Tiger WDs from Firestone Event

[MS256]

I've never had any "back problems" but one time back in high school I was having some kind of muscle spasm (or something) and I could barely breathe without almost unbearable pain. I told the basketball coach I didn't think I was going to be able to practice and he said "Well I hate to hear that son but you know what the rules are. If you miss practice you are off of the team." Well I decided to try to gut it out and honestly didn't know if I could do it. At the start of practice we got in our lines for layup drills. After a few layups all of the sudden I had absolutely no back pain at all. Completely "healed". ;-) The coach didn't say anything but I just know he was thinking I was only putting on to get out of practice.

[RandallT]

Did Lacava seem oblivious to any of you? Should he have been more attuned to what was going on? From the replay of the final drive, he just marched off the tee to find the ball, unaware Tiger was wincing in pain. I saw a few holes before that, and Tiger was doing so poorly, I thought Lacava might pull him aside and settle him down. I didn't notice any interaction between Woods and Lacava, but the cameras didn't cover their every move. It just struck me that I saw no interaction between them when Tiger was obviously struggling as bad as he ever has. Cameras caught no talk, no looks, nothing. Just Lacava marching off to do his duties. Any insight into their relationship? Do they converse much like other player/caddies? Is there anything appropriate he could've done to warn Tiger from pushing his back too hard on that shot on the 2nd hole?

[tmac20]

He said he hurt it falling back into the trap on the second hole. I looked at the replay several times. There was not even a slight grimace of pain. Either Tiger Woods is really good at not showing signs of pain, or he was milking the injury because he was playing so poorly. My conclusion depends on his decision to play this week.

I'm probably going to get bashed for saying this.

[Ernest Jones]

Interesting....if he plays and makes the cut I will send each and every one of you a cupcake....

I, for one, am holding you to that. I think it's unlikely, but should it come to pass, I'll be expecting my ****ing cupcake. ;-)

[RJH999]

Interesting....if he plays and makes the cut I will send each and every one of you a cupcake....*

*May or may not happen You missed the disclaimer

[DwightC]

He said he hurt it falling back into the trap on the second hole. I looked at the replay several times. There was not even a slight grimace of pain. Either Tiger Woods is really good at not showing signs of pain, or he was milking the injury because he was playing so poorly. My conclusion depends on his decision to play this week.

I'm probably going to get bashed for saying this.

Interesting.

The 'Tiger's a quitter' possibility is beginning to swirl out there.  Hard to say that about the guy who won a U.S.Open on a broken leg in 2008.  But, playing through pain to finish requires a lot more guts than playing through pain to win.  I know that, and anyone else who's played a sport competitively does, too.  So. I'm not going to rule it out.

But the jury's still out.  Nah, we're not even that far.  The evidence is still being gathered.  Give it time.  We'll see.

[Grndslmhttr3]

Interesting.

The 'Tiger's a quitter' possibility is beginning to swirl out there.  Hard to say that about the guy who won a U.S.Open on a broken leg in 2008.  But, playing through pain to finish requires a lot more guts than playing through pain to win.

Yeah, I doubt he WDs if he has a shot at winning, but at the same time it is stupid to play through pain, especially after coming off of a serious surgery so soon. I was watching the Golf Channel earlier and they were talking about how Graham DeLaet had a similar surgery a while back and took like ten months to fully rehab.

[jamo]

He said he hurt it falling back into the trap on the second hole. I looked at the replay several times. There was not even a slight grimace of pain. Either Tiger Woods is really good at not showing signs of pain, or he was milking the injury because he was playing so poorly. My conclusion depends on his decision to play this week. [COLOR=FFFFFF][SIZE=8px]I'm probably going to get bashed for saying this.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[quote name="DwightC" url="/t/76270/tiger-wds-from-firestone-event/90_30#post_1033166"] Interesting. The 'Tiger's a quitter' possibility is beginning to swirl out there.  Hard to say that about the guy who won a U.S.Open on a broken leg in 2008.  But, playing through pain to finish requires a lot more guts than playing through pain to win.  I know that, and anyone else who's played a sport competitively does, too.  So. I'm not going to rule it out. But the jury's still out.  Nah, we're not even that far.  The evidence is still being gathered.  Give it time.  We'll see. [/quote] Again though, if he was healthy, why would he spend all week talking about how he needed more "reps" only to quit with nine holes worth of Sunday reps left? And if he was feeling pain, he should've quit.

[MS256]

I see nothing wrong with having completely different criteria for "quitting" based on the chances of winning. In team sports the coaches take it out of the player's hands. Nobody is going to leave their ace pitcher or starting quarterback in a blowout game if they have injuries. In a close game with a chance to win both the player and the coaches might push their luck more. In golf the player has to know when to say there's nothing to gain and everything to lose by pushing it.

[CraiginKSA]

Rory walked off the course at the Honda last year.  At the time, he was 7 over after 8 holes.  Hit his shot into the water and just walked off the course!

Later he said it was a wisdom tooth (how ironic is that!).  Now he's the best golfer in the world.  Last year he was a quitter.  Tiger better win and soon.  Apparenlty winning solves everything.