A decent interview with Tiger

[playthrough]

I'd love to know the machinations that got Lorne Rubenstein and Time this assignment. Maybe not the most revealing sit-down in athlete history, but for Tiger this is pretty good.

Tiger Woods 40th Birthday Interview

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

He ain't playing, muchless winning. If he's going to stay relevant, he might have to become likable, and try to open up a bit.
Good luck. Though this is a start.

 

[LongTimeListener]

That is a good interview. If all he could do was walk 10 minutes a day and lie down, yeah, that's about it.

I did laugh, though.

You don’t read what’s written about you? Was there a time when you did?
Not really. And that has served me well. It has served me well.

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/tiger-woods-straight-up-not-true-not-funny/

Did you read Dan Jenkins’ interview with me in the latest Golf Digest? I hope not. Because it wasn’t me.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

This was interesting.

A lot of folks thought he had the yips and lost his ability to play the short game and putt. No so, he says. Just a lack of practice and plenty of pain.

Those were the years nobody thought you would miss a putt. You’ve not putted as well in recent years.
Well, here’s the deal. When my back was bad, anytime I bent over, my whole upper body and neck would start to cramp up, and so, putting was the most painful, and so I never practiced it. It hurt too much. It’s just a matter of getting healthy enough to where I can do that again. Because I know I can putt. I proved that to myself this year that I can still putt. I haven’t lost my nerves. My hands don’t shake. I don’t feel any of those sensations, unless my back was acting up. But then bending over would cause my neck to go, and eventually other parts of my body would start to go.

So if he's healthy, if he ever gets healthy, pain-free (which I doubt will happen) he can play.

 

[TigerVols]

I'm looking forward to the day he comes clean about his PED use.

 

[TyWebb]

I like that even he can't stand watching golf. I'll have to bring that up with my dad next time he tries to get me to watch some non-major on the Golf Channel with him.

(I realize Tiger probably can't stand it for a different reason, but I'm still using it.)

 

[Double Down]

This was interesting.

A lot of folks thought he had the yips and lost his ability to play the short game and putt. No so, he says. Just a lack of practice and plenty of pain.



So if he's healthy, if he ever gets healthy, pain-free (which I doubt will happen) he can play.

He absolutely did have the yips, and the fact that he can lie to himself that he didn't have them is probably part of the reason he (sort of) overcame them. This "changing pattern" stuff is utter bull****. I'll buy it in the putting, maybe, although I think it's just a function of getting old. No one putts better with age.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Actually, some of us "amateur" (read: lousy) hackers do improve with age, because it's only then we've had enough reps to even try to get better.

 

[LongTimeListener]

This one is making the rounds today courtesy of Golf.com -- a 1995 article after Tiger won the U.S. Amateur.

"I'm going to make a prediction," Earl Woods said Sunday night, as champagne both tingled and loosened his tongue. "Before he's through, my son will win 14 major championships."

Encore! Encore!

 

[Pete]

This one is making the rounds today courtesy of Golf.com -- a 1995 article after Tiger won the U.S. Amateur.

"I'm going to make a prediction," Earl Woods said Sunday night, as champagne both tingled and loosened his tongue. "Before he's through, my son will win 14 major championships."

Encore! Encore!

I would bet if Earl was alive, he would claim that like Jack always has, he was counting U.S. Amateurs as major championships. So he'd say he actually undersold Tiger by three majors. Of course, that would give Tiger 17 compared to Jack's 20, so he's still stuck in second – apparently for good.

But that's a pretty amazing find/quote. Thanks for sharing.

 

[da man]

This one is making the rounds today courtesy of Golf.com -- a 1995 article after Tiger won the U.S. Amateur.

"I'm going to make a prediction," Earl Woods said Sunday night, as champagne both tingled and loosened his tongue. "Before he's through, my son will win 14 major championships."

Encore! Encore!

Heard about that on the radio his morning. Pretty incredible.

Of course, Earl also predicted Tiger would "do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity."

Batting .500 ain't bad, though!

 

[Small Town Guy]

Need someone good at GIFs to do one for me. (I think this is how the kids would phrase it): When Tiger and Kobe are your two favorite active athletes and their best moments come when they're talking, not playing.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Heard about that on the radio his morning. Pretty incredible.

Of course, Earl also predicted Tiger would "do more Perkins waitresses than any other man in history to change the course of humanity."

 

[Chef2]

Read the article. Loved how honest Tiger was. Thought it was very interesting that the only analyst he can stand is Finchy. I know he can't stand Miller. (Nor can I for that matter)
Would love it if he did Feherty once.

 

[Vombatus]

Heard about that on the radio his morning. Pretty incredible.

Of course, Earl also predicted Tiger would "do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity."

We don't know how many kids he has. He might not either. If he doesn't destroy humanity, some descendant of his might.

I'm glad Hitler didn't have any kids.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Read the article. Loved how honest Tiger was. Thought it was very interesting that the only analyst he can stand is Finchy. I know he can't stand Miller. (Nor can I for that matter)
Would love it if he did Feherty once.

You know, that was sort of my thought when I read that. I wonder if he and Feherty have a decent relationship and he just overlooked it, or if they have problems between them.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

A little too irreverent for Tiger's taste, I'm thinking. Also Feherty was the announcer at the 15th hole when Woods had his rules kerfluffle at the Masters in 2013. Baker-Finch is the most relentlessly positive of all commentators. He's just got a sunny personality, I think he's true to himself, but of course Tiger likes him best. I wonder what these guys would think if they had the same level of commentary as exists in other sports. Even someone like Troy Aikman would be much too candid for most golfers.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Tiger doesn't do well with critical questions, let alone criticism. In 2011, he was having a press conference about yet another swing change and someone asked, "what if this one doesn't work?" Tiger immediately became bitchy and stand-offish. "Well, it's GOING to work. How can it not?"