The Tiger Woods Retirement Thread

[Saintsmania]

Yes, he does look confused and even worse he now seems to accept the fact that he just cannot play well.

But what else can he do?

So if he plays he hurts his back which doesn't allow him to get even "more reps"---as Tiger says he needs.

I guess we will just have to wait and see what the future has in store for him.

[iacas]

Yes, he does look confused and even worse he now seems to accept the fact that he just cannot play well.

But what else can he do?

So if he plays he hurts his back which doesn't allow him to get even "more reps"---as Tiger says he needs.

I guess we will just have to wait and see what the future has in store for him.

According to him, his last injury wasn't really his back. He said it was unrelated.

Believe it or don't… I'm just relaying what he said.

[onthehunt526]

I'm on the side of I think he will play well again, maybe not as dominant as he once was, but he will play well again... as a matter of fact, I think it will be this year... and not just an occasional... Tiger shoots 66 on Friday at x event to make cut... but Tiger will probably get back in the winners circle this year... I don't see him breaking Jack's record now, barring an act of God (meaning he finds the fountain of youth and wins 5 of the next 44 majors)... I could see him winning one or two more majors before his career is over... he will break Sam Snead's record though... Right now, from what I've seen of Tiger this year... he looks like he's lost on a road trip and went 300 miles in the wrong direction... I honestly think it's mostly mental though, because he has shown some flashes of brilliance since the back surgery... flashes aren't enough to be competitive on Sunday... he hasn't really put together four decent rounds consecutively since he won five times in 2013... Someone earlier said that it wasn't the back injury, that really changed his fate... it was the rules SNAFU at the 2013 Masters... which I will agree with because, if he doesn't hit that flagstick on 15, he either holes it or has a certain birdie... which lets just say he makes 4... that's four strokes better and he's in the playoff with Scott and Cabrera, and possibly has his 15th major already... What would really be a surprise, is If Tiger went to Augusta with absolutely no form, looked like crap @ Honda, Cadillac (if he qualifies for it), and Bay Hill (if he even plays before the Masters), and wins the Masters, then the media would all be saying how wrong they were about Tiger...

[Mulligan Jeff]

When he marries his favorite downhill racer his game will come back to him.

[SAGolfLuvr]

I know this opinion will not see very much light of day because it will be buried by the 1000's of other opinions. Instead of quitting, Tiger needs to talk to Tom Watson (who almost won the Open recently at the age of 59) and Angel Cabrera (who seems to always be doing well at The Masters), Fred Couples, and other older golfers who stopped chasing stats and just started SMARTLY playing within their aging selves to win or stay in the hunt. Tiger (and Phil) has shown us they have shots in their "bag" that we couldn't ever dream of pulling off. Now they both need more wisdom (Yes Phil is my favorite golfer).

[dkolo]

I know this opinion will not see very much light of day because it will be buried by the 1000's of other opinions. Instead of quitting, Tiger needs to talk to Tom Watson (who almost won the Open recently at the age of 59) and Angel Cabrera (who seems to always be doing well at The Masters), Fred Couples, and other older golfers who stopped chasing stats and just started SMARTLY playing within their aging selves to win or stay in the hunt. Tiger (and Phil) has shown us they have shots in their "bag" that we couldn't ever dream of pulling off. Now they both need more wisdom (Yes Phil is my favorite golfer).

I'm curious, did Phil do any of that? I know he's had his own chronic injuries, with arthritis and other issues, but he still plays pretty all-out and aggressive.

[ChrisP]

I know this opinion will not see very much light of day because it will be buried by the 1000's of other opinions. Instead of quitting, Tiger needs to talk to Tom Watson (who almost won the Open recently at the age of 59) and Angel Cabrera (who seems to always be doing well at The Masters), Fred Couples, and other older golfers who stopped chasing stats and just started SMARTLY playing within their aging selves to win or stay in the hunt. Tiger (and Phil) has shown us they have shots in their "bag" that we couldn't ever dream of pulling off. Now they both need more wisdom (Yes Phil is my favorite golfer).

Just my personal opinion, but Tiger needs to talk to just one or two people and that's it. I think one of the reasons Tiger's so messed up right now is because he's getting opinions from so many different people and they're all telling him different things and it's why he can't make up his mind on what to do.

