2013 Barclay's Championship Discussion Thread

[Topper]

Originally Posted by Zeph

In context, I thought this was actually funny.  Kudos to Blixt for going along with it.

[3putter]

I was actually at the event yesterday, and it was obvious that the guy wasn't 100% with the way he was walking. He did a few abnormal stretches on the green trying to loosen up that back. As Golfingdad & Ron the savage both alluded to, why in the world would you be faking it when you have a legitimate chance of winning the tourney.

[colin007]

I still haven't seen any posts, mine included, claiming that he faked an injury. He was clearly not himself. Anyways, this is my final observation - to me, it seemed like he never really was comfortable with the course, and for him to be a shot beck with three mediocre rounds is stunning.

[Kieran123]

Back spasms can be brutal. I live with sciatica - which can render me completely useless for entire days.

I have had spasms in the centre of my back - you can not sleep and when they trigger you can hardly breathe.

Depending on the severity - Tiger handled them extremely well.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

This times 1000.  If you've never had back spasms or pinched nerves in your back, then (and I say this as politely as possible) ... shut the f**k up.  I saw that shot on replay, the one where he fell to his knees, and my first thought was "Ooh, sucks for him.  I know exactly how he feels right now."  Trust me, and Jeremie, and MS, and iacas, when we say that this is a perfectly feasible reaction to back pain.  Everything about the day for him I sympathized (not empathized, sympathized) with.  When he picked up tees while awkwardly bending at the knees instead of the waist, when they showed him sitting on the bench next to a tee with abnormally straight up posture, all of that.  There was nothing "fake" about any of that yesterday.  Otherwise, that was a Daniel Day Lewis type performance.

Originally Posted by colin007

I still haven't seen any posts, mine included, claiming that he faked an injury.

No, the word "fake" came from me.  But I'm not referring to his injury, I'm referring to his reaction to said injuries.  You were among the people that suggested that he embellished his reaction to his injuries.  I'm using the word "fake," but maybe should have instead said "embellished" or "disingenuous."

[phan52]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

No, the word "fake" came from me.  But I'm not referring to his injury, I'm referring to his reaction to said injuries.  You were among the people that suggested that he embellished his reaction to his injuries.  I'm using the word "fake," but maybe should have instead said "embellished" or "disingenuous."

I am not questioning whether Tiger was legitimately hurting, but how come he is always the guy with the associated body language? I'm pretty sure there are guys playing hurt every single week, but we rarely see or hear about it. Phil has played with a debilitating disease for years, and the only time you hear him talk about it is when he is asked.

Kinda makes Tiger look like a big baby, or that he is authenticating excuses. The TV Network guys certainly buy in to it. Poor Tiger.

[rehmwa]

on topic -

Super happy to see Adam Scott win.

The meltdowns were really dramatic and Tiger's run (calls 2 out of last 3 holes birdies, with the third within a half roll, as not getting it done....or bad play).

Feel the worst about it for Rose, though.  3 putting to fall out of a playoff is rough.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by phan52

I am not questioning whether Tiger was legitimately hurting, but how come he is always the guy with the associated body language? I'm pretty sure there are guys playing hurt every single week, but we rarely see or hear about it. Phil has played with a debilitating disease for years, and the only time you hear him talk about it is when he is asked.

Kinda makes Tiger look like a big baby, or that he is authenticating excuses. The TV Network guys certainly buy in to it. Poor Tiger.

Phil did express his arthritis issues with everyone very openly and we all had to watch it affect him.  Gary Woodland was twisting his wrist on Saturday almost the entire round because he "hurt it."  Why doesn't he get the boo ho?

Give me a break Phan.  Of course many others have injuries...the difference, they don't have the camera on them every single damn second they take a step.  I'm sorry but the 80th player in the world wincing on an injury isn't news and we don't SEE IT on camera.  But when Tiger winces in pain, bring out the cameras everyone because it's the hottest news right now!

Tiger was feeling great the first 11 holes and on #12, the spasm came which happens with spasms.  They come and go.  There was a natural progression.  That 3 wood shot on #13, I'm sure he didn't think the spasm would attack him fully at that moment. But it did and we all saw the result. The difference with Tiger, he is a competitor with a burning desire to win AT ALL COSTS.  So you better believe he was going for that shot.  Anyone else but Tiger, and we say that took guts, took balls or whatever description of courage we want to express.  Put Tiger there and we play armchair critics.

