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Tiger’s turning point?
Australian golf correspondent Paul Prendergast wonders if Tiger will get his game back now that he has a new swing and things are more stable in his home life…
After a year Stephen King couldn’t have scripted, the former world No 1 is now ‘title-less’ or the first time after falling short in the defence of his JBWere Australian Masters title at Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne.
The Woods of old, however, was on display in a final-round 65 that hauled him from the pack into outright fourth place, three shots behind the winner and a player hauling himself out of his own career lull, Stuart Appleby. Woods’ final holes at Victoria Golf Club were sublime, peeling off birdies and two eagles in a display that we’d become all too familiar with… prior to this year. It was a repeat of his final-day heroics in the Ryder Cup and that stretch of holes in the third round of the US Open at Pebble Beach in June.
However, this hot finish masked the reality of the on-course struggles the man that most class as the most gifted golfer the world has seen is going through at present.Through-out the tournament, Woods openly discussed the latest swing re build that he is in the midst of with new coach Sean Foley, the fourth major swing change of his career. He spoke of his hesitance prior to commit-ting to another major surgery on his game, knowing too well what was ahead of him.
Less than three months into his work in progress, the ‘clunkiness’ in his game was evident throughout all four days. In TV coverage, commentators remarked that they had never seen any of the great players through the years take as many practice swings as Woods was now. On the range and on the course, Woods startled onlookers with the odd-looking drills he went through, in slow motion and at fuller speeds, trying to cement swing-throughs and muscle memory. Building trust in his fundamentals. Woods’ strategy around the sandbelt course was clearly conservative from the start, 3-woods and long-irons the clubs of choice on most of the par fours and fives.
His swing motion was cut off in the followthrough, a sure sign that he was concerned about losing the ball to the left if he were to go freely at the ball. His iron play was solid, but his short game and putting, save for the finishing burst at the end, were not sharp.
Many birdie opportunities were squandered with putts from short distances in particular, things that we don’t equate with Tiger Woods.The sandbelt greens of Melbourne will generally expose any flaws in technique and nerve, but there seemed a general tone of acceptance, at least in the commentary, that Woods was more likely to miss than hole when faced with anything from five feet and beyond. Who would you have wanted to hole a putt for your life 12 months ago?
The fickle nature of the game was never more beautifully illustrated than watching Woods at work in this tournament. How quickly the game can slip through our fingers when we’re not looking. Golfers worldwide can all equate to this at our varying levels of proficiency. We were on fire last week, now we couldn’t hit it straight if our lives depended on it!
….in the blink of an eye, he’s peeled off a run of birdies and eagles that nobody else is capable of.
One minute, Woods is hauling in a half dozen or more tournament victories and a Major or two a year, always pulling off the crucial shots when it mattered. The next he’s missing five-footers and fearful of hitting drivers. Other stars in the field like Michael Campbell and, to a lesser extent, Sergio Garcia have seen their games leave them after scaling the highest peaks. At Victoria, the commentators called correctly on many occasions that Woods would miss a putt before he’d hit it, but in the blink of an eye, he’s peeled off a run of birdies and eagles that virtually nobody else is capable of.
The beaming smile and trademark fist pump that followed when he holed for eagle on the 72nd hole were rarities in his self-inflicted ‘annus horribilis’. $1.3 million in US Tour earnings from only 12 events, with two tied fourths in Majors, is a career year for many, but well below a pass mark by Tiger’s standards.
However, the signs are there and his reaction to his finish to this tournament might have lit the spark. For all the struggles, mixed with bursts of good play throughout a week of difficult weather, Woods’ focus never waned and he proclaimed to be enjoying the challenges of the course, conditions and his ‘work in progress’. Along with a couple of good rounds the previous week in Shanghai, his final-round 65 in the JBWere Masters would have given him positive reinforcement in spades that his toil is bearing fruit.
Given a semblance of stability off course and with an off-season cementing his fundamentals with Foley, who will bet against anything but another purple patch of play leading up to his 40th year?
With his levels of desire, talent and the Nicklaus high watermark still ever-present, I won’t be. PAUL PRENDERGAST is a Gold Coast-based Australian golf contributor. He plays off one handicap, is a very occasional caddie and a full-time lover of his family and the occasional fine wine.
Text by Paul Prendergrast. This article was taken from the January 2011 issue of the Compleat Golfer magazine.
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