No Longer on the Doorstep

When he finished his final round of the 2010 PGA Championship with a 73, it signified the second straight year that Tiger Woods failed to win one of golf’s majors – something that hasn’t happened since ’03-’04. Woods still trails Jack Nicklaus’s 18 major championships by four going into 2011, and some are beginning to wonder if Nicklaus has entered the Mercury Morris Zone on the day that Tiger’s demise began. After the events of that Thanksgiving night, Woods decided to take a break to try and put his family back together. The plan was to take an undetermined amount of time off and try to get his life in order.

(“ESPN reports that Brett Favre has woken up after falling asleep the night before.”)

Sorry about that. ESPN is interrupting my column much like everything else in the sports world with the latest “news” (quote/unquote) about Favre Watch 2010. Now that said unwanted behavior is over and done with, let’s move on.

Woods decided to return after rehab for sex addiction – something I thought was manageable with free internet porn and a healthy supply of tube socks. No matter what kind of “treatment” Woods received (i.e. Happy Endings, etc.), he was returning to golf at one of his favorite courses: Augusta National Golf Club – a course he had destroyed in the past (my favorite being the 18-under performance in 1997).

Some had the opinion he was rushing into it a little bit – mostly other golfers that enjoyed winning for a change. Golf enthusiasts were happy he was back, and after posting a minus-8 (good enough to tie for 6th), was there any doubt that Tiger was back?

Fast forward to August 17, 2010 where Tiger Woods has had the following finishes at the other majors:

• Tie for 4th at 2010 U.S. Open (the final round 75 didn’t help)
• Tie for 23rd at 2010 Open Championship (which was at St. Andrews – another course he has destroyed historically)
• Tie for 28th at 2010 PGA Championship

Perhaps rumors of a rebirth were slightly exaggerated. Tiger’s 2010 statistics were some of the worst of his career. His average driving distance dipped substantially to just over 295 yards – a byproduct of his surgically repaired knee, but that would be when a golfer would rely more on his accuracy and less on his power. Not in Woods’ case, however with a 55% driving accuracy and a 62% GIR (greens in regulation) which may explain his 3-point increase in his scoring average in 2010.

After numbers like that, you would think the natural idea would be go back to the drawing board with your coach – especially if you have Hank Haney, one of the best in the business.

Again … not in Woods’ case.

This dynamic duo split back in early May, could it have been a costly mistake? (SOURCE: New York Daily News)

Haney and Woods split in early May. As the PGA season continued afterwards, Tiger looked relatively lost on the course. Too often his drives would land in places that only bovines enjoy, and things always seemed to get worse.

Things don’t stand to get any better for Woods over the next few years since there are several factors that will hinder his ability to get four more major wins.

Obviously Tiger’s age comes into play. He’s 34, now, and not many athletes age like fine wine. Golf is one of the few where getting older isn’t that much of a problem as long as you are (a) healthy and conditioned – which Tiger is now — and (b) accurate – which Tiger needs to be sooner rather than later. Forget about driving the ball 300+ yards, Mr. Tiger. Those days should be over for you. Like my brother says about the way he plays Tiger Woods on the Nintendo Wii: “I may not have the distance off the tee, but I’ve got a great overall up-and-down game.” Heed my brother’s advice, and you’ll be fine.

Déjà vu is one of the best things for a golfer. You walk on to a course, and you know what you have to do at every hole for just about every situation. Unfortunately, Augusta is one of few courses that Tiger is familiar with in terms of where he’s playing his major championships. Relative familiarity can be helpful to Woods quest for 19 majors (or 18 for that matter), but more unknown courses make the journey that much more difficult because the “what the hell do I do on this hole” question will come up more often than not.

Of all the things that were vital to Tiger Woods’ dominance, skill is obviously the number one thing. Number two? Fear. Golfers were afraid to play because they knew they couldn’t beat him. When Woods lost his psychological edge on the veteran golfers, they started coming after him and were successful at it.

Phil Mickelson, for example, didn’t completely exercise all of the demons of his famous collapse at Wingfoot, but a long stretch of top-5 finishes (along with a Masters win) showed that Phil was the rival to Tiger that everyone thought he was.

The younger generation of golfers (Antony Kim, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day et al) aren’t afraid of Tiger, either. That doesn’t bode well for Mr. Woods as these kids are entering their primes and he is starting to go up in age and down in the leader boards.

All things considered, who knows where Tiger is in relation to Jack Nicklaus at this point. 2011 will be an interesting year, and you can’t help but be worried about the state of the man who has been on Nicklaus’ “block” when it comes to the record books.

Before 2009, Tiger was definitely moving his fine china into the house, but now, you have to wonder if Tiger is even in the same zip code.