Tiger Woods has found himself in plenty of on course trouble of late. Source: Getty Images
TIGER Woods last week plummeted to No. 181 in the world rankings which begged an obvious question: Is he really that good?
This is not the Tiger Woods who won 14 majors, 79 PGA Tour events and made playing a desperately difficult game look as hard as finding a parking space on the Nullarbor Plain.
This is the fallen hero of a Shakespearean tragedy who shot 85 in the third round of the Memorial Tournament last week. A score that doesn’t win the Wednesday chook run at Dimboola Public.
It is seven years since Woods limped heroically on a dicky knee to his last major title, the 2008 US Open. Yet leading into this week’s US Open the magnitude of his decline is now astonishing.
I was at Augusta in 2005 when Woods played his most famous shot — the delicate chip to the slippery 16th green that snaked its way toward the flag and hung over the hole allowing the cameras to linger on the sponsor’s logo for a few lucrative seconds before dropping in for a title-clinching birdie.
Woods is now little more than a shadow of his former greatness Source: AFP
It was the moment that symbolised Woods as player and brand. The too-good-to-be-true story of the black prodigy dominating what had been a mostly white man’s domain.
As the roar from the crowd echoed around the Augusta pines it was impossible to imagine his sorry fate. How 10 years later a crestfallen Woods would take four hacked chips just to get his ball onto the 18th green at The Memorial.
The reasons for Woods’ decline are well known. How his private life became, quite literally, a car crash and his carefully crafted corporate image was forever tainted. Yet even the humiliating fallout from his serial philandering, the chronic leg and back injuries and the death of his father and guiding light Earl in 2006 fail to fully explain how routine 65s have turned into that once unthinkable 85.
A recent split with girlfriend Lindsay Vonn again put the focus on Woods’ private life. But the game’s insiders blame Woods’ relentless pursuit of the perfect swing and a more muscular physique for his current travails.
One telling assessment of Woods’ decline comes from caddie Steve Williams who told Golf Digest his former boss was ‘’obsessed with getting better’’ and that he had been ‘’renting several swings instead of owning one’’.
As Woods’ first professional coach Butch Harmon well knew, messing with Tiger’s swing was like disrupting a delicate ecosystem. The way he would uncoil his once lithe body like a whipcord on the downswing to generate enormous clubhead speed meant the gap between perfection and disaster was perilously thin.
Harmon was always wary of overloading Woods with information because his earnest, hard-working student would over-correct. He gifted Woods the relatively conservative three-quarter swing with which he dominated the game.
The 2008 US Open was Woods’s last major victory. Source: AP
After Woods fell out with Harmon and hired Hank Haney in 2005 his body shape changed as he took on — quite literally — a military training regime. ‘’With me he started looking more like a linebacker than a golfer,’’ Haney would observe.
In his biography Haney noted Woods liked making swing changes to stay motivated rather than just mindlessly hitting balls on the range. At the same time Woods wanted a swing that would put less pressure on the dodgy knee that required surgery after the 2008 US Open — inevitably to the detriment of his game.
After his marital strife Woods landed with the controversial Canadian coach Sean Foley whose ‘’stack and tilt’’ method had divided opinion. Early in 2013 Woods won four tournaments and had a mini-renaissance. But a back injury — some claim the result of Foley’s methods — stalled his progress.
Problems with Woods’s swing have dogged him for a decade. Source: Getty Images
Seven months ago Woods started work with his fourth full-time coach Chris Como. While he claims he is making progress on yet another renovation his demoralising 85 included several drives that landed in different solar systems while the only chips he now handles comfortably are salt and vinegar flavoured.
Woods has played just five tournaments — his best finish was tied-17th as the Masters — this year but has vowed to persist. He said at a promotional appearance last week his caddie Joey Lava had urged him to keep his current form in perspective.
‘’He kept reminding me ‘Man, take it easy on yourself, you haven’t played much golf. You never played last year and you haven’t played much this year. Tournament golf takes time.’’
It never used to. Woods conquered the game’s summit almost two decades ago. Now it seems to be disappearing into a distant horizon.
Originally published as Tiger Woods: the decline and fall from grace
