Reactions to Tiger Being Out for '08

[SubPar]

Clearly some players are going to collect wins and top-10 finishes that otherwise would not. TV ratings will suffer. Attendance will be down.

SubPar


(AP) — A collection of quotes reacting to Tiger Woods missing the rest of the season to undergo knee surgery:


"I'm sorry about Tiger having to miss the rest of the year due to more knee surgery. I know how frustrating it was to lose most of last summer to my wrist injury, but I expect him to be back as strong as ever and look forward to competing with him as soon as possible." — Phil Mickelson.

"Tiger is our tour. When you lose your star player, it definitely hurts. It's definitely an opportunity for us, for sure. But still, you want to beat the best." — Kenny Perry

"We sent him flowers for winning the U.S. Open. Now I wish I had put in a note of condolences. But this is not about Tiger and the Ryder Cup. It's about Tiger getting better and his march to history." — Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger.

"It's pretty sad to know he's not going to play the rest of the season. But he needs to fix his knee. The sad thing is it's the wrong knee. It's the left knee that takes all the torque. He needs to fix that, and I think he's doing the right thing." — Vijay Singh.

"Gives us a chance to win now, I guess. It is a blow to all the fans who follow him, the sponsors. The money wouldn't be where it is if it wasn't for him. A lot of people don't realize, if it wasn't for Tiger, we wouldn't be playing for what we are now." — John Daly.

"To hear he is not going to play for the rest of the year is a massive blow to golf. For guys teeing up in the Open and the U.S. PGA, guys might think they have a chance now, but personally I think it is very, very sad." — European tour player Ross Fisher.

"For an athlete as talented and competitive as Tiger Woods, taking the rest of the season off must have been an incredibly difficult, yet necessary decision, one that we understand and support completely. The fact that he needs additional surgery only makes his performance and victory at last week's U.S. Open all the more impressive." — PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

"I'm sure he's bummed about this, but I also think it's a good decision. He has so many years ahead of him and so many records to break that this is obviously the right decision for him. He will get a chance to recover and come back and be strong again. The pain that it looked like he had was, you know, who wants to live with that?" — Annika Sorenstam.

"In every sport, I don't know an athlete who doesn't push it. That's how you get extraordinary performances like happened last week. People push themselves, and sometimes they fail and sometimes they succeed." — Notah Begay III.

"Obviously, with him gone, you're going to see fewer people coming out to the events, but I don't think it will hurt golf in general. It's only going to be a short period of time. Now if it were a five-year period, that would be a lot different. I think there were six or seven events he was going to play in for the rest of the year, and that gives us six or seven more chances to win." — Ben Curtis.

"There will be debate whether he rushed back for the U.S. Open. But I don't think there will be any debate that he rushes back from his next surgery. He won't need to. Augusta is in April." — Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG.

"From the point of view of going to Birkdale in a few weeks, it is an advantage and we have a chance. The best player in the world by a long way is not going to be there." — Graeme McDowell.

"Tiger is an enormous attraction, there's no denying that. But the Open Championship has had many exciting finishes which Tiger has not been part of, and I'm sure there will be more. It's very sad. We're very sorry that he's succumbed to the injury and he won't be competing in the Open. We hope he has the speediest recovery." — Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson.

[kekoa]

If i was a pro, i'd be licking my chops right now and enter every tournament I could. Finally, others will actually have a chance to win.

I think the pga wants him back out there asap since he has such a huge following for tour events.

[wolverine318]

He barley played that much anyways so its not like all of a sudden 25 events are now up for grabs for players. What will he miss,

British
PGA
Firestone
3 Fed Ex Tournies, maybe 4 but doubtfull he played them all anyways.
The Buick Open???

He doesnt play much more than that

This will effect the last two majors, Firestone and the fed ex race are the big things, pretty much business as usuall for the guys in the rest of the tourneys he doesnt even play in anyways. US still will lose the ryder cup. Less fans probably at the events.

It will suck for whoever wins the majors and firestone as all you will see is that * next to it and at then get to hear how there was no Tiger in the field.