[colin007]

The image when you bring up the site of YE Yang pumping his fist and Tiger looking distraught is absolutely priceless. :-D

One of my darkest hours...

[9424tm]

Woods is not yet 40 years old so middle age spread has not yet set in. So he should look pretty much the same as his metabolism would have slowed very little. I don't know how much weight he has gained but I'd think 20-25 pounds would be close. So we can all speculate what caused this change.

I think a lot of people fail to understand or realize what a proper diet, supplement program (all natural) and a ton of hard work will do. I was 185 right out of high school and weighed 235 5 years later. And, I didn't have access to world class trainers or the money for the top supplements at the time. I had to go through quite a bit of trial and error. I guess my point is not everyone that is very muscular is on steroids. Besides, Tiger really is not all that big.

[ChrisP]

I think a lot of people fail to understand or realize what a proper diet, supplement program (all natural) and a ton of hard work will do. I was 185 right out of high school and weighed 235 5 years later. And, I didn't have access to world class trainers or the money for the top supplements at the time. I had to go through quite a bit of trial and error.

I guess my point is not everyone that is very muscular is on steroids. Besides, Tiger really is not all that big.

I think the reason people are linking Tiger to PEDs are not so much the muscle mass, but the ties he has plus the injuries to all different parts of his body, which as we know typically comes with PED use. And I know a lot of guys on Tour injury prone, but they usually sustain injuries to the same part of the body. Tiger's been suffering injuries from his head down to achilles. It's just unusual to see so many different parts of the body break down in such a short amount of time. But to be fair to Tiger, nothing has come out definitive, and until it does, he is 100% innocent. My personal gut opinion is he took something to recover from knee surgery (a lot of guys do), but that's just my own hunch. Nothing but that. Everyone has their opinion.

[Phil McGleno]

I think the reason people are linking Tiger to PEDs are not so much the muscle mass, but the ties he has plus the injuries to all different parts of his body, which as we know typically comes with PED use.

You know what else they typically come with? Abusing your body by playing golf for decades. Remember too that Tiger is the first and thus the oldest of the golfers who employed fitness. We may find that while their flame burns brighter it burns shorter too compared to the flabby guys of the 70s through 90s. Plus Tiger hits more balls and practices harder than virtually anyone else from what I have seen (I have seen a few of his practice days in person). You have no actual evidence. Just speculation and, in the case of many, a desire to link him to PED use.

[Gunther]

You know what else they typically come with? Abusing your body by playing golf for decades. Remember too that Tiger is the first and thus the oldest of the golfers who employed fitness. We may find that while their flame burns brighter it burns shorter too compared to the flabby guys of the 70s through 90s. Plus Tiger hits more balls and practices harder than virtually anyone else from what I have seen (I have seen a few of his practice days in person). You have no actual evidence. Just speculation and, in the case of many, a desire to link him to PED use.

An unfortunate aspect of sports today is that we've learned true greatness on the field/court/track has been enhanced by the use of some illegal substance or another. I don't like that I suspect Tiger but I do because it's turned out to be true so often over the past 20 years. I'd love to go back to the naive days of yore when I believed sports heroes were super human. Can't do it. Hank Aaron was the last true super human on the field of sport, I don't believe Tiger was.

[iacas]

An unfortunate aspect of sports today is that we've learned true greatness on the field/court/track has been enhanced by the use of some illegal substance or another.

I disagree and think you must have goofed in omitting some words or something. I take what you wrote as saying that there are no truly great non-PED-using athletes anymore, or for the past 20 years or so. If that's what you are saying then, well… I again state my disagreement.

Also, I don't really care what you believe. My point is similar to @Phil McGleno 's - there has not been any actual evidence . You can feel whatever you want, or believe what you want, but you're guessing more than those who believe the opposite.

This has not been proven "beyond a reasonable doubt" or even beyond a vague form of doubt. Which, again, doesn't mean you're "wrong" - just that your opinion is less well founded than those of others. You may be right in the end. But the evidence doesn't support you right now.