The guy can't win no matter what the hell he does.  Tiger didn't make an excuse.  He was honest with what he was feeling at the moment.  We want honesty from Tiger right?  He is always sooo guarded right?  So he gives an honest response and BOOM, everyone pounces because they are experts and have all the answers.  Disgusting.

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by phan52

I am not questioning whether Tiger was legitimately hurting, but how come he is always the guy with the associated body language? I'm pretty sure there are guys playing hurt every single week, but we rarely see or hear about it. Phil has played with a debilitating disease for years, and the only time you hear him talk about it is when he is asked.

Kinda makes Tiger look like a big baby, or that he is authenticating excuses. The TV Network guys certainly buy in to it. Poor Tiger.

I would love to see how you'd handle having a back spasm during a round of golf. I'm sure you'd be stoic and just play on without showing it at all. You speak with such utter ignorance of how truly painful something like this is.

[3putter]

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

Phil did express his arthritis issues with everyone very openly and we all had to watch it affect him.  Gary Woodland was twisting his wrist on Saturday almost the entire round because he "hurt it."  Why doesn't he get the boo ho?

Give me a break Phan.  Of course many others have injuries...the difference, they don't have the camera on them every single damn second they take a step.  I'm sorry but the 80th player in the world wincing on an injury isn't news and we don't SEE IT on camera.  But when Tiger winces in pain, bring out the cameras everyone because it's the hottest news right now!

Tiger was feeling great the first 11 holes and on #12, the spasm came which happens with spasms.  They come and go.  There was a natural progression.  That 3 wood shot on #13, I'm sure he didn't think the spasm would attack him fully at that moment. But it did and we all saw the result. The difference with Tiger, he is a competitor with a burning desire to win AT ALL COSTS.  So you better believe he was going for that shot.  Anyone else but Tiger, and we say that took guts, took balls or whatever description of courage we want to express.  Put Tiger there and we play armchair critics.

The guy can't win no matter what the hell he does.  Tiger didn't make an excuse.  He was honest with what he was feeling at the moment.  We want honesty from Tiger right?  He is always sooo guarded right?  So he gives an honest response and BOOM, everyone pounces because they are experts and have all the answers.  Disgusting.

This

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I would love to see how you'd handle having a back spasm during a round of golf. I'm sure you'd be stoic and just play on without showing it at all. You speak with such utter ignorance of how truly painful something like this is.

This.

Imagine something so painful that you can only crawl at times, and bodily functions? Forget it.

While Tiger's spasms were not as painful - at least I did not see him crawling, some of his motions can be explained by the fact that when a spasm hits, you're trying to stretch it out in any way possible to make it stop.

Have you had leg cramps so bad that you scream, and then stand on it to make it stop? Back spasms are worse.

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

This.

Imagine something so painful that you can only crawl at times, and bodily functions? Forget it.

While Tiger's spasms were not as painful - at least I did not see him crawling, some of his motions can be explained by the fact that when a spasm hits, you're trying to stretch it out in any way possible to make it stop.

Have you had leg cramps so bad that you scream, and then stand on it to make it stop? Back spasms are worse.

I don't have to imagine it. I've been there many times. When the spasm hits, it is like a white hot searing pitch fork going through your spine. You are bent over almost double and can hardly stand. Sometimes if you are sitting in a chair and even having no pain at the time, you know its going to hit as soon as you try to stand up. For me, I would try and stand up as quickly as possible and in so doing, the pain would go away if I was able to get started walking for a bit. I went to the hospital, could not find anything wrong, but one time diagnosed with arthritis in the back and I was sent to therapy which did absolutely nothing for me. I then started taking Glucosimine and Chondroitin and have had no problems for past 3 years. knock on turf.

[RonTheSavage]

This.......All day loooong!

[phan52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phan52

I am not questioning whether Tiger was legitimately hurting, but how come he is always the guy with the associated body language? I'm pretty sure there are guys playing hurt every single week, but we rarely see or hear about it. Phil has played with a debilitating disease for years, and the only time you hear him talk about it is when he is asked.

