Tiger, The Pre-Post-Mortem

I had promised a weekend wrap, but in the immortal words of a certain former Secretary of State, at this point what difference does it make?

Everyone and their Uncle has a diagnosis or prescription for Tiger.  Let's see, first up we've got IBF, a man who should know something about suddenly losing one's game:

Ian Baker-Finch believes Tiger Woods is trying too hard to execute perfect individual

golf shots instead of playing the game naturally, which is causing him to play with fear. 

The former world number one is in the worst form of his professional career and a severe lack of confidence in his swing and body even has some predicting an early retirement. 

“I would love for Tiger to just go and play golf every day and stay away from the machines, the mechanics and trying to be perfect,” said Baker-Finch on SEN radio.

And this:

"I would hit 50 perfect drives on the range, and snap-hook it off the first tee," he said. "[Woods] does exactly the same thing. At the first tee at Augusta every year he’s so nervous he hits it 100 yards off line, and he’s just hit 50 perfect drives on the range. You can’t tell me that that’s a bad back, or a swing flaw. It’s totally mental. It’s a fear.

"And it's not the yips. It's not a spasm. It's a fear."

Are those mutually exclusive?  Seems more like a potato-potahto situation....Batting second is Doug Ferguson, though for some reason the AP often doesn't give him a byline:

Most disturbing is how easily it has become to withdraw. In his brief interview among a

circus atmosphere in the parking lot, no one asked if Woods risked further injury by completing the last six holes (and presumably two putts). Could he not have gutted out the first round and tried to activate his glutes Friday morning? Notah Begay said over the weekend on Golf Channel that a text from Woods indicated it was not a "major concern." 

One major concern is motivation and, yes, desire. 

That would be unlike the Woods of yesteryear — no one would ever dare question his desire — but it's reality.

In case you missed it, this was the major theme of the Golf Channel panel on Sunday morning.  But let's let Doug finish his thoughts:

Is it possible that perhaps his greatest strength — his mind — is now his weakness?

The look on the practice range is one of uncertainty. On the golf course, it is one of resignation. Woods has never appeared more fragile. And he has never been the subject of so much sympathy from peers he used to beat so badly that Charles Howell III once said only half-jokingly that he "ruined a lot of guys' lives." 

There was some truth to a throwaway line from Woods at his Hero World Challenge in December that "Father Time is undefeated." He is 39 with five surgeries and one public embarrassment behind him. Adding to accelerating years is that he has been in pursuit of greatness from the time he crawled out of a high chair.

Ummm...no one told me there'd be math, but isn't five a bit low?  Maybe it depends on your definition of "Major," but it seems that the left knee alone has been cut at least five times.  I've long made the point, though I think Johnny Miller was the first to say it, that Tiger is old in golf years....And Jaime Diaz echoes that in his Golf World article, though he tries to show Tiger a path from being an old 39 to a young 40 (Hint: it's not more reps):

Here's the excerpt that Shack used:

Thus did a 14-time major winner, still the most powerful man in golf, attempt to use his influence to deflect attention from what he doesn't want others, and probably himself, to believe: that his game is on a cliff’s edge, teetering more toward retirement than resurgence.

Woods’ stubborn ability to stay unceasingly on message and concede nothing has long made him a difficult subject to present with any depth, and never more so than now. When he deems the topic positive, he gives little information. When he deems it negative, he gives none. It’s understandable for a relentlessly scrutinized athlete who wants to minimize the noise, but in the process, he basically dares journalists to call him a liar. Very few have gone there.

That's all true, but is far from the main thesis of Diaz' piece:

Well, I have a theory, admittedly speculative and uncomfortable for many, who would rather—almost as much as Woods—not go there. But it’s based on the relevant history of a historic figure, the only thing that seems proportional in scale to what has ensued: The scandal that changed Woods’ life after Thanksgiving of 2009. 

The line of demarcation is clear, because as a golfer, Woods has not been himself since. I believe it’s fair to posit that the trauma of being publicly shamed changed him. Before, he possessed the right makeup for a dominating champion. Ever since, he hasn't. 

The steady decline in Woods’ ability to handle pressure, something he did better than anyone in his time or perhaps any time, can be traced. There are anecdotal examples of missed drives and short putts at crunch time, as well as a remarkable pattern of not having broken 70 on the weekend of a major championship since the 2011 Masters. 

Given Woods’ station and the long-cultivated air of impenetrable superiority that he used to great advantage in competition, he was ill-prepared to face humiliation. The most revealing comment Woods has made in the past two weeks came during his press conference last Wednesday when he said of his struggles, “Unfortunately, I have to go through it in a public forum like this.”

Readers know how highly I think of Jaime, and I suspect he's on to something... but I've one major quibble I'd love to discuss with him over a beer.   The fire hydrant was on Thanksgiving, but Tiger was run over by the inestimable Y.E. Yang in August of 2009, the first time he failed to hold a lead in a major.  

And, of course, what would a Tiger post be without a word from The Hankster:

“I am surprised by the severity of what we have seen,” says Haney. “But if I look at

Tiger’s history he has had those shots in his bag for a while. I remember at the 2008 US Open a routine pitch he had from below the 13th green. He chunked [duffed] it. I asked his caddie Steve Williams what happened and his response was, ‘he yipped it with his knees. He did that knee-dip thing’. That was the first time I had seen that. 

“Subsequently, we would pitch a few balls every day at Isleworth before Tiger began to hit full shots. He never miss-hit one. I always marvelled at that. The bottom of his swing was perfect every time. But that changed. Every once in a while, he would chunk one. It wasn’t that often, but when someone has hit none like that in five years, you notice.”

Boy is that Tiger stubborn.  As I understand it, if he would only watch Hank's free 32-minute video, he can avoid his Big Miss and take 7-10 shots off his scores... that would put him within a few shots of making a cut.

But this is going to leave a mark:

Looking closely, it does seem as if Woods understands the extent of his predicament. Recently, there has been a change in his previously near-impervious personality. 
Where he used to be uncomfortable if those around him were comfortable, now he’s laughing and joking with fellow competitors. In Phoenix he was even making jokes with reporters – not normally his favourite people – after shooting 82. 

To the more cynical observer, Tiger is retreating into what in golf is known as “Nick Faldo mode”. At the height of his career, Faldo was the most self-absorbed and unapproachable so-and-so on tour. Then, towards the end of his time as a player, he became jovial Nick the funny man. In a less marked way, Tiger appears to be doing something similar. Is he already setting the stage for his retirement?

Nick Faldo mode?   Hank, why so much hate?  I've got a suggestion...how about we have Jaime Diaz put Haney on the couch?