We're not talking regarding major golf tournaments, either, the events just like the Masters and therefore the U.S. Open that outline a player's career. We're talking regarding any golf tournament, be it a run-of-the-mill PGA Tour event or, as way as we all know, even a country-club scramble.
It is a shocking stretch for a person who once dominated the game not like any player before him, one that has a self-imposed exile amid a tabloid sex scandal and 2 injury-related absences.
But it is not the past that ought to concern Woods. it's the unsure future. Woods, who has fourteen majors on his resume, was once seen as a lock to surpass Jack Nicklaus' long-coveted record of eighteen.
Woods, who has came back from an almost three-month absence at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, has never faced additional questions on his career. He fired longtime caddie, Steve Williams, this summer. He has plummeted to twenty eighth within the world rankings, a drop of twenty six slots since January.
SI appearance at Tiger's initial day back
His body has gone below the knife thus typically, together with four knee surgeries, that his medical history additional closely resembles an NFL linebacker than an expert golfer. He was once among the longest hitters within the game, but lately, he is seen ensuing generation of players buzz past him.
"There's undoubtedly lots of interest," fellow professional Matt Kuchar said recently. "There's such a big amount of queries that are being talked about: 'Has he absolutely healed?' 'How dangerous was the knee?' I played with him at the Players Championship when he withdrew once 9 holes and he actually looked in pain."
Woods, of course, is as defiant as ever. He said in the week that he feels no pain during this leg, feels assured regarding the approach he is hitting the ball which the expectations haven't modified. He still expects to be holding up a trophy when the weekend ends, though he hasn't done it on U.S. soil in twenty two months.
"I'm here to do and win the golf tournament," he said. "That's what i am centered on." (He shot a sixty eight in yesterday's gap spherical, half dozen shots off the lead).
Bridgestone Invitational Leaderboard
But what's affordable to expect? Woods' much-publicized adultery and divorce created the headlines and made him faraway from the golf course, and his link to Anthony Galea, a doctor who pleaded guilty to bringing unapproved medication into the country to assist high-profile athletes, conjointly shed him during a negative light-weight.
No one will say as expected what those distractions and disruptions in his life have alienated from his specialise in the game. however this can be clear: His own body is that the major explanation for his struggles currently.
Woods' list of medical issues is long. An ACL tear in July 2007. Arthroscopic knee surgery to repair cartilage injury in April 2008. A ruptured Achilles' tendon in December 2008. Back issues in might 2010, then ankle issues in December, and most recently, a knee sprain and Achilles' tendon strain.
He may well be thirty five, still during a golfer's prime, however his body hasn't been right during a long term. His longtime friend Mark O'Meara, a Masters and British Open champion, said a number of weeks ago that he had expected Woods would have gotten back to create abundant faster once coming back from his scandal-induced exile.
"Every year that goes by, it solely gets more durable, and he is aware of that," O'Meara said. "The intimidation issue isn't as nice because it once was. It happens in each generation. ... he is either reaching to bring it or even he'll find yourself walking, i do not apprehend."
Woods is showing no sign of let alone however. He once taped a listing of Nicklaus' eighteen majors on his bedroom was as kid and has never backed down from his goal of eclipsing the Golden Bear because the most dominant golfer within the tournaments that matter the foremost.
But he still wants 5 majors to pass Nicklaus for the record he has coveted since his childhood, and that is a Hall of Fame career in itself. Not one player in his generation has won quite four.
Also, solely 3 players in golf history have won quite 5 once turning thirty five -- Ben Hogan (eight), Nicklaus (six) and Sam Snead (five). On the flip aspect, several of the greats within the game -- together with Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson -- did not win one major past that age.
"I've said repeatedly that he is got a good work ethic and he is a really proficient young man," Nicklaus said at the Masters. "And equipment can facilitate extend his career beyond what it extended mine. I assume that he'll get his focus back on what he is doing and he can most likely pass my record.
"But he is still ought to do it."
Now that he is back on the course, he will begin the pursuit once more. however before Woods will chase down Nicklaus, he must place his name on a leaderboard once more. He must chase down the young golfers who have taken the sport in his absence, players like U.S. Open winner Rory McIlroy of Northern eire.
Most of all, the person who is already third all-time with seventy one PGA Tour victories must finish a streak of 628 days while not winning a golf tournament. that is when fans will believe Tiger Woods is back.
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