How "Done" is Tiger Woods?

[Pendragon]

On 2/17/2017 at 11:31 AM, iacas said:

I don't think he'll care to play the Champions Tour.

 

I agree. I'll be really surprised if Woods plays at all on the Champions Tour. 

[Pretzel]

I'm of the opinion he'll make some cuts, but I don't know that he'll win again unless it's luck. Then again, he had a pretty great year in 2013 even if he was abysmal right before and right after that, so I'll vote that he wins one or two events here and there but is never the great that he once was.

 

[tristanhilton85]

I think that number 2 is about the best we can realistically hope for. I was really happy when he took the past year off because I thought that amount of time would allow him to heal properly and make a good comeback. Even with giving things plenty of time, he still is struggling to say healthy. I'd like to see more wins from him, but it's very doubtful.

[JetFan1983]

It's not looking good. And it's not helping that he keeps underestimating how much time he needs to actually get healthy. 

[Buckeyebowman]

Unfortunately I think he could be real done! As in, for good! We're only about a month away from the Masters and we haven't heard a peep out of Tiger since Dubai! Remember the breathless coverage when he simply hit a couple of 9 irons on a simulator?

I agree that he wouldn't be interested at all in the Champions Tour. But, if his back is that bad, you have to wonder if he'd even be ABLE to play!

[David in FL]

4 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

It's not looking good. And it's not helping that he keeps underestimating how much time he needs to actually get healthy. 

Or he just can't accept that he's no longer competitive, let alone dominant. 

[JetFan1983]

25 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Or he just can't accept that he's no longer competitive, let alone dominant. 

What do you mean exactly. That he's faking and can't stand that he's playing so badly? The Pat Perez theory? I guess that's possible. I doubt it though. Chronic pain is pretty common, particularly for someone who was as active as he was in his twenties and thirties. And some people just can't stay healthy, probably due to genetics in some ways. 

I guess it's possible he's faking, but I highly doubt it. You know what though, if we can safely assume that his practice time is significantly down nowadays, and that he knows he can't stay competitive unless he does Tiger Days six days a week, then you might be right. That's sort of a combination of both scenarios though: the injuries mean he can't practice much, and not being able to practice much hurts his desire to continue competing, so therefore he withdraws.

Still though, I think it's far too likely he really is physically a mess. I dunno I guess we view Tiger Woods through two fairly differing lenses, which is fine of course. But I guess I give Tiger a lot more credit to have some pride about his game if he was healthy, insofar that he wouldn't just give up if he could still log 10 hour days on the range like he could ten years ago.

This all of course assumes that's what you meant in the first place.

[David in FL]

Not really "faking", that's a bit too strong.  But I don't expect him to ever come out and say "Nope, I'm completely healthy, I just suck now...".  

Healthy or not, I think he's more than willing to let everyone assume that his issues are completely health related, whatever amount they actually are.  

One prediction though.  When/if he does play again, if he comes back and misses the cut, that's the last competitive round we ever see from him.

[iacas]

45 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

We're only about a month away from the Masters and we haven't heard a peep out of Tiger since Dubai!

That's not accurate.

http://www.tigerwoods.com/news/2017/03/09/218606400/tiger-disappointed-to-miss-arnold-palmer-invitational/

4 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Not really "faking", that's a bit too strong.  But I don't expect him to ever come out and say "Nope, I'm completely healthy, I just suck now...".  

The more likely reason: he's never going to be "completely healthy."

[David in FL]

7 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

The more likely reason: he's never going to be "completely healthy."

Hell,  at 40, no professional athlete is "completely healthy".

[JetFan1983]

14 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Hell,  at 40, no professional athlete is "completely healthy".

Yea but you can admit there's a pretty big health difference between Vijay at 40 and Tiger at 40.

[David in FL]

3 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

Yea but you can admit there's a pretty big health difference between Vijay at 40 and Tiger at 40.

How about Freddy?

The point is we don't really know how healthy any of them are, or aren't.  But I don't think Tiger is likely to correct those that assume the worst with respect to his health as long as he's playing poorly, no matter how much of an impact it actually has.

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, David in FL said:

How about Freddy?

The point is we don't really know how healthy any of them are, or aren't.  But I don't think Tiger is likely to correct those that assume the worst with respect to his health as long as he's playing poorly, no matter how much of an impact it actually has.

Okay, David. We know. You will always see the worst.

When in reality Tiger told people he was as healthy as he could expect to be, and didn't blame his poor play at Dubai on his back, said it felt fine that evening, and then had to WD when it got worse than we imagined.

[David in FL]

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

Okay, David. We know. You will always see the worst.

When in reality Tiger told people he was as healthy as he could expect to be, and didn't blame his poor play at Dubai on his back, said it felt fine that evening, and then had to WD when it got worse than we imagined.

I don't deny that I don't care for him, I never have.  But you have to admit, there are equally those that look for any excuse they can for him.

If you'll remember, I actually commented on his first round press conference in Dubai how impressed I was that he made no excuses for his poor play.  Needless to say, I was as disappointed as anyone when he subsequently WD...

[iacas]

22 minutes ago, David in FL said:

I don't deny that I don't care for him, I never have.  But you have to admit, there are equally those that look for any excuse they can for him.

That really doesn't have much to do with what you said. You made a statement that the most recent events dispute.

22 minutes ago, David in FL said:

If you'll remember, I actually commented on his first round press conference in Dubai how impressed I was that he made no excuses for his poor play.  Needless to say, I was as disappointed as anyone when he subsequently WD...

Right, which… is about the opposite of what you just said.

All I'm pointing out…

[David in FL]

27 minutes ago, iacas said:

That really doesn't have much to do with what you said. You made a statement that the most recent events dispute.

Huh?  I have no idea what you mean by that.

27 minutes ago, iacas said:

Right, which… is about the opposite of what you just said.

Not at all.  He woke up Friday morning in Dubai and arguably, reverted to form. Unless we think he was lying after round one when he said he was fine.  That would be even more disappointing since I actually gave him credit for what I considered to be appropriate humility.  If that was the case, I'll try to avoid that mistake again.  

[b101]

14 hours ago, David in FL said:

Huh?  I have no idea what you mean by that.

Not at all.  He woke up Friday morning in Dubai and arguably, reverted to form. Unless we think he was lying after round one when he said he was fine.  That would be even more disappointing since I actually gave him credit for what I considered to be appropriate humility.  If that was the case, I'll try to avoid that mistake again.  

Or, as is often the case with back injuries or in fact any golf injury, you wake up the next morning and it's way worse because the adrenaline has gone and you've stopped moving. Sort of playing devil's advocate here, but I think there's a good likelihood that it did just get worse overnight.

[freshmanUTA]

I think he'll win one more time then retire from golf entirely. He has the will and drive to keep playing but his body can't handle it. I think within the next 5 years he'll get a win.