??I?m not down. I?m really angry right now. So there?s a lot of words I could use beyond that.?
That?s what Tiger Woods said to describe how he felt after his opening round of 7-over 77 at the PGA Championship on Thursday. After watching Woods? golfing display?in two rounds?of the season?s final major, I think I share his sentiment.
The Tiger Woods that played golf over the last two days is but a mere shell of the man who won 14 major titles, obliterated fields around the world and was the best closer golf has ever seen. This Tiger Woods is a zombie.
When Woods was indefinitely sidelined after The Masters thanks to injuries to his left knee and Achilles, there was a thought that he might take the year off. Save for nine holes at The Players, 36 here and four rounds last week in Akron, Ohio,?that?s precisely what he has done.
Woods adamantly denied that he would need any kind of surgery on his knee or Achilles. A knee replacement was never discussed, he said. Maybe a brain transplant is needed. Clear his head. Clear house. Just hit reset.
The world No. 30 said it all went wrong for him when he stopped thinking mechanical thoughts on the 15th tee on Thursday ? his sixth hole. From then on, he played 13-over golf. He doesn?t know where the ball is going ? either because it doesn?t move like it did before working with Sean Foley, or he?s duck-hooking it, or the sand has created some unpredictable lies.
For the week, Woods found some 20 bunkers off the tee at Atlanta Athletic Club.?He found the water four other times. If it was not grass, that was where Woods?could be found this week. This ain?t West Palm Beach, either.
Woods had five double bogeys for the week. Heading into this PGA Championship, Woods had made 11 in 936 previous?holes combined. In fact, he had never posted as many double bogeys in any of his 260 PGA Tour events.
It got so bad that TNT commentator Ian Baker-Finch had to say it: ?Tiger Woods has lost it.?
Maybe?it should be rephrased to: Did he ever have it?
Woods is a year into this process with Foley. The anniversary was this week. It has to go down as one of the least enjoyable years of a marriage in history ? religious, civil, contractual. It has been catastrophic.
Certainly, Woods has been injured. He has?gone through a divorce, a move and a big life change. But in the years when Woods was making swing changes ? 1998 and 2004 ? he at least won golf tournaments. He finished in the top 10 in a lot of events. His worst year in the majors came in ?04, but at least he didn?t finish outside of the top 25. The refinement his swing lacked from its still cooling mold kept him from winning more, but the gist was there.
This time, the process is different. Something went wrong on the assembly line. A quality control inspector never would have let Woods out of the factory. Tiger Woods Version 3.0 would be in the dud box and never see the light of day.
It would be piling on to call for Foley?s head, but Tiger sure sounded upset when he talked about his struggles with flighting and shaping the golf ball. That?s because of what Sean is trying to get him to do, as Woods says often. Foley is not trying to sabotage Woods? game, but it sure appears that whatever game Woods has taken from Foley is easily compromised.
Tiger has missed the FedExCup playoffs for the first time. The guy has won it twice. There?s an off-chance that Woods could play in a PGA Tour Fall Series event, but what a blow it would be to his pride to have to tee it up with the guys who are struggling to keep their cards for next year.
Agent Mark Steinberg had the understatement of the day (especially quoted in this column) when he told CBSSports.com?s Steve Elling, ?He and I will talk about it. We weren?t contemplating this, that?s for sure.?
Maybe that is the time to work out the kinks in his game. Woods thinks so.
?I get some time off again,? Woods said. ?But now I?m healthy enough to work on my game. It?s going to be good. Sean and I did not really have an opportunity to sit down and do a lot of work. This will be our?time.?
Woods is unlikely to play again before an appearance at the Australian Open in November. That was intended to be part of a two-week stint ? the opening act before the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. Now American captain Fred Couples would seem insane to pick him with a wild-card selection. It would almost be a pity pick, which is precisely what Tiger would not want. Not with a game like this.
At least Woods now has time to make the decision about when he will expose himself and his game next to public view and scrutiny. The worst part of the last two days was that every shot of it was aired internationally.
It used to be said the revolution would be televised. Not so certain about that, but the devolution sure was.
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