What are the odds that Tiger has some sort of injury?

I'm thinking pretty high. There's just no way he can stink it up out there on that easy course without blaming an injury. My guess is either tooth or his old favorite excuse, the back.

Well, he hasn't played competitive golf for quite awhile. And he's got this new guy on the payroll as a coach. The few shots I saw him hit yesterday after work seemed like the old Tiger. Specifically, his head was bobbing down through the shots. I guess this is cool if your timing is spot on. Now on the way to work this morning, I caught a little bit of a Tiger interview done yesterday on the local AM sports radio channel. One thing I noticed was that his voice sounded a bit higher and more squeaky than it has in the past. Then it hit me and I had the "Euraka" moment (not the slum in California): the other prominent player with a high squeaky voice that was a sort of disconnect with the physical player is Jack Nicklaus. So maybe Tiger is trying to mimic Jack's voice in the hope that Golf-Allah will smile on him a grace him with another four (at least, but preferably five) Major Championship wins. Or his testosterone level is slipping due to either A. age, or B. he stopped taking the hormones.

I read Hank Haney's book The Big Miss during my summer vacation and man does Tiger come across as a whiny, entitled douchebag. On the other hand the greatest caddie of all times Kiwi Stevie Williams gets a lot of kudos from Haney. But I guess that really goes without saying.

If Haney's account is anything close to the truth then Tiger seems to over analyze his own swing and try to make changes and compensations that lead to swing faults and wild inconsistency that has plagued his game in the last 5 years. Unlike greats of the past like Nicklaus he seems to need a swing coach watching over his swing in order to keep him on track. His woeful form in recent years seems to be paralysis by analysis. He seems to have far too many swing thoughts going on screwing him up just like a common hacker.

Years ago I was reading an article about Nicklaus in one of the US golf magazines and Jack told the writer how sometimes when he was in his backswing and he knew by feel that he took it away wrong and was in the wrong position, he was able to re-route the club and fix the problem before the clubhead reached the ball and the shots would come off as good ones. I used to watch Nicklaus and other old guys like Player, Pamer and Trevino when I was a teenager and they were still on the regular tour and none of them who were the most successful had picture-perfect swings and some swung so ugly that you wouldn't want your son taught by the guy. Pros like Trevino and Raymond Floyd. I think that Tiger lacks that ability to just go play and gut it out and he can't score at all unless everything in the full swing is working perfectly. I think he's done, quite frankly.

it's obvious to me that his tooth is still hurting him

Of course he's injured and it's definitely his back. Lindsay's a big girl.

Gee, who would've predicted Eldrick's through?

Other than me like five+ years ago.

I think I figured out why several of the top players missed the cut yesterday evening in Phoenix. Had they made it, Tiger and Phil and some others who already had their arrangements made for VIP Super Bowl accommodations would have had to scramble to make the big event after finishing their rounds Sunday afternoon. This way, they've got all day today and tomorrow to get ready to Party Hardy. Amazing what having enough in the banks will do to your motivation.

Mongrel wrote:I think I figured out why several of the top players missed the cut yesterday evening in Phoenix. Had they made it, Tiger and Phil and some others who already had their arrangements made for VIP Super Bowl accommodations would have had to scramble to make the big event after finishing their rounds Sunday afternoon. This way, they've got all day today and tomorrow to get ready to Party Hardy. Amazing what having enough in the banks will do to your motivation.

Good guess......

Mongrel wrote:Years ago I was reading an article about Nicklaus in one of the US golf magazines and Jack told the writer how sometimes when he was in his backswing and he knew by feel that he took it away wrong and was in the wrong position, he was able to re-route the club and fix the problem before the clubhead reached the ball and the shots would come off as good ones. I used to watch Nicklaus and other old guys like Player, Pamer and Trevino when I was a teenager and they were still on the regular tour and none of them who were the most successful had picture-perfect swings and some swung so ugly that you wouldn't want your son taught by the guy. Pros like Trevino and Raymond Floyd. I think that Tiger lacks that ability to just go play and gut it out and he can't score at all unless everything in the full swing is working perfectly. I think he's done, quite frankly.

Psychoanalyzing it, it's pretty simple.  Nicklaus liked himself, Eldrick doesn't and both with good reason.  If one doesn't like oneself they're more likely to want to change.  If one does like who they are they work with what they have.  Also, Eldrick is a hand wringer with basically a negative core set of beliefs. He reminds me of an old woman who's burned a casserole.

This week it's 'deactivated glutes' causing Tiger's problems.

Kiwigolfer wrote:I read Hank Haney's book The Big Miss during my summer vacation and man does Tiger come across as a whiny, entitled douchebag. On the other hand the greatest caddie of all times Kiwi Stevie Williams gets a lot of kudos from Haney. But I guess that really goes without saying.

If Haney's account is anything close to the truth then Tiger seems to over analyze his own swing and try to make changes and compensations that lead to swing faults and wild inconsistency that has plagued his game in the last 5 years. Unlike greats of the past like Nicklaus he seems to need a swing coach watching over his swing in order to keep him on track. His woeful form in recent years seems to be paralysis by analysis. He seems to have far too many swing thoughts going on screwing him up just like a common hacker.

One of Australia's greatest players (5 British opens) Peter Thompson never had a lesson and never changed his swing. He was a fantastic player right into his senior years and only worried about where he wanted to hit it, not how he was going to.