Tiger, Tiger.....

How dangerous is a tiger when their fangs have been filed down to nothing
& claws cut to the knuckle? How dangerous is a golfer when their tee shots
go AWOL & they play bunker to bunker to three put? Are you afraid of them?
Do you respect what they could do or still might do?

This is Tiger Woods.


His personal Shakespearean tragedy sadly continues today. His first tee
shot of the second round in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic
Club's Highlands Course was driven into the center of a sand trap. He
managed to save par there, but on the second tee, he pulled the ball left
over the gallery & into the unforgiving forest below. This comes on the
heels of Thursday's horribly historic first round 77. That's right. Tiger
Woods, the greatest golfer of our time, shot a +7 at a major. Tiger is in
danger of missing the cut at a major. I repeat, Tiger Woods is in danger
of not being around for the weekend at a major. That has only happened
twice (2006 U.S. Open & '09 British Open).

However, is the person walking all over the Highlands Course down there in
the Peach State really Tiger Woods? Look at him. Really look at him. There
is no swagger in that person. None. Even during the 2008 U.S. Open, when
he played (& won) the damn thing on one leg for two days, Tiger's limp
still carried more confidence & desire than anyone else assembled. Just
walking down the fairway with his stone cold killer eyes searching for his
ball was intimidating. Where is the anger when he hooks a shot? Why is he
not carpet F-Bombing the green when a put does not break? Tiger used to
never be happy with his game even when he was dominating a tournament. The
mean-mugging, scowling face of determination personified is replaced with
a downtrodden, passive visage. This isn't Tiger Woods.

Has he returned to soon for knee surgery? Did he make a mistake in firing
his longtime, brutish caddie Steve Williams? Is his past haunting him?
Does he miss his wife & kids? Is this karma? Is he paying his penance?
Whatever the answers to these questions may be, they shouldn't matter. No!
Tiger Woods will never be derailed by anything. His sheer belief in
himself & his abilities tear him away from distraction & defeat. Defeat?
Tiger hates the very existence of the word! Nothing is going to stop him!
Jack Nicklaus's record of eighteen majors is going to be demolished. Tiger
will tell that to the Golden Bear's face! Tiger is. . . was. . . that
golfer.

Just watch his game. Sure, there is a flare of the old Tiger still around.
He sinks a long put here. Gets out of a bunker there. But. . . something.
. . just isn't there anymore. He is not the same golfer. The same man. His
peers do not fear him. Half the fans still believe while the other half
view him as washed up. A relic. Clap for the once great Tiger Woods, but
not so loud as to get his hopes up.

America loves to see a fall from grace. A destructive spiral that topples
the hero from their pedestal. They want to see the hero become the
villain. Then, they want to see the villain raise up one more time for
heroic glory. The Phoenix. The comeback. That is how it is. Just ask
Michael Vick. Tiger may be in store for that. Maybe. Golf needs Tiger to
be Tiger again. Hell, golf will settle for half of what he was. In the
last fourteen majors, there as been fourteen different winners. That is
not good. Golf, unlike other sports, needs dynasties. Golf needs dominate
players battling for major championships. No one is stepping up. Rory
McIlroy is the closest, but a no show at the British Open & a wrist injury
here seem to have taken the wind out of his sails. Phil is too old. Lee
Westwood & Luke Donald are nowhere near what the PGA needs in terms of
success & charisma.

Golf needs the old Tiger Woods back. It is not right to see so many people
take so much joy out of his pain. Was he wrong? Yes. Did he make mistakes?
Lots of mistakes? Yes. Hasn't he fallen far enough? Can people start
forgiving him? This new age Tiger Woods seems to be affected by what
others say about him, even if he denies it. He knows a vast majority of
his fans have stopped cheering for him. He knows his competition dismisses
him. He knows the whole country laughs at him even after all this time.
Can the healing start yet?

What Tiger needs is the best medicine in sports; winning. That's all Tiger
needs to get going again. To quote a longtime Tiger sponsor; just do it.
Just win, Tiger. Be the top cat again. Win. Put everything out of your
mind, a task you made famous. Win. Here, there, anywhere. Just win. Be
great. Overcome. Be the guy you've been for fifteen years. Win, Tiger,
win!

Please. . .

Written by, Andrew Brown