[Thrash13]

He barley played that much anyways so its not like all of a sudden 25 events are now up for grabs for players. What will he miss,

Most of the events he is missing are huge events for golf. He was scheduled to play the Buick Open next week and his own AT&T; event on the 4th of July weekend. Then, he would have played the events you listed as well as The Ryder Cup. He had 10 events or so left, so his absence will have an effect.

I just hope a couple young guns step it up and put themselves in the spotlight. Golf will have to have guys step up eventually because Tiger won't play forever. It's just unfortunate a lot of casual fans won't tune in if Tiger isn't playing. I'm not a fan of those kind of people, but there are a lot of them. It's a shame people won't give other players a chance as well. It sucks, but regardless if Tiger is playing or not, I'll be watching. That goes for now and after his retirement.

[ERC7.5]

I just hope a couple young guns step it up and put themselves in the spotlight. Golf will have to have guys step up eventually because Tiger won't play forever.

It will happen eventually. Tiger spent his youth with a goal based on what Jack did in his career...there very well could be a young man/woman that is as focused on trumping Tigers career. He/She had better be working real friggin' hard though!

[TigerCurtis333]

I have to admit this will be an interesting half of a season without Tiger in it - to see who will step up.

[Roody]

I think the bigger question will be, how will he perform when he returns? I know golf isn't football, but you see running backs who return from reconstructive knee surgery and they're not the same caliber.

I won't be the first in line to doubt him though. If he can play through pain and still win a U.S. Open, then I don't think this will set him back much.

[SubPar]

I just hope a couple young guns step it up and put themselves in the spotlight. Golf will have to have guys step up eventually because Tiger won't play forever. .

Someone may step into the spotlight, but Tiger will take it right back when he returns.

There is an element of drama and the unexpected that Tiger and Phil bring to the game. I tried to watch some of the 1st round yesterday and watching Steve Lowrey going toe-to-toe with the likes of Ken Duke is akin to watching grass grow. I'll say this much, if Phil and Ernie can't rack up some wins while he is gone they can just forget about ever being number one. SubPar

[GaijinGolfer]

At least now anyone has a shot to win. I think that a lot of the time when Tiger is in a tournament that a lot of the players have a mindset that they are playing for 2nd place.
Now they will go into it thinking, "I can win this thing!"
Tiger will be back and from what all the "experts" are saying, the knee surgery wont have any effect on his game.
I hope Tiger comes back and is just as good as he was. Id like to see him shatter every record there is.

[teal]

All of those guys saying they now have a chance to win without Tiger - losers.

Anyone who goes into a tournament with the mindset that they don't have a chance to win because someone else is there is already beaten.

Until that attitude changes, Tiger will dominate.

[Ceej]

All of those guys saying they now have a chance to win without Tiger - losers.

I agree 100%. I think that's plays a part in Tiger dominance. Everybody is playing for second place and it's ok.

[BASHERBAKER69]

I wont miss Tiger that much really. Hes great but i find the coverage he gets a bit irritating- i will enjoy seeing more of the other players in the majors.

[GaijinGolfer]

All of those guys saying they now have a chance to win without Tiger - losers.

I agree 100%. I think that's plays a part in Tiger dominance. Everybody is playing for second place and it's ok.

I agree with both of. Tiger is a very talented player, but he is still just a man. Anyone could beat him on any given day.

[BSweet]

There is an element of drama and the unexpected that Tiger and Phil bring to the game. I tried to watch some of the 1st round yesterday and watching Steve Lowrey going toe-to-toe with the likes of Ken Duke is akin to watching grass grow.

LMAO. I went to the Travelers on Thursday. Pretty disappointing stuff. Last year we got the shaft when Mickelson backed out with a wrist injury and then chose not to make up for it by making a return this year. Once again the leaderboard is full of a bunch of has-beens. The event is more or less a Nationwide Tour event now. LUCKILY Hunter Mahan and Stewart Cink are atop the leaderboard...hopefully one of them will win. The last thing Harford needs is another has-been (like Brad Faxon or Peter Jacobson) winning.

[MSDOGS1976]

I wont miss Tiger that much really. Hes great but i find the coverage he gets a bit irritating- i will enjoy seeing more of the other players in the majors.

Ditto. But you can be sure the talking heads will not let you forget Tiger.

[mikelaw]

I could care less.