As good as it gets for Tiger?
06/11/2003
Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Remember when Tiger Woods was good?
Remember the cleverly named "Tiger Slam" he pulled off a couple years ago, winning four consecutive majors in a non-calendar year? Remember his Masters victory last year? His U.S. Open triumph at Bethpage Black?
Man, that guy was good. Damn good.
But now? Now we're not so sure. Since Bethpage, three consecutive majors have come and gone without a victorious walk up the 18th fairway for Tiger. Even worse, he hasn't won a single stinkin' tournament since March. No Bay Hill, no Players, no Deutsche Bank-SAP, no Memorial. Nothing.
Everybody's talking about a slump. They bring up his knee surgery. Some suggest that he's just not as focused as he's been in the past. One left-handed idiot even ragged on Tiger's equipment a couple months ago... .
Here's a thought: Maybe, just maybe, this is the Tiger Woods we should all get used to seeing on the course from now on. Maybe, just maybe, Tiger was simply riding a scorching hot streak through those four-straight major championships two years ago. Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't expect him to be able to play up to that level of excellence every time he swings the sticks.
I know, what a crazy notion, huh?
But honestly, is that so hard to believe? There's no doubting that Tiger is one of the premier golfers on the planet and yes, he could very well be the best. But couldn't it have been an historic hot streak we witnessed a couple years ago rather than the genesis of the mightiest man to ever tee up a golf ball? Couldn't he have been, as some say, "unconscious" or "in the zone" during that run? Couldn't this be the norm rather than a slump? Couldn't Tiger Woods merely be the greatest golfer of his generation rather than the greatest golfer of any generation?
Just as athletes go through debilitating slumps, we all know that they also enjoy so-called hot streaks: A career .260 hitter with little power could hit nearly .380 for an entire month, like Baltimore's Melvin Mora did in May; an unknown backup could throw for 429 yards in a playoff game and spark the league's hottest quarterback controversy, like Cleveland's Kelly Holcomb did this past January against the Steelers; an NHL goalie could register a record seven shutouts in one postseason, like New Jersey's Martin Brodeur did in the Devils' Stanley Cup run; someone could drop at least 40 points in nine-consecutive games, like the Lakers' Kobe Bryant did earlier this season.
Hot streaks can make a bad athlete good, a good athlete great and a great athlete unparalleled, if only for a finite length of time. But that length of time can vary from one quarter to one game to one week to one month to one year and even, in some cases, beyond. So is it completely out of the realm of possibility that the "Tiger Slam" was purely the result of an incredible hot streak from an otherwise exceptional golfer, one that he may never be able to duplicate? Instead of witnessing Tiger at his absolute best, couldn't we have been witnessing Tiger beyond his absolute best? Sounds pretty reasonable to me. And now, that prolonged hot streak is over, leaving us with a phenomenal golfer who nonetheless can't quite live up to the soaring standards he set at such an early stage of his career.
That's how we got hooked, by the way, duped into believing that this young man was a Greek god in soft spikes, armed with a thunderous drive, a flashy smile and the true mark of divinity, the fabled Swoosh of Nike. We didn't know much about Tiger at first, other than what we'd read about him in newspapers and magazines as well as the limited firsthand knowledge most of us gleaned from his few televised tournaments as an amateur. And then -- BOOM! -- one year after going pro this guy, who legend says was born with a putter in his hand, claims his first Green Jacket at the age of 21. A few years later he wins his second... and his third... and he pulls off the celebrated "Tiger Slam"... and he's opening up enormous leads over his nearest competitors before the weekend even hits... and he's the world's #1 ranked player... and he's constantly on top of the Tour's money list. "Wow," we say, "this kid's awesome." And we push Jack and Arnie aside and anoint Tiger as the greatest of all time.
But then he fails to win one major... and then another... and then another... and his knee hurts... and he's not winning the smaller tournaments either... and even when he does win it's only by a few measly strokes... and now, for the first time since 1999 he's not atop the money list. "Wow," we say, "there's something wrong with this kid." And we start talking about a slump.
Why exactly does something have to be wrong with Tiger? When Ernie Els doesn't top a leaderboard for a couple months nobody mentions that s-word, but when he was winning every non-Tiger event earlier this year we all marveled at Ernie's "amazing hot streak." If Vijay Singh struggles for a few tournaments people don't wonder aloud if something's wrong with him. Phil Mickelson, the aforementioned "left-handed idiot," has as many PGA majors on his résumé as Annika Sorenstam and David Duval has missed the cut in nine of the 13 events he's played in this year, and yet everybody's talking about Tiger's slump.
That's not exactly an easy thing to do. Just ask Lefty.
Let's get something straight: Despite this perceived "slump," Tiger Woods is still playing some good golf, admittedly in limited action thanks to his cranky knee. He remains the top-ranked player in the world, he's tied with Davis Love and Mike Weir atop the Tour's leaderboard with three wins in only eight events, and he leads the Tour with a 67.91 scoring average. The numbers say Tiger's still a great player; he's just not the same guy who won the 2000 Open by a major-record 15 strokes.
And he may never be again.
Now, I realize that if Tiger wins his third U.S. Open in the past four years this weekend, I'll get plenty of e-mails telling me how stupid I am, how I overacted to his "drought" and how I never should've doubted his capabilities. Realize, though, that I'm not saying that Tiger's not great, and I wouldn't even attempt to argue that he's not the best golfer in the world. I'm not implying that he's already peaked either. Instead, what I'm suggesting is that maybe he's simply not as great as he appeared to be a couple years ago. Maybe it's unfair to hold him up in comparison to the guy who won those four-consecutive majors. He's still an extraordinary golfer and I could easily be way off base here, but maybe what we're seeing from Tiger right now is what we'll get from Tiger throughout the rest of his career. Maybe instead of dominating the Tour, he'll simply be the Tour's finest player, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. He'll win some, he'll lose some -- probably more of the former than the latter, but likely not at the same overwhelming rate that he displayed a couple of years ago.
I mean, isn't it reasonable to assume that perhaps Tiger Woods isn't a driver and a long iron ahead of his peers? Maybe it's merely a driver and an easy wedge.
Questions/comments? Send all e-mails to jcodding@bullz-eye.com.