How well do you guys think Tiger will do? I wonder if hes getting any use out of Sean Foley. It will be fun to see how he connects with his new temp caddy. I was looking over the course and they have a Par 3 on the 15th hole at 221 yards… I dont know about you guys, but thats a hell of a long par 3. In the persimmon days, they would have to take a 3 or 4 wood to reach that distance right? It would be very hard to land the ball on the green with the persimmons in a controlled manner.
Everyone was kind of bummed out that he didnt get paired up with Rory. Nevertheless, i think it will be fun to see him come back and play. Do you think his presence will put some pressure and intimidation on the playing field?
I don’t think too many guys are intimidated by him any more. I’d guess that he must feel pretty good about his game for him to be playing, so maybe he’ll be in contention. I personally doubt Foley will be around too long. The guy that’s caddying was supposedly very involved in the scandal, and played high school golf with Tiger. Should be interesting no matter what happens.
I don’t expect much from Tiger. He still has the whole scandal thing to get over; if he can get past the mental baggage of that then he has his injured knee (or the ghosts thereof) to deal with; if he can get over that then he has his partially rebuilt swing to deal with; if he can get over that then he has his “gone astray” putting stroke to deal with. While I am certainly interested to see how he will do, I expect a lot of pouting, cursing, club-dropping-in-follow-throughs, and terrible, irratable interviews.
I’m not a Tiger hater. I’m a realist. I’d invite you to check out this great video of Tiger warming up for a tournament in 2000. You will see a slim but strong Tiger laughing, smiling, and really enjoying himself. Steel shafted, small-head driver…steel shafted, small-head 3-wood…a supportive caddy… totally at peace. He has so many layers of baggage between where he is now and where he was then. And he used to have a stinger! Will we ever see that shot again? I hope he gets back there but I just can’t see it happening.
When I think of long par 3’s… I think of #16 and #17 … which must be the two toughest back to back par threes in golf at
the historic Lincoln Park Golf Course in San Francisco. 239 and 240. Throw in some thick fog or a stiff wind coming off the mouth of the Golden Gate where the SF Bay opens up to the Pacific ocean and you have some pretty epic golf… not to mention the jaw dropping view from the 17th tee which dangles over the cliffs.
How on Earth are you suppose to land the ball in regulation? Half of us would take a driver to that hole, especially if the wind is blowing in our face.
Add another huge change to the pile for tiger, for the first time in his LIFE he will be playing with plastic spikes this week. I saw him wearing a more casual looking golf shoe in his practice highlights and was curious what they were. Apparently they are a new Nike prototype lightweight running shoe looking golf shoe.
This is his new shoe:
I personally hate this look and hope this look doesn’t take off. Ecco and Adidas started this last year and I’ve seen people rave how comfy these types are. Seems like less ground forces available but supposedly good for tiger’s knee issues.
I can’t honestly believe how much Tiger has changed. He has literally revamped his whole self from his swing theory/coach, down to his spikes, his long time friend and caddy and even leaving his trusty Scotty putter. Moved homes, lost his family and even wears beards now. All that is left is him leaving blades and going cavity back. Imagine that! At this point that wouldn’t surprise me really.
I will go on a limb and say tiger finishes 15th, much improving on his dead LAST in this event last year.
Great video. I remember viewing this one a few months back and wondering if Tiger ever looks at any of his older action or if he’s just all about “moving forward”? Not sure how one could look at this clip and not consider getting back to something closer to that motion.
It’s so hard to predict what Tiger will do this week. On the one hand I think he’ll be a non-factor, but then again I expected Rory to at least be competitive in the Irish Open last week. Tiger sounded a bit more “at peace” in the press conference I heard yesterday but I can never tell how authentic he is anymore.
The other factor that needs to be considered when discussing Tiger’s long term prospects is the continual upgrading of talent that seems to be occurring on tour. We’ve had this Cantlay kid in the top-10 a bunch recently and other college kids are winning on the Nationwide Tour as ams! He sort of started this whole phenomena 12+ years ago when he came on the scene and the 7, 8, and 9 year olds that wanted to be “like Tiger” started to mimic his approach to the game and his worth ethic. He’s going to have to deal with all those kids more and more as time goes on and their numbers are growing by the day.
Nice look… NOT. I’m in the same boat when talking about some of the shoes these guys are wearing now. Maybe it’s more of the same reverence ABS shows toward the older gear, but I’d rather wear a pair of FJ Classics and get a blister or two than put those ECCO house-slippers on. No one will ever convince me that they can be that comfortable and functional to warrant being seen in public in those things. Freddie and VJ look like slobs with those on as do some of the guys I play with who wear them.
Nice footage from 2000, seems like it was 20 years ago. A sports commentator made a good point about Tiger. All the greats have had their comebacks, Ali, Jordan, etc., and we should expect Tiger will also, it’s the one thing left on his resume. His body won’t get him there, but his mental strength/stubbornness, sheer will and determination will. Even if he has to have a bagful of hybrids and wear orthodic shoes, braces, whatever. And then we will look up and see him at an occasional senior tour event riding in a cart. But we will remember the glory days, just like we remember Ali, Jordan and others–stuck in amber. What a ride! And that’s ok with me.
All the greats in golf have gone through times of difficulty…
Still, ultimately you have to be able to putt, and even more in today’s version of near flawless putting surfaces. It’s more a putters game
now than ever before, at least on The PGA Tour.
Tiger could have won The Masters this year… so it was not that long ago that he showed excellence in form. If he goes 5 or 8 years of not winning,
then maybe that’s the time to discuss the end of Tiger… but I would be the last to write him off even then.
I’ll take a guy who knows how to win… over a guy who hasn’t or hasn’t much… even coming off a very long drought.
