How Tiger Woods lost his claws

19 March 2015 - 02:29 By Michael Vlismas
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
SWING LOW: Tiger Woods plays from the rough on the ninth hole during the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in January
SWING LOW: Tiger Woods plays from the rough on the ninth hole during the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in January
Image: MARK J REBILAS/USA TODAY SPORTS

At 10.45am on the Saturday of the 2012 Masters we were given a glimpse of what the golf world without a dominant Tiger Woods would look like.

That was the tee time for Charl Schwartzel and Woods. It was the first time Schwartzel was playing with the most physically, technically and mentally impressive golfer of this era. A player who, at his peak, would make competitors unravel the moment he stepped onto the tee alongside them. Intimidation was his forte.

So what was Schwartzel's first experience of playing with Woods?

"It was nice. He was nice. We spoke a lot and laughed a few times," the South African said.

Nice. Woods was never nice, but that's what we have now. The golfer once far ahead in the No1 spot on the world rankings is now languishing just one place below world No86 Brian Harman.

What do you mean you don't know who Harman is?

The golf world without a dominant Tiger is one in which we are more intrigued by what he doesn't do than what he once could do. With increasing frequency we are stunned by rounds of 82 from a player who once hit the kind of shots his adversaries admitted they did not have in their own games.

It is a world in which we will become more used to Woods missing cuts. This alone is a staggering thought.

This is the golfer who set the all-time record of consecutive cuts made with 142. The timespan of this alone is impressive, starting in 1998 and ending in 2005.

For most of his career, Woods has missed fewer cuts than his 14 Major titles.

Phil Mickelson, once considered the only serious rival to Woods, has missed more than 70 cuts in his career. Rory McIlroy, the new Tiger Woods, is already around the 30 mark.

Woods is now no longer the show, he is just a part of it. People will now go to watch him play because he is Tiger Woods, not because he is the greatest player in the world.

Some of us are going to feel cheated. We're going to be left wondering what could have been.

Stuck on 14 Majors and, it seems, certain to stay there, we now know the answer to one great question in golf, but are left with no answer for the second.

Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer in the history of the game.

How great could Tiger Woods have become?

If he hadn't been injured. If he hadn't cheated on his wife. If he hadn't made unnecessary swing changes.

A golf world without Tiger is a world of "if".

If Tiger was leading, TV ratings would be higher. If Tiger was in that playoff, he would never have lost it like Chip Skunk III did.

If Tiger stops using coaches who can't break 80 themselves and talks to Gary Player or Jack Nicklaus or Lee Trevino, then he will sort out his swing.

When will we ever see a player like him again?

A golf world without Tiger leaves many questions that will keep us busy at the 19th hole for years.

But let's agree not to settle with "nice". We've had that before.

The story goes that when God created two of the world's greatest golfers he said to the first: "You will be the greatest the game has ever seen." Then he turned to the second, adding: "But they will love you more." The first was Jack Nicklaus, the second Arnold Palmer.

We never needed to like Tiger. We were content being in awe of him.

But we never wanted to feel sorry for him.

Television Highlights

Today

Cricket: World Cup quarterfinal, Bangladesh vs India at 4.30am on SS2

Golf: PGA Tour, Arnold Palmer Invitational, day 1 at 9pm on SS1

Soccer: Europa League, Dynamo Kyiv vs Everton at 8pm and Inter Milan vs Wolfsburg at 10pm, both on SS3, Roma vs Fiorentina at 8pm and Ajax vs Dnipro at 10pm, both on SS5; African U-20 Championship semifinal, Mali vs Senegal at 6.45pm on SS9

Tennis: WTA Paribas Open at 7.50pm and ATP Paribas Open at 11pm, both on SS6

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now