Tiger Woods Searching for 15th Major, Favored to Win!!!
Tiger Woods (Photo credit: Richard Carter)
Tiger Woods has sparked conversations and speculation among fans and critics alike if his recent victory to win the Memorial is a sign of a comeback. Tiger won by two strokes, birdied three of the last four holes, and finished with a 67. To many, he seemed like the Tiger of old. However, Woods has shown signs of making comebacks before, like his win at Bay Hill, and then played downhill, like his performance at the Masters where Woods failed to par a single round and tied for 40th place.
The 36-year-old is also trying to close the gap between himself and Jack Nicklaus, who has won a record 18 majors. When asked if he was too old to tie or surpass Nicklaus, Woods stated, “Well, Jack did it at 46 right? So I’ve got ten years. It can be done.” Woods is definitely capable and has done more seemingly impossible things, like winning all four majors in a row, which he accomplished in the 2000-2001 season and remains the only golfer to do so.
Since his downfall at the Masters, Woods has been reinventing his style and strategy with coach Sean Foley and with the changes of Olympic, Woods has been extremely busy, “Well, first, all my charts are all outdated because they’ve resurfaced every green. So I had to do a whole new book.” Even though Tiger has been anything but consistent since his personal life made headlines, he is currently ranked No. 1 in driving on the PGA tour, which should give him an advantage given the formidable narrow, and sloping fairways that Olympic provides.
Woods will be paired with fellow Veteran golfers Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson and Mickelson could not be more pleased with the pairing, stating, “First of all, I get excited to play with Tiger. I love it. I think we all do. He gets the best out of me. Second is, the one player I’m most concerned about if I play my best golf, that may have a chance to beat me, is Tiger.”
Watson seems thankful for the distraction of Phil and Tiger’s longstanding history, “They’re not going to be focused on what I’m doing; hopefully I’m not going to be focused on what they’re doing.”
Tiger seems less enthused, “I don’t think we’re going to talk about a lot. This is a major championship. We’ve got work to do. Any extra motivation? No.”
Woods and Mickelson first played together 15 years ago in the 1997 PGA Championship. Since that time, they have played 30 rounds together, each beating the other 13 times and tying four times. Despite the pairing and his even record with Tiger, Mickelson seems pessimistic; “I don’t see myself as a favorite.”
Perhaps the key for Tiger, along with his improved strategy and technique are the simple and fundamental skills of focus and consistency. His unwavering nerves of steel must come into play for the upcoming U.S. Open because all eyes will be watching to see if Woods can make a comeback and launch the successful second half of his career.
As always, thank you for reading.
World Of Athletes
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