Tiger Woods Master Catch-All Discussion

[Pendragon]

5 hours ago, mchepp said:

It is good to hear those reports are false. I was kinda down when I heard the initial reports.

How do you know they're false? Because Steinberg said so? He'd have denied the reports no matter what. 

[Broke100Once]

On 2016-02-12 at 8:08 AM, Bill926 said:

If he returns this year or next or ever, I was thinking the only majors he'll be eligible for is the Masters and Open Championship because of the lifetime exemption.  Would be interesting to see if would go thru he US Open qualifying if he had to.

PGA Championship winners also get a lifetime exemption.  And I guarantee the USGA would give Tiger an exemption for the US Open in 2019, 2020 and probably several years beyond if he wasn't already eligible.

[Wally Fairway]

6 hours ago, Broke100Once said:

PGA Championship winners also get a lifetime exemption.  And I guarantee the USGA would give Tiger an exemption for the US Open in 2019, 2020 and probably several years beyond if he wasn't already eligible.

Only if he is playing {ducks head from items thrown in disgust}

[turtleback]

8 hours ago, Broke100Once said:

PGA Championship winners also get a lifetime exemption.  And I guarantee the USGA would give Tiger an exemption for the US Open in 2019, 2020 and probably several years beyond if he wasn't already eligible.

If he is playing I can certainly see them giving him one special exemption, because I'm pretty sure there is precedent.  I'm not sure if there is any precedent for giving more than one.

Personally I do not pay much, if any, attention to these kinds of "progress reports", whether official or unofficial, contested or not.  None of it counts one bit.  If/when he tees it up in an official event, we will know.  Before that it is all smoke, mirrors, and speculation.

[nevets88]

Rosaforte on Woods

[mchepp]

13 hours ago, Pendragon said:

How do you know they're false? Because Steinberg said so? He'd have denied the reports no matter what. 

I think it is fair to say we are both assuming. Neither of us knows more about the situation than the other. 

What I will say is that Tiger was quite honest (or at least more so than any time prior to 1997) the last time he talked about this topic. He said he did not have timeline, and that he was only "walking". I sense there is little reason to be dishonest now because no one has any expectation of when he will return. 

[newtogolf]

Biggest reason for Steinberg to lie is to protect Tigers endorsement deals which he gets a percentage of.  Tiger is either going to play again or retire.  He left his return open ended so there are no expectations on when he might be able to play, it's really a non-issue. 

[DaveP043]

I listened to the Rosaforte interview that @nevets88 linked to.  Rosaforte said that Notah Begay said that Tiger is moving like a human again, or something close to that.  Not exactly encouraging.  My best guess, we'll start to see videos of Tiger swinging a golf club only when he's getting pretty close to playing again.  I don't believe that he's going to let us watch him struggle, and I have no interest in watching him do that.  I hope he does take the time to recover fully.  I've never been a huge fan, but when he plays well, he makes things interesting.

[Pendragon]

1 hour ago, mchepp said:

I think it is fair to say we are both assuming. Neither of us knows more about the situation than the other. 

What I will say is that Tiger was quite honest (or at least more so than any time prior to 1997) the last time he talked about this topic. He said he did not have timeline, and that he was only "walking". I sense there is little reason to be dishonest now because no one has any expectation of when he will return. 

True. We're definitely both assuming. If we assume for the moment that Tiger's condition has not worsened and he's coming along OK in the recovery process, wouldn't it make sense for Steinberg to at least offer a glimmer of hope to the millions of TW fans who've been waiting patiently for updates of any kind? 

And if Tiger has had a setback of some sort, why lie about it? I'm not a Tiger fan, but I know that I'm in a minority there. It just seems like trying to get straight information from Tiger's camp is like pulling teeth most of the time. 

[Fourputt]

Just now, Pendragon said:

True. We're definitely both assuming. If we assume for the moment that Tiger's condition has not worsened and he's coming along OK in the recovery process, wouldn't it make sense for Steinberg to at least offer a glimmer of hope to the millions of TW fans who've been waiting patiently for updates of any kind? 

And if Tiger has had a setback of some sort, why lie about it? I'm not a Tiger fan, but I know that I'm in a minority there. It just seems like trying to get straight information from Tiger's camp is like pulling teeth most of the time. 

As mentioned above, it could conceivably affect some endorsement contracts.  I don't really see it as lying so much as simply refusing to substantiate a rumor.  Just because it's posted on the internet doesn't make it so.

[Pendragon]

2 hours ago, Fourputt said:

As mentioned above, it could conceivably affect some endorsement contracts.  I don't really see it as lying so much as simply refusing to substantiate a rumor.  Just because it's posted on the internet doesn't make it so.

 As for the idea that Steinberg was simply refusing to substantiate a rumor, that makes perfect sense unless the so-called rumor is actually the truth. I get it, though, that endorsements could well be a factor here. That's a good point.

[iacas]

I'm not assuming.

[Patch]

When I read news where there is an "anonymous source" listed, I usually give it no credibility. However in this instance, it involves Woody, and his agent, who in the past have not collided well with the truth. 

Personally I am going to take a wait and see attitude. If Woody is Playing in the Masters, finishes the 4 rounds with out an injury withdrawl, I will have more hope for his return some insignificance in golf. 

[Zeph]

He's not playing this year's Master. Probably not a tournament at all this year.

[nevets88]

Photo of Woods w/Tony Finau last night. Hey, Secret Tour Pro - what the hell?

Spoiler

Mickelson says today's young guns not on 2000 Woods' level.

Quote

"There is nobody in the game that I have seen that is remotely close to the level of performance Tiger was in his prime," Mickelson said in an interview on the debut episode of GOLF LIVE. "Mentally, short game, or ball striking, I don’t think anybody matches him in any of those areas. And Tiger put them all together in one to create a career that is mind-boggling in the game of golf."

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/phil-mickelson-says-no-one-playing-today-can-match-tiger

Vid:

http://www.golf.com/video/phil-mickelson-2016-season-tiger-and-swing-changes-golf-live

[saevel25]

8 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Mickelson says today's young guns not on 2000 Woods' level.

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/phil-mickelson-says-no-one-playing-today-can-match-tiger

Vid:

http://www.golf.com/video/phil-mickelson-2016-season-tiger-and-swing-changes-golf-live

Rory's best 5 year stretch in strokes gained. 

+1.022, +2.406, +0.985, +2.266, +1.786

Tiger's srokes gained total from 2005-2009

+2.82, +3.78, +3.68, +4.14, +3.71,

Rory averaged 1.69
Tiger averaged 3.63

Tiger was nearly a full 2 strokes better than Rory per round! 

I would say when Rory is on with his long game and with his putting he could give Tiger a run for his money in a tournament during his prime. Just the consistency of it over and over again. 

The stretches where he won 1/3rd the tournaments he entered. Yea, no one is touching Tiger on that one. 

[DeadMan]

 

I don't know if I believe that. The person in the video could be a stunt double.

[nevets88]

10 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

https://twitter.com/TigerWoods/status/702492113188032512

I don't know if I believe that. That person in the video could be a stunt double.

It pains me that the first thing I noticed is hey, he uses a Swing Catalyst. 

This is the difference between McIlroy's ease with social media and Woods. McIlroy posts updates relatively quickly, recall, his ankle. Woods reacts. I understand he values his privacy, but it's happened before, he lets the press/paparazzi get ahead of him and he reacts. OTOH, he really stuck it to the paparazzi.