Tiger Sunday makeover

Tiger’s stripes look thin.

The intimidation factor that he once brought to the golf course, much the same way any golfer brings their clubs, is no longer there. People, fans and competitors are no longer afraid, so visibly nervous of the being in the territory of the Tiger.

Once, not so long ago, just by saying Tiger and ANY other golfer were playing the same game you’d be put in the stocks. Now, the one-time most dominant player to ever interlace pinkies, can’t keep people off the cover of his video game, “Tiger Woods Golf”.

Tiger needs to reinvent himself, again, on the golf course.

He’s gone through more swing changes than Mr. Potato Head goes through hats. He’s gone through a lifestyle renovation while being under the scrutiny of millions of people, seemingly with nobody in his corner.

This Tiger needs a breakthrough, a makeover of simple proportions. Tomorrow in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Eldrick Woods shouldn’t wear red.

He’ll be in contention for a championship, one that he has won 6 times (at Bay Hill), but this one could be a change, could Wendy Peppercorn, and revive his career as a golfer.

Wear green, knickers, or a plaid sweater-vest but not red.

Athletes, golfers in particular, have changed a part of their routine that are much less simple. A number change, a name alteration or some spontaneous act could set you into a new mindset that delivers you back to a player that you once were.  

Tiger doesn’t look like Tiger anymore, and he really shouldn’t on Sunday.

PGA Tough-Guy

Like a Miss Congeniality sash in the UFC or a 'Most Popular' award at Comic-Con there is no such thing as a 'toughness' award out on the golf course. This even includes the four major championships. 

 

When Rory McIlroy took on a Georgia oak tree's root with a 7-iron you knew it wasn't going to turn out well for the Northern Irishman. (Don't ask how I'm so well versed in the golfer-foliage relationship, I just am.) This was only his 3rd hole in the opening round of the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, and he finished the 69 remaining holes in gallant fashion.

But that's beside the point. "It was a mistake in judgement," the 22 year old said.

It was a mistake to attempt to hit the shot, and it was an even bigger mistake to try to complete the tournament.

There’s a difference between playing through a sprained ankle in the final game of the NCAA Tournament (Maurice Cleaves); there’s a difference between going for it on fourth and short in the 4^th quarter of a seemingly meaningless NFL game to send a message to your team than what Rory did on Thursday, and then into the weekend.

A DNF would be embarrassing in the kindergarten obstacle course, or a game of Scrabble with your younger sister but not after a severe injury at the PGA Championship. Nobody would be disappointed if you err on the side of caution.

McIlroy has too much going for him to be grounded by a root.

A Tiger Woods' Memoir

If you have ever touched a club; in putt-putt where your shoe-straps and lime green ball match, or have shot even par at Pebble Beach with your buddies; you have no idea.

At the professional level golf is like trying to be a fighter pilot without actually ever flying anything but coach. (Yet, it always seems to work out in the movies.) It’s like running on molten lava with snowshoes. It’s like putting together a scrapbook in one sitting without going crazy. The ‘average bear’ can’t even begin to know what it’s like.

Tiger Woods is finished. Eighteen is still in his sights, legally, (If you know what I mean) but not on the course.

He has NO shot at overtaking the Jack "Golden Bear" Nicklaus as the best golfer to ever live. A year and a half ago it seemed like a sure thing, but now it’s about as far away as the moon is to a NASA astronaut.

Woods changed the game, he changed culture. Ten years ago the fist pump was outdated, now people do it when they successfully place a stamp perfectly in the corner on their first try. Ten years ago if you wore red on Sunday they’d lock you up (Cold War anti-communism campaign, joke), now the street malls look like the ketchup aisle at the grocery store on Sundays. Ten years ago a bald man with glasses talking golf was only your uncle on stool, now SVP has his own radio talk show. (Interestingly enough, he’s most likely still on a stool.)Ten years ago African Americans were still trying to prove themselves to the golfing world. Ten years and one Tiger Woods later, it’s all changed.

Publicly Woods will be ridiculed for the remainder of his years; his triply reconstructed swing will no longer be dissected and emulated by drones of mediocre golfers; his endorsement deals will coincide with the likes of Kim Kardashian rather than Billie Jean King.

Tiger Woods will not go down in the ‘record books’ as the best golfer of all time. He will not surpass Jack, no way.

But Tiger did something no golfer has ever done; he’s raised the par.