On Tiger: "Not ready to contend any day soon, anyway."
/The second round viewing from the Quicken Loans National was both fascinating and discouraging, as Tiger Woods made a miraculously fast recovering from back surgery only to look and sound like the same less-than-once-in-a-lifetime golfer he had become just before the surgery.
Constantly mentioning he needs "reps," Woods made clear after his 74-75 MC that his priorities lie elsewhere these days by refusing to even consider adding more to his schedule. For those hoping he'd return refreshed with the desire of old and a desire to do anything possible to win, Woods made clear this is his only start before The Open Championship at Hoylake. As the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open lures a great field the week prior to the Open, the mystery remains, why does Woods insist on getting to the UK as late as possible when a great week at Royal Aberdeen is an option?
From Karen Crouse's NY Times story on Woods missing the cut at The Quickie.
Woods said he could take “a lot of positives” from the week. “The fact that I was able to even play; I came back four weeks earlier than we thought I could,” he said. “I had no setbacks. I got my feel for playing tournament golf.”
The 16 missed greens and the missed putts, including an 8-footer at the fourth hole and a 9-footer at the sixth, both for birdies, were a product of his rust, Woods said.
From Steve DiMeglio's USA Today story:
It was just the 10th time Woods missed the 36-hole cut in 299 starts on the PGA Tour. It was his first missed cut since 2012.
"A lot of positives to take away from these last two days," said Woods, who had back surgery March 31. "Even though I missed the cut by four shots; the fact that I was able to even play (was encouraging). I came back four weeks earlier than we thought I could. I had no setbacks. I got my feel for playing tournament golf. I made a ton of little, simple little mistakes, misjudging things and missing the ball on the wrong sides and just didn't get up-and-down on little simple shots. Those are the little things I can correct, which is nice."
Jeff Rude had no problem saying what was obvious if you watched: Woods is healthy again but it'll take a lot of rounds to get his mojo back. And he has no plans to play any more than he has to.
But that might be difficult to accomplish without more competitive rounds to chip off the rust that was apparent at the Quicken Loans National.
As it stands, he isn’t expected to compete between now and then. But because he needs more fine-tuning, it would behoove him to add the Scottish Open the week before going to Royal Liverpool. Yes, he’s a creature of habit who hardly ever plays the week before a major championship, but these are extenuating circumstances.
**John Paul Newport on Tiger's two rounds at Congressional:
Sean Foley, Wood's coach, made the analogy to a fighter pilot. "He can fly on the simulator for weeks, but the first time he sees another plane in combat, chemically it's going to be different. The adrenaline is going to be different," Foley said in an interview. The key after layoffs for any player is to quit thinking so much. "You know what to do, but it's time to trust the training and free it up."
Woods talked about the need to get "his numbers"—meaning, to get dialed in on the distance he's hitting his irons into the greens. But surprisingly his long game in both rounds looked sharper than his chipping and putting, which Woods said he had been able to practice since shortly after the surgery. He left three or four lag putts embarrassingly short, outright stubbed a chip on Thursday and took two shots to get out of a bunker on Friday.
