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

People say this a lot, but it's actually not true. Not when it comes to most great players, especially in the modern era.

Guess how many majors Tom Watson won after he turned 33? Zero. Arnold Palmer won his last major at 34.

The only players since 1970 to win multiple majors after turning 36 are: Jack Nicklaus (4), Gary Player (4), Ray Floyd (2), Nick Price (2), Vijay Singh (2), Mark O’Meara (2), Angel Cabrera (2), Padraig Harrington (2).

I just think it's a bit presumptuous to believe just because Nicklaus did it, so will Woods. (And at this point, to break Jack's record, he has to be better than Jack from this age, not just match him.) And Nicklaus didn't have to face too many Y.E. Yangs to get his 18. The fields are a lot deeper, thanks to Tiger.


Crash, I don't know what makes you say he is, without a doubt, still the best golfer in the world. He really isn't. If he could figure out how to putt again, his short game might be the best in the world, but plenty of people hit it farther and more accurately than he does these days. Mentally is he still the best in the world? Nope. Can't say that about a guy who is currently mailing in his final round on one of his favorite courses.

 

He's completely lost it. He could get it back, but he's definitely lost it.

I think he'll win another major, but I think it will take him a year or two to do so.

 

Right now he is sitting on 10 majors in a row without a championship, which is exactly where he was heading into the 2005 season. Back then it was "Has marriage cost Tiger his killer instinct?" Uh, guess not.

The age comparisons to previous generations are irrelevant because golfers never trained, so if 40 isn't the new 20, it's certainly the new 30. Hell, to me the bigger factor is that his doctor got caught at the Canadian border and what that might do to his recovery.

I hope he gets back. I couldn't stand the guy as a person even before all the shit came down. I've always found him to be one of the smarmiest and fakest people out there, and every bit of charity he did came directly from Image Control HQ and not because he actually cared about anyone else.

But man, the guy can play golf. And I miss that. And I don't even like golf.

 

And nothing in his game at Torrey Pines last weekend seemed to indicate he's comfortable with his new swing.

I still say it's in his head that he blew the lead at the PGA in '09. Then his personal life unraveled and he still hasn't recovered from that fallout. And then there's the whole thing with Dr. Galea.

His third round at Pebble last year was like the Tiger of old, but he still didn't get a "W" last year. Then he yakked up a 4-shot lead to McDowell at his own tourney.

Shit is all in his head right now, and he's struggling to figure it all out.

 

i'm faaaar from a golf 'expert,' but from my no-nothing seat in the bleachers, it doesn't appear to me that tiger has just 'lost it,' but that he's lost it to an embarrassing degree to the millions of fanbois he collected along the way. i mean he's looked totally clueless, bordering on inept at times.

now, all sports are chock full of warm, fuzzy comeback stories. and tiger might have a couple more to write himself. but they'll come in the form of an unexpected win or two as he ages, giving all of us who thought we were witnessing something historic more reason to sigh, 'ah, what could have been.'

injuries, personal mayhem, aging, take your pick or pick 'em all. tiger woods will NEVER be the cosmic force he was until a couple of years ago. but even crusty cynical sportswriters are fans at heart and were captivated by the romantic notion that they would be along to chronicle tiger's magical ride...

alas, the magic has died, as it always inexitably does. wasn't there a time when mike tyson seemed an indestructible, non-human force? at best, tiger will be nothing more than another seasoned vet on the tour, earning a living but shocking the world by winning another major.

hey, another lesson for us all. the monstrous record chased in every sport can't be broken by just any sensational up-and-comer; b huge part of becoming a legend is to maintain your level for an insane amount of time. chances are the eye of the tiger that made tiger tiger has been lost forever.

mission accomplished: hooray for me! used 'tiger' three times in one sentence... a personal record i'd be embarrassed to ever break....

 

I don't think anyone on the tour is fearful of Woods anymore.
He blew a four-shot lead on the final day of the Chevron, though it was to the reigning U.S. Open champ. But when had Eldrick ever done that?
Personally, I think he's shot. He's either going to be a solid pro, win once or twice a year from here on out, maybe contend in a major or two.
Or he's going to be golf's version of Steve Blass.
How many times has Woods now completely overhauled his swing? Three? Four? What's left for him if this new swing regimen doesn't pan out?

 

You should look up who Steve Blass is. One second-place finish in Cy Young voting is not exactly 14 major championships.

 

oh, c'mon. longtime understands that, i'm sure. the comparison is not out of line in this discussion.

 

I think "hope" is a better word than "assume." With all the star fuckers in any group of sports fans, I'm guessing most people just like talking about the greatness Posnanski refers to and don't want to deal with any evidence that might make that moot. The average fan doesn't want to debate the merits of Woods' relative success or whether this is it for him. They just want to sit in front of the TV, cheer for a guy that's visible to everyone and talk about the awesomeness at the office the next day.

 

Fantastic article.

I think the biggest hurdle for Tiger is winning his NEXT major. He hasn't won one since his knee surgery almost three years ago. He hasn't won one since the Y.E. Yang upset. He hasn't won one since the personal life fiasco and hasn't won one under his new coach (yes I know those last two don't hold much water because of their still very recent timelines but they are still things that pose as challenges).

If he can get over the hump (tongue in cheek) of winning the next one, the floodgates could open up and he could make it interesting.

But for now, my money is on the field. It feels weird for me to say that because for so long it appeared he would smash the record.

 

I never thought that Jack's record was a slam dunk.

You know why?

It is freaking hard to win majors. Freaking h-a-r-d.

 

Absolutely. But after ever major, people would say stuff like "I think he's going to win 25 of these."