Tiger Woods a long way from his old self

One peer described Tiger Woods as “lost.” Another friend claimed his golf is in “a great place.” Some critics have openly questioned whether the 14-time major winner is “done,” while others seem certain he’ll get “back” to his old ways.

There isn’t consensus on whether the flaws in Woods’ short game are mechanical, physical, mental or all of the above.

The only thing everyone seems to agree on is that the greatest player of his generation is a long way from being his old self.

“My play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf,” Woods said in February when he announced his indefinite leave of absence to work on his game. “Like I’ve said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I’m ready, I’ll be back.”

In his absence, Woods fell out of the top 100 last week for the first time since before the first of his 79 PGA Tour victories in the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational. He has played in only 10 tournaments since the start of 2014, completing only three and finishing
better than 69th only once.

Woods didn’t make it back for his new hometown Honda Classic or his old hometown Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he left whether he would play Augusta up in the air.

“If he’s not injured, how would he miss this?” reigning Masters champion Bubba Watson said during a recent CBS This Morning interview.

Woods has won four times at the Masters, but in recent years he has struggled with injuries along with the recent case of chip “yips.”

“It must be a little soul-destroying for him,” CBS analyst Peter Kostis said Feb. 5, the last time Woods competed at Torrey Pines before walking off the course after 11 holes citing “deactivated glutes.” “For him to be out here exposing all of his weaknesses and flaws has got to be emotionally very difficult.”

Woods missed the 2014 Masters because of back surgery, and he returned to action in December.

He heralded his return at the Isleworth course where he used to live with one of the most optimistic news conferences of his career. He declared himself “pain free” and cited a fourth career swing change under the consulting eye of Chris Como that returned to the motions he used when he took the golf world by storm as a rookie.

“It is new, but it’s old,” Woods said. “The reason why I said it that way is I just haven’t done it in a long time, but my body is remembering it. The motor patterns, you develop all these different motor patterns in one’s career. It’s familiar, so it has not taken me that long to implement it.”

Curiosity quickly turned to concern when, despite the improved look of his full swing, his short game more resembled a 15-handicapper. Finishing 26 shots behind Jordan Spieth in the Hero World Challenge, his chunk/skull count over four rounds reached double figures – a tally he attributed to getting used to a new “release” and the thick grain around Isleworth’s greens.

“Well, it certainly is surprising that I could hit chips that poorly,” he said. “I flubbed them. … I just obviously need to clean up my short game. That still needs a lot of work.”

Work didn’t help him when he showed up in Phoe­nix during Super Bowl week and finished dead last with a PGA teaching pro named Michael Hopper, blaming his poor play on being “caught between patterns.” Woods’ chipping proximity in Phoe­nix was 200 percent worse (30 feet) than the second worst player in the field (10 feet).

“We all have days like this,” he said after shooting 82. “Unfortunately, you know, mine was in a public forum, in a public setting.”

Golf doesn’t have any more public setting or more difficult short-game challenge than the Masters. Woods would be exposing himself to scrutiny with everyone seeking clues to whether he’s even capable of closing the three-win gap between himself and Sam Snead, much less the four-major divide with Jack Nicklaus.

Woods needs to make sure he gets it right to have any shot at fulfilling his long-standing career goals.

“I think his golf game as a whole is in a great place,” Notah Begay, Woods’ close friend since college, told Scott Rude of 120 Sports. “I think it was good for him to take a step back and assess a variety of things and do things on his timeline. It’s easy to get bullied into trying to acquiesce to the media’s concerns, or the PGA Tour’s concerns, or other people’s agendas.”

Even his peers, however, are wondering about Woods’ future.

“I just think that he’s lost, and the only reason why I say that is because I see it in his eyes and I see it in how he’s walking and I see it in how he’s playing because that’s where I’ve been,” Sean O’Hair said. “I’ve been living it. So, I just think that his mind is just a little clouded, and I don’t think it has anything to do with his golf swing, I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact he’s not committed to the game. I just think there’s something there that’s just bothering him, and I think once he addresses that he’ll be right back where he was.”

Woods has been written off before and returned to a level of success few have attained. At age 39, with a deteriorating body and bruised psyche, is he able to do it again?

“There’s only one thing I can say and that’s practice – and confidence,” said Arnold Palmer, a fellow four-time Masters winner. “Regain the confidence he had when he was starting out and that was what made him what he is and that’s the way he’ll get it back. Just regain the confidence and the ability to hit the golf ball.”