Kinda makes Tiger look like a big baby, or that he is authenticating excuses. The TV Network guys certainly buy in to it. Poor Tiger.

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I would love to see how you'd handle having a back spasm during a round of golf. I'm sure you'd be stoic and just play on without showing it at all. You speak with such utter ignorance of how truly painful something like this is.

Been there. Done that. I know that if he had back spasms like I had them he would not have been out there on the golf course. That is a fact.

Ignorant, indeed...

[RonTheSavage]

So you know Tiger's pain threshold enough to call this FACT? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that you dont work on your body/swing/conditioning as much as Mr. Woods does. Or maybe you do, but if thats you in your profile pic I think not. You're hilarious!

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by phan52

Been there. Done that. I know that if he had back spasms like I had them he would not have been out there on the golf course. That is a fact.

Ignorant, indeed...

As posted above, I've had severe back spasm where I could only crawl. At the same time, I've also had muscles spasm in the back caused by doing too many dead lifts, and it did not severely affect my golf game. It bothered me, my back was tight, but I could play. I just did not play as well, and I've got 20 years on Tiger, so I'd expect his play to not be severely affected. But if his muscles seized up during a swing, it would frighten him, as I'm sure it did.

The spasms I had were more of a pulled muscle type pain - the doc said sometimes the spasm does not occur for several days after the injury. He gave me muscle relaxants. It bothered me for a week, but I could play, although I did not move fluidly. I was fortunate that I did not seize up as Tiger did.

The point is the type of muscle pulls and effect of injuries vary...

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by phan52

Been there. Done that. I know that if he had back spasms like I had them he would not have been out there on the golf course. That is a fact.

Spare us, please.  People who think that their opinions are fact are 100% wrong.  That is a fact.  (You do this a lot and it is old and tiresome)

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by phan52

I am not questioning whether Tiger was legitimately hurting, but how come he is always the guy with the associated body language? I'm pretty sure there are guys playing hurt every single week, but we rarely see or hear about it. Phil has played with a debilitating disease for years, and the only time you hear him talk about it is when he is asked.

Kinda makes Tiger look like a big baby, or that he is authenticating excuses. The TV Network guys certainly buy in to it. Poor Tiger.

There are other guys out there playing through injury, and I've seen them with the associated body language.  But they aren't on camera for 90% of their strokes like Tiger is, and most people don't care about those other players enough to hate them, so they don't care or acknowledge the body language.  A lot of times, these guys withdraw from events anyway.  Hell, last year Phil withdrew from an event citing "mental fatigue."  Imagine the backlash if Tiger did that.

Originally Posted by phan52

Been there. Done that. I know that if he had back spasms like I had them he would not have been out there on the golf course. That is a fact.

Ignorant, indeed...

Coincidentally I played a tournament this Saturday after waking up with a mild back strain.  It was 100% out of nowhere, and caught me by surprise.  I was able to play through it, although I had a few moments like Tiger did during my round (although I never fell to my knees).  But getting in and out of the cart, bending over to pick up tees, and reading my putts were very tedious propositions that I had to struggle through.  I wondered if my playing partner ever thought I was hamming it up a bit?

Now, my situation is no more insightful to Tiger's situation than yours is, but my point is that I don't get why anybody assumes that their physical ailments dictate how a professional athlete with a similar-looking physical ailment should react.  They could be worlds apart. I honestly don't get why people are so turned off by Tiger's physical problems.  If he plays poorly and isn't injured, he sucks. If he plays great and isn't injured, he's great.  If he plays poorly and exhibits injury, he's faking it to excuse his poor play.  If he plays good and exhibits injury, he's faking it to ...draw attention to himself?  He exhibited back pain on a couple good shots and a couple bad shots, and fell to his knees on one of the worst shots I've ever seen him hit.  Coincidence?  Hell if I know.  Wouldn't surprise me if the back pain caused him to pull a 3 wood 50 yards left of his target though.

Honestly, at some point if I were Tiger Woods and I got criticized for doing things everybody else does or didn't get credit for doing things other people get credit for nearly every day of my life, eventually I'd just come out with a hat or t-shirt that said "F**K YOU.  Yeah, YOU" on it.