Tiger: the fairway less taken
Team Tiger published a blog post on TigerWoods.com on Monday, which includes an assessment of Tiger’s game at the PGA, the ongoing caddie search, his new Nike shoes, playing in Notah Begay’s charity event, hoping to make the Presidents Cup.
Here’s a look at the highlights, starting with the most notable topic — a healthy Tiger says he wants to play on the Presidents Cup, but per Captain Fred Couples orders, he needs to add another event to his schedule:
I have trips to Asia and Australia, and hopefully I’ll get picked for the Presidents Cup team. I’ve had some conversations with U.S. captain Fred Couples, and we’ll see how it goes. Of course, I want to be on the team.
It’s always fun to play for your country, and we did pretty well two years ago in San Francisco. I’m just going to keep practicing and try to get better. It’s Freddie’s call, and he can make any choice he wants.
I might add another PGA Tour event to my schedule. Right now, I’m looking at my options.
His options? A second-rate-level or B-list Fall Series tournament or receiving an invite to play at a European Tour event. Gasp! He should suck it up, put aside his ego and sign up for Disney or Sea Island — even better, Justin Timberlake’s tournament in Vegas.
Tiger thanks buddy Bryon Bell for caddying raking bunkers for him at the WGC and PGA, but he’s yet to announce a permanent replacement.
He did a great job. He knows my game, and he knows me. Unfortunately, I was pretty rusty and didn’t have enough reps to contend in either tournament.
I haven’t decided on a new caddie yet, but am definitely thinking about it a lot. There’s a few guys I’m looking at, but it all depends on timing. At this point, I’m in no hurry to make a decision.
What am I looking for? Two things: A person with a lot of experience, and a person I’ll have fun with.
Paging John Wood (Hunter Mahan’s current caddie)! Meanwhile, as for working with swing coach Sean Foley, he says Foley is expecting another child so he hasn’t been able to see him…
I’ll keep working on my game, but my coach, Sean Foley, is pretty busy at the moment. His second child is due very soon, so he’s home taking care of his family.
Of course, the main goal these days is feeling healthy (but he still expects to win, according to his pressers).
It was nice to finally play in some tournaments and test out my left leg. Although I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, I hit more solid shots than people might think and more importantly, I had no problems with my knee and Achilles tendon. Right now, I’m healthy.
And he analyzes his swing and game during his embarrassing comeback to competitive golf after an eleven-week layoff.
At the PGA Championship, when I trusted my game and swing, it was there. When I didn’t, I fell back into my old patterns. I just need more reps.
I’m used to seeing the ball curve a lot, but now I’m hitting the ball much straighter, and it’s hard to trust that. Most of the tee shots I missed at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA were straight balls into the left trees, bunkers or rough. I couldn’t cut the ball. I’m just not comfortable yet aiming straight, and it’s a whole new sight line for me.
If he really does want to be on the Presidents Cup squad, he’ll need to abide by Captain Couples mandate. Couples made it clear last week that Tiger must play more competitive golf, saying, “He can’t just show up the week before in Australia. I’m the captain, and he wants to be on the team. This is my chance to hold my rank above him one time.”
Combine that with Tiger saying he needs more reps — then adding a Fall Series event to his calendar seems logical.
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
bet those fall series events appreciate being called “second rate”
#HumbleBrag!
Most of the tee shots I missed at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA were straight balls into the left trees, bunkers or rough. I’m just not comfortable yet aiming straight, and it’s a whole new sight line for me.
So let me get this straight – The reason Tiger couldnt control his approach shots a few weeks ago is because he hits it so much further than before – Now he cant hit fairways because he hits the ball too straight?
So hes hitting longer and straighter than ever but cant make a cut – Who the heck does this guy think we are??
Pulls and Blocks tend to be straight….
Doug – he was missing shots because of a lack of trust. He was lining up expecting more turn in the ball and it would go straighter than he expected, missing the fairway. He said he was hitting the ball more solid, compressing it better, and the ball was going further than he expected. He had very few misses short in Akron or Atlanta.
I’m sure you’ve been there, too. I know I have. A lesson or tip kicks in and all of a sudden you don’t know how far a club you had been used to hitting a certain distance is going to go. You spend the day guessing and making a big mess of things.
The other thing Woods said was that after he got off to that 3 under start at the PGA, where he said he was working with mechanical thoughts, all of a sudden decided he was ready to “let it go” and play the feel game he had played for so many years. Probably not the best idea he had ever had. From there, he was thrashing deeper and deeper in the quicksand.
The most overused media statement and comment as in the above headline is that Tiger needs more reps. Reps, reps, reps. Every time he is talked about the word reps is thrown in. Enough. Come up with a better excuse for him and he needs to find new terminology for his problems. How many months, quarters and years can go by with him and others saying he needs more reps. Enough already. What else does he have to do other than play and work on his game. Most people work at their trade or job 40 to 80 hours a week in the real world and needing more reps just won’t cut it if you don’t perform.
The whiny brat needs to stop getting “reps” on his driving range and play golf tournaments. I hope Freddy sticks to his guns on Tiger playing some tournament golf before the Prez Cup. He STILL does not get that to get better he needs to humble himself and play tournaments he does not usually play!!
More BS from the world’s greatest BS’er.
I understand that he drove “straight” to the airport on Friday aft at the PGA.
The shot-tracker on TV showed Wood’s drives going all over the place – and they weren’t even “straight” pulls or pushes.
The smothered hook that he hit at the PGA, with the camera angle from behind, bent so much it looks like it was being warped by a black hole. That is “straight”?
Woods used to get Cook/O’Meara/Howell to BS us on how he was flushing it on the range and how he was sooooo close. Now he is doing it on his own – but we still don’t believe the crap – and neither do the other tour players who I would assume are supposed to be intimidated by this nonsense.
“Watch out at the Justin Timberlake Open because I am just hitting it so straight.”
Give me a break.
I’m so close to writing something nice about Tiger. I just need more reps before doing so.