There’s nothing wrong with Tiger Woods that winning the Masters won’t cure.
A fourth green jacket would eliminate all the “what’s wrong with Tiger?” dissections of his game. It would stop all the code-red calls for his old swing coach, Butch Harmon, to come to his rescue.
Four good rounds and Tiger can go back to being Tiger again.
Woods keeps insisting he’s close to recapturing his old form, but he has yet to show it this year. An unsteady 2004 has Woods going into Thursday’s opening round of the Masters with perhaps the lowest expectations in recent memory.
Woods isn’t the consensus lock to run away with the tournament. One analyst referred to him as a “wild card” this week.
Woods has yet to be truly in contention on Sunday in a stroke-play event this year. He did take the Accenture Match Play Championship title, but he acknowledged he wouldn’t have won had it been a regular 72-hole tournament. His last stroke-play victory was Oct. 5, 2003, in the American Express Championship in Woodstock, Ga.
Woods has lost his vise grip on the majors, failing to win in the last six. Last year he was a composite 18 over par in the four biggies, compared with 24 under par in 2002 and his amazing 53 under in 2000.
His struggles have added up to a period of frustration for Woods, whose ears have been burning more than usual.
“Some other player has a bad week, misses the cut, it’s no big deal, slips through the radar,” Woods said. “Whereas if I shoot one bad round, it’s a little bit different. I think it’s just expectation levels. It’s not like I’m not trying out there.”
Woods definitely has been searching for his game. He is trying to get back to the 2000 model, which won him three majors.
The consensus is Woods’ takeaway isn’t as sharp. The culprit is an inside move on his backswing.
“If you don’t set yourself up on the way back initially, then you have to make a lot of compensations through the entire swing,” Woods said. “I went back to basics on that.”
Even Woods can’t survive by compensating. Harmon noticed the difference when he analyzed Woods’ swing during NBC’s coverage of The Players Championship.
“In my opinion, his arm plane and his shoulder plane aren’t matching up, and the club is too shut at the top,” Harmon said. “He can’t get the club back to the ball. The biggest tipoff is that we haven’t seen those stinger 3-woods when he absolutely has to get the ball in the fairway.
“The club isn’t in a position at the top that allows him to hit that shot at the moment.”
Harmon can’t make the fix for Woods because they parted ways in the summer of 2002, amid rumors of a personality clash. Harmon is very open and accessible, which is frowned upon in the Woods camp.
Woods insists that while he and Harmon remain friends, he now knows enough about his swing to make necessary changes himself. His recent record suggests otherwise.
CBS golf analyst Lanny Wadkins says the clash of egos “doesn’t benefit either of them.” While it is unlikely Woods will return to Harmon, Wadkins believes somebody should monitor him.
“The thing that concerns me is that he looks bigger and stronger,” Wadkins said. “That has to affect his flexibility and strength. This is the one time he should have someone watch him. Otherwise you can get in some bad habits.”
If Woods insists on doing it himself, the hardest part might be getting over the mental hurdle.
Woods acknowledges having trouble trusting his swing. Think about it: If he can’t trust his swing, perhaps the best ever, what chance do the rest of us have?
“It’s not easy to trust your swing if your mechanics are not quite sound,” Woods said.
John Cook, Woods’ Orlando neighbor, says his good friend needs to regain the trust if he is going to get over this bad patch.
“It’s a matter of thinking golf shot, not golf swing on the course,” Cook said. “He’s confident with what he’s doing. It’s a matter of doing it.”
Cook insists Wood will do it this week. He saw Woods’ swing during his tuneup in Orlando last week and it reminded him of the peak version.
“It was as close to 2000 as it has been,” Cook said. “It looked like he was on cruise control.”
It has been a while since Woods cruised through a golf tournament. Golf has been more of a grind, and the results, while still good, haven’t been Tiger-like.
For all the theories, the most accurate could be the simplest: Woods might be a victim of the game. Ernie Els said Woods’ recent struggles show nobody is immune.
“As good as Tiger Woods is, he’s never going to master this game,” Els said. “He’s just showing that this game is the toughest in the world to play. He’s better than most of the guys out here, but at the end of the day, you know, golf is golf.”
Woods’ 2004 record
MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS
71-70-65-7115 under, tied for 4th
BUICK INVITATIONAL
71-68-72-718 under, tied for 10th
NISSAN OPEN
72-66-72-6410 under, tied for 7th
MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
Def. Davis Love III 3 & 2 in final
BAY HILL
67-74-73-73Even, tied for 46th
PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
75-69-68-733 under, tied for 16th