Have we seen a huge drug outbreak among elite QBs? Tennis players? Soccer players? How's the NBA doing? I'm not aware of a widespread scourge of PEDs in other sports (to be fair I don't pay a lot of attention to some sports).

[Golfingdad]

I disagree and think you must have goofed in omitting some words or something. I take what you wrote as saying that there are no truly great non-PED-using athletes anymore, or for the past 20 years or so. If that's what you are saying then, well… I again state my disagreement.

Also, I don't really care what you believe. My point is similar to @Phil McGleno's - there has not been any actual evidence. You can feel whatever you want, or believe what you want, but you're guessing more than those who believe the opposite.

This has not been proven "beyond a reasonable doubt" or even beyond a vague form of doubt. Which, again, doesn't mean you're "wrong" - just that your opinion is less well founded than those of others. You may be right in the end. But the evidence doesn't support you right now.

Have we seen a huge drug outbreak among elite QBs? Tennis players? Soccer players? How's the NBA doing? I'm not aware of a widespread scourge of PEDs in other sports (to be fair I don't pay a lot of attention to some sports).

Correct.  I believe that people are unfairly extrapolating from two things:  The baseball mess of the late 90s/early 2000s and Lance Armstrong.  Football has always had and always will have PED issues amongst it's big guys, so that just is what it is, but I've heard nothing about all of the others you mentioned.

I guess I better just jump to the conclusion that all of them use drugs so I don't get "embarrassed" for being naive.  Yup, that's the ticket.

[Phil McGleno]

I guess I better just jump to the conclusion that all of them use drugs so I don't get "embarrassed" for being naive.  Yup, that's the ticket.

I am a cynical guy but I am not that cynical. I am also not so naive as to think the NFC was definitely going to win the Super Bowl this year. Who would be so dumb as to say something like that mid-way through the playoffs? Back on topic {sorry} but I have seen no evidence that Tiger did PEDs. Circumstantial crap at best. Find me a golfer who has never been injured and I will show you a guy who does not play much golf or practice very often.

[jamo]

An unfortunate aspect of sports today is that we've learned true greatness on the field/court/track has been enhanced by the use of some illegal substance or another. I don't like that I suspect Tiger but I do because it's turned out to be true so often over the past 20 years. I'd love to go back to the naive days of yore when I believed sports heroes were super human. Can't do it. Hank Aaron was the last true super human on the field of sport , I don't believe Tiger was.

So we're just going to ignore his amphetamine use?

[ChrisP]

You know what else they typically come with? Abusing your body by playing golf for decades.

Remember too that Tiger is the first and thus the oldest of the golfers who employed fitness. We may find that while their flame burns brighter it burns shorter too compared to the flabby guys of the 70s through 90s. Plus Tiger hits more balls and practices harder than virtually anyone else from what I have seen (I have seen a few of his practice days in person).

You have no actual evidence. Just speculation and, in the case of many, a desire to link him to PED use.

Like I said...it's my gut opinion. Everyone looks at the facts and the links and draws a conclusion. I think he did them. Others think he didn't and I hope they're right because I truly hope he didn't.

As for abusing your body by playing golf for decades....you make it sound like Tiger Woods is the only one obsessed with playing golf. A lot of guys play just as hard as he does and all those other guys don't nearly have their entire body breaking down the way his has.

[Phil McGleno]

Like I said...it's my gut opinion. Everyone looks at the facts and the links and draws a conclusion. I think he did them. Others think he didn't and I hope they're right because I truly hope he didn't. As for abusing your body by playing golf for decades....you make it sound like Tiger Woods is the only one obsessed with playing golf. A lot of guys play just as hard as he does and all those other guys don't nearly have their entire body breaking down the way his has.

What facts? Your facts are outweighed by the facts which say he did not do PEDs. This includes Hank Haney who could not wait to bash TIger on numerous fronts but who remains steadfast in his assertions on Tiger and PEDs. Never mind that you cannot prove a negative. Tiger is arguably one of the biggest athletes in the world-If someone had evidence of his PED use it is likely they would have come forward. Very few players play golf and practice at golf as hard as Tiger Woods for as long as Tiger has. Very, very few. Vijay Singh is up there. It is rarified air.