’s mind, he was already 2-over par in his round on Sunday as he neared the 7th green. Tiger suddenly approached his playing partner, shook his hand, and then consulted with a rules official and withdrew from the tournament, citing a neck injury. The Superman of golf, the guy that just two seasons prior had somehow miraculously endured 90 holes in a US Open tournament with a busted knee and won the damned thing, had decided to call it a day with only 11 holes to play on Sunday. When asked about the injury just prior to leaving the tournament grounds, Woods refused to give anything noteworthy in response. They were just basic, “why are you bothering me with these questions” type responses. “I don’t know. I’ve been playing with the pain for quite a while now. Setting up over the ball is fine, but once I start making the motion, it’s downhill from there. Backswing, downswing, follow-through. I might have a bulging disk.” He couldn’t wait to leave the course, and in a lot of minds it seemed like he couldn’t wait to leave competitive golf again. Just like that – Tiger Woods was suddenly out of the picture in golf once again, with no specific timetable given for his next return.

On Monday, the golf world would be startled to learn of more news concerning Tiger Woods’ golf career. His swing coach of the past six seasons, Hank Haney, made an official announcement that he was terminating his work with Woods, opting to move in a different direction. He went out of his way to note that his decision to leave was his own, not that of Tiger’s, and he thanked him for the opportunity to work with him. On top of everything else going on in his life, personally and professionally, someone other than his wife and sponsors wasted very little time abandoning the sinking ship of Tiger Woods.

“It is what it is” is classic Forrest Gump speak… the earnest simpleton who lived a carefree life, who then went to Vietnam to serve his country, who then got shot in the but-tocks and received a Purple Heart, who then became a multimillionaire thanks to the shrimping business. But that only happens in the movies. In real life, “it is what it is” takes on a completely different context. It indicates an acceptance of a depressing situation, but also a hint of reluctance in somehow overcoming it.

As shocked as we were to learn of who Tiger Woods had become in his personal life, we now find ourselves equally as shocked to see who Tiger Woods has become in his professional life. The one place where he’s felt most confident and sure of himself has in some ways become a prison, a secluded cell occupied by a guy who not all that long ago feared nothing, the guy that played injured, the guy that showed a level of will and focus that would capture the attention of even the most indifferent of spectators casually following the game. Even if you weren’t a fan, you respected his ability to win. And even if you despised the occasional f-bombs or forceful club tosses in disgust, you no less admired the passion that he played with, at least on some level.

The coming months will play a significant part of what will become of Woods’ legacy inside the ropes, and that will very much be determined by how he manages the challenges that still exist outside of golf. The looming divorce and the arrangements for visitation and custody of his children seem to be the most glaring distractions currently, but I think it’s safe to assume that both Elin and Tiger will make this difficult process as short-lived as possible. She’s become no more a fan of the sensational publicity than he has, and she too is longing for the day when she can move on to the next chapter of her life. After all, she is the real victim here. While everyone seems obsessed with talking about how Tiger’s transgressions have impacted his career, very few take note of just how those transgressions have impacted every aspect of her life.

But moving beyond the speculation of what will become of Tiger Woods the person, there are some major concerns about what will become of Tiger Woods the golfer. And Tiger will have to do some serious soul searching over the coming months and years before we can start to see how the last chapter of his career will unfold. It would be unfair to make any sort of judgement at this stage of his life, for obvious reasons. But it is apparent that in the midst of everything that has happened, he’s lost a huge part of his identity. And that’s one of the most crucial elements that someone at his level in any endeavor needs to succeed. His confidence can quickly be restored with a keen eye of an instructor who can help him get back on track with his golf game. But this deal he made to respect the game and tone down his emotions, while at the same time playing with the passion he’s always been known for – that’s not going to be easy. That’s going to take a major adjustment, but it’s an adjustment that will undoubtedly have to be made.

As for the game of golf itself, it’s still in good hands. As much as most of us would enjoy seeing Tiger make the needed changes to overcome his struggles in life to resume his quest to become the greatest winner in major championship history, there’s more from where he came. Ten years from now we’ll be talking about somebody else, how they should’ve won this tournament, how they shouldn’t have won that tournament, and we’ll compare him to Tiger, Mickelson, Nicklaus, or Palmer.

As Forrest Gump would say, and aptly so – golf is like a box of chocolates. It will be what it will be.

Tags: Arnold Palmer, Augusta National, CBS Golf, Elin Nordegren, Hank Haney, Jack Nicklaus, Peter Kostis, Phil Mickelson, Quail Hollow Championship, The Masters Tournament, The Players Championship, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods Comeback, Tiger Woods Scandal

This entry was posted on May 17, 2010 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Author Uno, PGA Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.