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Posnanski: Why do so many assume Tiger Woods will return to form one day?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Double Down, Feb 1, 2011.

  1. Sometimes it does disappear... But not too often is it sustained for so long and then disappears so suddenly (without injury... I know, I know, the knee.).
    Tiger's skills may have diminished, but not the point that I believe he won't win four more majors before he turns 40. Not with the current crop of players on Tour.
    Yes, Mickelson is inside the top 15 of alll-time great golfers. And he's 40, with four majors.
    Tiger is one of the five greatest ever and the gulf between 5 and 15 is expansive. And thusly (IMO) its feasible that Tiger, who has already lapped Mickelson's career thrice, could do it again in the next five year span.
     

  2. Which is part of the reason Nicklaus' 86 Masters win is so revered and cherished. And special.
     
  3. Gues#t

    Gues#t Guest

    Tiger hasn't won a major since 2008, and his health and life have been through changes in the past two years. So Posnanski makes an obvious point when he asserts that Tiger's career is in a new phase. But I hadn't looked at it that way until Joe pointed it out. Solid article, as the people I shared it with yesterday agree.

    Again: if he comes back from this adversity and breaks the majors record, I don't see how anyone can question his status as number one golfer. It's a big if.

    And by the way, to those who watched last week: how did his swing look to you, never mind the putting. I'd say stiff and mechanical. He has some serious work ahead just to get back in rhythm.
     
  4. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Certainly.

    But it's also been the driving force behind myth-making and storytelling since people were drawing on cave walls. How many suitors tried, and failed, to string Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through those axes before a 45-year-old Odysseus stepped up and did it?

    We want our heroes to be great forever. Outside of fiction, they can't be.
     
  5. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    People love to see old champions excel. But Woods ain't even old yet. Hell, in golf terms, he's barely begun middle age (35-40).
     
  6. I'm not sold on Tiger's drought being a sign of his lost skills.
    Nicklaus had similiar droughts running through 1968-69 and half of 1970 (The Open). And again failing to win majors in 1976 and 1977, before winning The Open in '78.
     
  7. Gordie Howe thinks you suck.
     
  8. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    It looks to me like Joe has set up a bit of a straw man that the populace of SportsJournalists.com wouldn't let another writer get away with. A lot of "many people" and "we" references in there, but I personally see just as much "Tiger's done" talk as I do "Tiger's going to be back." I don't see anybody being absolute about it, and if Joe sees that it certainly isn't in this column.

    Also ...

    *I don’t think that people realize just how unlikely it is for Tiger Woods to win five more major championships. Think about Phil Mickelson for a moment. He has been on tour for 16 years, since he was 25. He has won 38 times on the PGA Tour. That’s a Hall of Fame career — Phil Mickelson is almost certainly one of the 25 greatest golfers who ever lived. He has won FOUR majors in 63 starts. Does Tiger Woods have an entire Phil Mickelson career (plus one major) left in him over the rest of his career?

    This shows a real lack of knowledge of the game in the past 15 years. Add in the 4-6 majors that Phil has kicked away in that time, and assume that Tiger wouldn't similarly flub those (because that's the primary difference between the two of them), and the equation is not so implausible.
     
  9. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I usually like Pos, but this is something he usually doesn't do very much: pose the hypothetical strawman argument.

    "Why do so many people ASSUME..."

    "People want to believe..."

    "It's like they need it to happen..."

    I don't think that many people assume it at all.

    And if they do, so what?
     
  10. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    And it's a big leap to think that just because "people assume" he'll return that those people necessarily want or need to see it.

    I assume he'll win majors again. I would prefer, however, to see him become the next Ian Baker Finch.
     
  11. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Racist.
     
  12. Crash

    Crash Active Member

    You know why I think he's going to break Jack's record? Because it's his one goal in life and has been since he read about the record the first time. Ever since April 1986, Tiger Woods has devoted his life to winning 19 major championships. And he and everyone else can spare me the bullshit about him having a new "perspective" because of the events of the past year. It's still his goal. It's still why he picked up a golf club from day one and why he still picks up a golf club every day.

    No, desire and will don't mean he can do it. But when you combine his desire and work ethic with his talent (he's still, without a doubt, the best golfer in the world), I'd say the odds are pretty good that he's going to get back to form. He won't ever be 2000 Tiger again, but I don't think it's a stretch to say he can win one a year until he's 40. If Kenny Perry can be a 72nd hole choke away from winning a major at 49, and if Tom Watson can come one putt away from winning at 59, Tiger can string his career out long enough to win four or five more. Hell, had he made a putt, he might have won one or two last year.

    Let's just say I wouldn't bet against him.
     
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