Tiger Woods: Examining his past, present, and future

My first thought after Tiger Woods grimaced his way to a missed cut at the 2019 British Open was disappointment.

His uninspired performance (which, in fairness, he told us would happen) came on the heels of a T21 at the U.S. Open (where he never truly competed) and a missed cut at the PGA Championship. It marks only the second time in Tiger Woods’ career he has missed multiple cuts in majors, joining 2015.

With the condensed schedule, the Big Cat only played in one non-major – the Memorial, where he finished tied for 9th but 10 strokes behind winner Patrick Cantlay. It was a summer to forget for Eldrick, and after his early-season hype, I believe everyone expected more from the 15-time Major Champion.

As soon as this disappointment crept in, that is when I remembered…TIGER WOODS WON THE MASTERS!

A 43-year-old man, fresh off a spinal transfusion surgery, fought off a stacked leaderboard to win his first major in 11 years. For context, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Bryon Nelson and other Hall of Fame legends never won a major that late in their career. And, none of those men went through nearly as much physical and mental pain as Tiger (even though much of that was self-inflicted).

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While fans, pundits and the greater sports world marveled at Tiger’s Masters’ feat, the conversation immediately shifted to the all-time major’s record. The chase for 18 was back on. His performance this summer – and the pain he was in – flies in the face of this thinking.

So, where is Tiger Woods now, and where is he going?

Before any talk about Tiger Woods’ future, it is important to look to the past. And it has been written thousands of times so I will keep it brief; he was an absolute force of nature from 1996-2009. Then, following his public life crumbling in November 2009, Tiger continued to play at a high level but failed to close out a major; injuries also began to pile up.

After a five-win season in 2013, the large feline began to break down; his back and neck would not allow him to compete, and when he played it was ugly.

That is what made his comeback so impressive and inspiring; after 5 years out of contention, Tiger fought his way back to the top of the leaderboard, contending at the British Open and PGA Championship in 2018 before winning the Tour Championship.

After a decent start to the 2019 season, Mr. Woods defied the odds once again and captured his 15th major. This incredible rise – punctuated by one of the greatest triumphs in golf history – immensely raised expectations for Tiger Woods.

But then he did not contend for 3 months and talked about back problems and general tiredness. Does this mean his chances of catching Jack Nicklaus’ record have vanished? Was the 2019 Masters Tiger’s swan song?

The answer is complex and steeped in uncertainty.

No one – including Tiger – knows what the future holds for his body. A golfer coming back from a back surgery of this magnitude is unprecedented, and it is impossible to predict how long his body will hold up. He cannot practice as often as he would like and will continue to struggle with stiffness in tournaments played in cold weather.

The level of golf is also at an all-time high; Brooks Koepka isn’t going anywhere (especially if he keeps playing with J.B. Holmes), Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth will continue to contend, Dustin Johnson has immense talent, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele will continue contending in majors, Matt Wolff could blow them all away…you get the point.

Eldrick has an uphill battle to win another major, much less three more, against this crop of young talent.

There is also the human element to Tiger; he is a divorced father who clearly values spending time with kids. Paul Azinger argues he is content following his Masters win; I find this difficult to imagine, especially after watching him grind in his final round at Pebble Beach even with winning out of reach.

This season has taught everyone in golf a key lesson – we need to temper our expectations with Woods. Everyone likely rushed to the ‘chase for 18’ conversation; human beings are attracted to greatness and history, and our desire to see Tiger chase history likely resulted in taking his 15th major for granted. And we all need to honest (and Tiger has admitted this) that he will not dominate like he did in the early 2000’s or even consistently win like he did in 2013.

Despite all of this, I find betting against Tiger ludicrous. He is a singularly special talent who has defied the odds for nearly three decades.

He has the highest golf IQ in history. His ability to grind without his best game, manage the course better than everyone in the field and imagination shaping shots (remember this shot!) will never go away, no matter how poorly his body deteriorates.

Next. PGA Tour: Is Brooks Koepka is the golfer we need, but don’t deserve?. dark

What is his future? No one knows, including the man himself. But, after watching his struggles after the Masters no one should take his presence for granted. His Masters win touched the human spirit, but everyone wants to know what’s next. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, my bet is that he has an encore performance.

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