Tiger Reveals New Bingo Board Buzzwords: Explosive, Feels
/Before Tiger's Tuesday press conference at Aronimink for the AT&T Classic, Pond Scrummers Elling and Huggan discussed the potential takeaways from the Q&A.
Huggan: Did he really? What is your point? "Tiger continues to be injured" -- what a fascinating headline. Or, "Tiger still not playing golf."
Elling: He's supposed to show up in Philly on Tuesday for a press conference and there's plenty to discuss. His caddie worked for another player at the U.S. Open, he's played nine holes since April and he was seen on crutches during U.S. Open week, the British is two weeks away and he's not yet hitting practice balls, apparently.
Huggan: Or, "Tiger still limping." Or, "Tiger still not saying anything interesting."
Elling: That last one is a standing headline. So, you are not at all curious to hear what he has to say about McIlroy, the state of the American game, his personal health, etc?
Safe to say that continued Tuesday, with a fitting description and comparison of his new life crisis facial hair remaining the most interesting topic after Tiger seemed to say he was no where close to returning while refusing to rule out the Open Championship.
For Jason Sobel the takeaway was Tiger's comment about Rory's swing being better than his own at 22.
Steve Elling is relieved that Tiger is listening to this body and his doctors, though no one asked which doctor he is listening to. At this point, I wouldn't rule out Dr. Jekyl.
The guy who much of his adult life lived on the edge without benefit of a seatbelt or precautionary prophylactics of any sort -- skydiving, deep-sea diving and making complete ruination of his personal life and public persona -- is finally listening to somebody other than the guy staring back in the mirror.
Maybe now they can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
"I'm 35, not 65," Woods said, flashing his familiar defiance. "I still got some years ahead of me. Golf is unlike any other sport. [Tom] Watson almost won [a major] at what, 59?
"I want to play this game for as long as I want to. I still feel like my best years are ahead of me."
He had me until the last part, but why pick at nits? At least the guy is making concessions to age.
The luster of the one-time Teflon kid has long faded, as evidenced by a surprisingly weak field for this week’s AT&T National that doesn’t include a single player from the top 10 in the world ranking. And a four-times operated on left knee certainly qualifies as an occupational hazard. But the underlying skill that lifted him to 14 majors and 71 Tour titles remains.
Besides "explosive," Sean Martin notes a possible new Tiger bingo board word for future pressers: feels.
Woods, however, didn’t rule out playing the British Open, which begins in just 16 days. He’s making progress toward his return, regaining strength and explosiveness in his injured left knee. He was using crutches and wearing a walking boot in a photo posted on the Internet on June 13. He walks unaided now. He’s been working out multiple times per day to strengthen the left knee, which he sprained while hitting an awkward shot from pine straw in the third round of the Masters.
It’s not just Woods’ health that will determine when he returns, though.
Once he begins hitting balls, he’ll need time to reacquaint himself with the new “feels” he’s been working on with Sean Foley. It’s hard enough to return from a lengthy layoff.
So much for the rumors that Foley had been put on the waiver wire.
And finally, Robert Lusetich found Tiger more lucid today than at any time recently when it comes to perspective about his game and future.
There was a clarity to Woods as he faced the media at the AT&T National on Tuesday that suggests he’s accepted that those days are over; that he’s going to have to be at his best if he hopes to reclaim his throne.
