Tiger Woods chose a fine day to announce his back surgery and the subsequent withdrawal from the Masters. That announcement on Tuesday left us poor journalists handling calls and text messages wanting to make sure that the world No1 was not playing some elaborate April Fool’s Day joke on his fans.
Well…Tiger’s still not come out laughing to deny it all which is a great shame because any Major without the world No1 is like eating fries without salt – it’s just not fun.
But if there is one tournament in the world that can withstand the shock of the 14-time Major champion withdrawing, it is the Masters. By the time the players have said their prayers around the Amen Corner on Sunday evening, enough drama would have happened and the anticipation of yet another thrilling climax will keep all thoughts of Tiger out of mind.
From Tiger’s point of view, I think he has done absolutely the right thing. The age-old wisdom of the saying ‘A stitch in time saves nine’, cannot be denied. He is just 38, so he has many more years of Masters ahead of him, but that will not be possible if he damages his back permanently.
Does this mean Tiger will not be able to catch up with Jack Nicklaus’ magical mark of 18 Major titles? That’s no longer a difficult one to answer, especially after his recent surgery.
Anyone who has ever wielded a golf club knows the importance of the knees and the back in the entire process. Both have taken a major hit in Tiger’s case.
One stat which should cheer Tiger up is that Nicklaus won the last of his 18 Majors at age 46. But there’s a flipside to that stat as well – the Golden Bear won his previous 17 before moving into his 40s.
Canadian bomber Graham DeLaet went through the same surgical process as Tiger after agonising bouts of back pain when 29. He was out of the game for almost a year after that.
The good news with that is DeLaet feels 100 per cent cured. But if Tiger loses one year, he’d be 39 when he makes his comeback.
Tiger has now missed five of the past 23 Majors since his 2008 US Open win. And every time he misses one, it becomes that much harder to get closer to Nicklaus.
And let’s not forget one more factor – Tiger is now a victim of his own success. For all these years, he has been the inspiration that has spawned a new generation of golfers who are as hungry, as talented, as strong mentally and as dedicated as he was when he stormed onto the scene all those years ago.
And if you look at them right now, they are also a lot fitter than Tiger. As a fan of the game, and having grown up on Tiger’s exploits, I hope he gets to 18, but it really seems to be a bridge too far even for someone who is perhaps the greatest golfer of all time.
Andrew’s out of the Loupe
The last couple of weeks, I have been writing about slow play, and Kevin Na was particularly in focus.
But after last week’s Valero Texas Open, the Korean-American has definitely relinquished the position of being golf’s poster boy when it comes to pace of play. Meet the new villain of the piece – American Andrew Loupe.
In contention on the weekend, Loupe became even slower, was put on the clock and given one bad timing. After he eventually took his pre-shot routine of about a 100 odd practice swings, NBC commentator Johnny Miller got so fed up, he said: “If everyone on Tour played like him, I would stop commentating.”
But here is the big difference between Na and Loupe. While Na has been apologetic and has worked really hard to improve his speed, Loupe just brushed aside the criticism, and said: “You hurry up and wait if you want but I’m really…I don’t care.”
That, is pretty much the worst comment I have heard in all my life covering golf. The game is all about rules and etiquette, and Loupe was being disgustingly dismissive about his playing partners in saying that.
That comment in itself should incur him a fine. Let’s not forget that in the Rules of Golf, Section 1 is on etiquette. Rules come later.
One just hopes that it was the youth in him being arrogant, but the 25-year-old needs to fall in line immediately at least as far as showing respect to his fellow competitors are concerned.
Quote of the Week
“My back’s feeling great, my body’s feeling great. I felt as good as I have all year. My speed is back, I was hitting the ball hard, drivingit great. I pulled a muscle on my downswing trying to hit the ball hard on the second hole. It just killed and it wouldn’t subside for 10 or 12 seconds.” – Another player facing back issues, Phil Mickelson, on his withdrawal from last week’s Valero Texas Open.
Stat of the Week
5 – Steven Bowditch became the fifth player this year to win a PGA Tour event while ranked outside the top 100 in the world rankings after Kevin Stadler (127), John Senden (123), Scott Stallings (112) and Russell Henley (110). Bowditch was ranked 339th going into the Valero Texas Open.
