Where I commonly write about sports, in an uncommon way.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Tiger Woods Strikes Again

Issue: What do you mean?  He was hurt, right?

Short Answer: Bull.

Reasoning: I don't like to speculate, ever.  Speculation can only cause trouble and embarrassment for everyone involved.  Plus, how could I ever prove I was right?  Well, one thing I learned in law school is to just talk really fast and use a lot of big, ambiguous words, so by the time you are finished, no one really knows what you were talking about in the first place.  Then, charge $250 per hour for those services.  Sounds like a plan.  Since I am not a licensed attorney, I can hypothesize, without any real proof other than my gut feeling, and not get myself in trouble.  I think.  And my hypothesis is this - Tiger Woods withdrew from The Players Championship yesterday, not because his knee, achilles, and calf hurt, but because his pride was hurt, maybe beyond repair this time.

I will not pretend like Tiger is not hurt.  His knee has been an issue for quite some time now, and I'm sure it still bothers him.  Last time someone questioned Tiger's injuries was Retief Goosen after the U.S. Open in 2008: "It just seemed that when he hit a bad shot his knee was in pain and on his good shots he wasn't in pain. You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and was shouting, 'Yeah,' his knee wasn't sore. Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played."  Whoops.  Turns out his leg was broken and his ACL was torn.  Let me ask you this - had Tiger gone out and shot 42 on his opening nine at the U.S. Open in 2008 (like he did yesterday at The Players), don't you think he would have withdrawn then too?  The only reason to play golf on a completely shattered leg is because you think you have a chance to win.  No chance, no play.  End of story.

Tiger has often said the same thing: "Why play if you don't think you're going to win? If I don't think I can win, I won't enter the event."  By that logic we can assume Tiger entered The Players Championship thinking he was going to win the tournament.  This means he was mentally and physically prepared to play 72 holes of golf, walking the whole time, and beat all of his competitors.  He last played competitive golf at The Masters, well over a month ago.  Could his sore knee, achilles, and calf not heal up in the amount of time?  If it didn't heal, what was he doing at the tournament in the first place?  His answer to that was this: "[his doctors] said I could play. The more rest I get, the better it would be, obviously. Obviously, it's a big event. I want to come back for it and play, and unfortunately I wasn't able to finish." (emphasis added).  So he wanted to come back and play because it was a big event, not because he thought he could win?  I'm confused.

The fact is this - Tiger has some lingering leg problems, this I do not doubt at all.  And, those leg problems may have been part of the reason Tiger withdrew.  They were not the sole reason though.  The triple-bogey he took on hole four yesterday was the result of an approach shot in the water and then his subsequent pitch-shot in the water.  Pretty sure a pitch-shot into the water wasn't because his knee hurt.  The Shot Tracker on PGATour.com recounts Tiger's last hole yesterday: shot 1 - 327 yard drive (what knee??); shot 2 - 279 yard 5-wood (hurts that bad, does it?) to 17 yards from the hole; shot 3 - chip shot fails to make the green, ends up in green side bunker (the knee must have got him there); shot 4 - sand shot to 22 ft. 3 in. from the hole (that one was the achillies); shot 5 - putt left 1 ft. 3 in. short (damn calf); shot 6 - hole out for bogey.  My guess is if you can reach a 583-yard par-5 in two shots, your knee, achillies, and calf aren't causing the trouble.  Hanging a +6 on the front side may have had more to do with it than Tiger will ever let on.

For the record, I am still rooting for him to come back because golf is more fun to watch when he is in the hunt.  But, after this charade, that may be the only reason I want him to come back.

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