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06-23-2018, 08:43 PM
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#31
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Veteran
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 845
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyC
Clearly you haven't competed in golf nor any other athletic events based on your questions. Can you think of a player in baseball, football, golf, basketball, etc. that plays at the highest level every game or event? But let's stick to golf. How can a player go from missing the cut one week to winning a tournament the next? Competing at the highest level requires focus. Some competitors are able to achieve high levels of focus more often than other competitors. Tiger clearly has lost that ability. He has not lost the ability to hit a golf ball as well as anyone playing.
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Isn't it a littler too early to say he has clearly lost it? He is competing on tour. He hasn't won, sure, but he's had a few top 10/20s, right? If the qeustion is, is his problem mental or physical, it seems like a poor question. There are players who make a career out of the comeback he has had, right? Perhaps he is finished and it's physical or mental, but seems to me that it's likely shaking off rust or just a new norm of not standout golf, but still really good golf
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06-23-2018, 10:18 PM
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#32
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 4,285
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JerryBoyle
Isn't it a littler too early to say he has clearly lost it? He is competing on tour. He hasn't won, sure, but he's had a few top 10/20s, right? If the qeustion is, is his problem mental or physical, it seems like a poor question. There are players who make a career out of the comeback he has had, right? Perhaps he is finished and it's physical or mental, but seems to me that it's likely shaking off rust or just a new norm of not standout golf, but still really good golf
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Absolutely too early. He has lost it for now, but he might get it back. Tiger's mental skill and focus has been honed since he was 10 years old in competitive golf. I certainly will cut him him some slack being that he has had limited competitive rounds in the last 4 years. My point is simply that golf is a blend of physical and mental skills and that Tiger's game is not lacking on the physical side at this point.
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06-23-2018, 11:33 PM
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#33
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,144
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Excellent discussion....I just reviewed the long and tedious list of Tiger's records..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...by_Tiger_Woods. I don't ever see Tiger being satisfied with mediocre. This would be his only attainable goal at his age. I think his return to competitive golf can only be answered with the decreasing attenance in golf in recent years.
Golf equipment has evened the competition.
Last edited by incoming; 06-23-2018 at 11:43 PM.
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06-24-2018, 12:04 AM
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#34
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 16,847
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The last time Tiger played what you could possibly call a full schedule was 2013 & that was only 16 events. He happened to win 5 of those starts.
Since that period he has played 91 round of competitive golf. The young guns of the tour play nearly that many rounds in a season.
Time away from the game doesn't do anyone any good especially when it involves back fusion surgery. All the off the course stuff probably hasn't done him any good - to what degree who really knows.
Ask Sang Moon Bae what his mandatory military service did for his golf game.
There's golf & then there's tournament golf. I have hated it when Tiger has said this in the past, but it is true today. He needs the reps & even with that it may not be enough.
__________________
When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
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06-26-2018, 05:06 PM
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#35
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,506
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My bad
Quote:
Originally Posted by cj
He played in the Masters.
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Yes - and he at least made the cut there. I also misremembered the intent of the quote, which was more of a cliche -- he just mentioned all the obvious obstacles of playing in majors, with no reference to his need to reacclimate himself. But as others have said in this thread, that does seem to be the process he's undergoing.
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06-26-2018, 05:33 PM
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#36
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,506
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Toast?
Quote:
Originally Posted by thaskalos
In post #10 of this thread, it was suggested that Tiger is "physically over-matched" against today's top golfers. But in post #12...AndyC was quick to reply that "there is zero evidence" to suggest that Tiger's problems on the course are of a 'physical' nature. So...I subsequently opined that Tiger's problems are "mental". But now it seems that my friend Lansdale has proven ME to be wrong, as well.
So...I ask: If Tiger's problems are neither "physical", nor "mental"...in which category could they possibly fall?
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Hi Thask,
Reading through your posts in this thread, it strikes me that you're look at TW mainly from a gambler's perspective, as people naturally do on this site. When you (or others) ask 'is he back?', you're asking whether he's back in the hunt, whether somebody can bet on him. But i think it's pretty clear, that the answer is 'no' for now, and maybe for the remainder of his career. He's never going to be the player he was 15 years ago. He's just out there trying to play as well as he can -- which is actually the best he's played since 2013. Right now he's 52nd in money-won, but 22nd in money-per-tournament, which is not bad for a guy who was in so much pain he could barely get out of bed 18 months ago. For me this is a human interest thing, rather than a gambling or sports thing -- because TW, who doesn't need more fame or money, is now doing what the great majority of people who were never world class anything do every day -- the best they can.
Cheers,
lansdale
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06-27-2018, 04:06 AM
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#37
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Beaverdam Virginia
Posts: 12,716
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyC
There is zero evidence that Tiger is over-matched physically. His swing speed is as high as he has ever had. There are many ways to lose a golf tournament and Tiger has tried to use quite a few of the ways during his comeback.
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He is playing golf with a fused lower spine, those things go together like oil and water. playing golf is hard on someone with back issues. I played once a week average from the age of 10 till I had my spine fused at the age of 39. No one ever says "I used to have a bad back".
The fusion just takes away the extreme issues, you are not good as new. Pretty sure Tiger battles various levels of discomfort and stiffness on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. It has to effect his game. I tried playing after surgery, for a guy who shot in the low 80's, the extra back problems from playing golf were not worth it. All the meds and physical therapy help, but life after that operation is not a bowl of cherries.
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06-27-2018, 07:04 AM
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#38
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Just Deplorable
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Lebanon, Ohio
Posts: 8,068
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Whether Woods is back, on his way back, capable of winning...however you want to put it, it will depend on improving his putting. When he was winning consistently, everything inside 10 feet was going in the hole; now, most of them don't. Until that changes, I still see a gap between "in contention on Sunday" and "winning."
Personally, I think he would be a good candidate for shortening to a small-ball strategy instead of trying to keep up with the big-hitting young lads. It's a lot easier to shape a shot from the fairway than it is from the weeds. So I'm told.
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06-27-2018, 10:19 AM
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#39
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 4,285
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Dirt
He is playing golf with a fused lower spine, those things go together like oil and water. playing golf is hard on someone with back issues. I played once a week average from the age of 10 till I had my spine fused at the age of 39. No one ever says "I used to have a bad back".
The fusion just takes away the extreme issues, you are not good as new. Pretty sure Tiger battles various levels of discomfort and stiffness on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. It has to effect his game. I tried playing after surgery, for a guy who shot in the low 80's, the extra back problems from playing golf were not worth it. All the meds and physical therapy help, but life after that operation is not a bowl of cherries.
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What you wrote above may be true but it doesn't provide any evidence that Tiger is currently over-matched physically. His history of back issues may result in him being over-matched in the future.
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06-27-2018, 10:44 AM
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#41
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Beaverdam Virginia
Posts: 12,716
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Dirt
He is playing golf with a fused lower spine, those things go together like oil and water. playing golf is hard on someone with back issues. I played once a week average from the age of 10 till I had my spine fused at the age of 39. No one ever says "I used to have a bad back".
The fusion just takes away the extreme issues, you are not good as new. Pretty sure Tiger battles various levels of discomfort and stiffness on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. It has to effect his game. I tried playing after surgery, for a guy who shot in the low 80's, the extra back problems from playing golf were not worth it. All the meds and physical therapy help, but life after that operation is not a bowl of cherries.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyC
What you wrote above may be true but it doesn't provide any evidence that Tiger is currently over-matched physically. His history of back issues may result in him being over-matched in the future.
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Maybe I should have said he will never be as physically good as he once was, even without the father time factor. Tiger obviously used to have a very high level of fitness and athleticism for a golfer, so it could be 75% of Tiger still matches 100% physically of the average PGA tour golfer.
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06-27-2018, 12:56 PM
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#42
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 4,285
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Dirt
Maybe I should have said he will never be as physically good as he once was, even without the father time factor. Tiger obviously used to have a very high level of fitness and athleticism for a golfer, so it could be 75% of Tiger still matches 100% physically of the average PGA tour golfer.
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I would say that physically Tiger matches or exceeds the top level PGA tour golfer at the present time. Of course, one swing could change everything for the worse at any time. His ongoing durability is certainly in question.
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06-28-2018, 06:46 PM
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#43
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 3,208
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He shot even par today, with a new Taylor Made mallet putter.
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06-29-2018, 12:37 AM
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#44
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 4,285
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Quote:
Originally Posted by letswastemoney
He shot even par today, with a new Taylor Made mallet putter.
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It sure didn't help his putting.
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06-29-2018, 02:54 PM
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#45
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Veteran
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Lincoln, NE
Posts: 11,474
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I'll never stop cheering for the greatest player I've ever seen in my lifetime.
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