Tiger Woods’ recent news conferences have resembled episodes of “Dr. Phil.”
They have been analysis sessions with probing questions, some golf-related (“What’s up with your driver?”) and some of a more personal nature (“What effect is your fiance having on your game?”). All that’s missing is a couch.
Jeff Sluman wouldn’t want to trade places. On Wednesday Sluman sat in the same media-tent chair Woods had occupied a few hours earlier, but he hardly got the same treatment.
“He’s under a microscope,” Sluman said. “In a lot of respects, anonymity is very good because you don’t have anyone breathing down your back wondering why your wedge game isn’t working or why you’re not driving it great. I don’t know if I could handle it as well as he does. I’m kind of glad I just go about my business and go home.”
It’s never business as usual when Woods is around, and he will be the center of attention when first-round play begins Thursday in the Cialis Western Open. Woods has a 12:42 p.m. starting time off the first tee.
Woods was upbeat after playing nine holes on Tuesday and 18 in the pro-am Wednesday. Cog Hill always makes him feel good–he has won three times there.
Woods has said he hopes the course kick-starts what has been a substandard season for him, and kicks away his critics in the process. Since winning last year at Cog Hill, he has won only one other stroke-play tournament, although he did win the Accenture Match Play in February.
Woods arrived at last year’s Western having to answer questions about a perceived slump, even though he came into the tournament with three victories for the season en route to his fifth straight Player of the Year title.
This year the questions haven’t changed, and they’ve taken on a greater sense of urgency. Woods wearily braced for the deluge.
“It’s frustrating because I have to answer it again and again right now,” he said.
Just as he has all season, Woods maintained he is “close.” The term has become such a Woods cliche that he’s a little sheepish about using it.
“I feel like my game is very close to coming together,” Woods said. “I know I keep saying that, but in my heart of hearts I’m close to putting it together. The whole package has got to get a little more refined.”
Woods acknowledged that the refinement has taken longer than he thought it would. Consistency continues to be his problem, the result of his inability to find the fairway off the tee. Woods experimented with several different Nike drivers during his pro-am round Wednesday.
“Usually I play two or three good rounds and the other round is what keeps me from winning the tournament,” Woods said. “You’ve got to turn those 74s and 75s into 69s and 70s. That’s how you win.”
That’s what Woods did when he won seven of 11 majors through the 2002 U.S. Open. Since then he became engaged to Elin Nordegren and split from his longtime swing coach Butch Harmon.
There are theories that both developments have adversely affected his game. Found love off the course, lost love on it, or so the story goes.
Woods clearly isn’t going back to Harmon, although he said he called him last week following Harmon’s controversial remarks at the U.S. Open. Among other things, Harmon said Woods was “in denial” about the state of his game. Woods felt betrayed by the comment.
“I decided to pick up the phone and handle it the way it should be handled,” Woods said. “We talked about every single conceivable issue. I wanted to hear it from his mouth and he wanted to hear it from my mouth. We talked about it for a while, and things certainly are much better than they were before.”
Things are much more tranquil with Nordegren. They got engaged in November. When the subject came up Wednesday, Woods insisted his love life isn’t affecting his play.
“I was living with Elin when I won my two majors in 2002,” he said. “We had already made a commitment to each other back then. Our relationship hasn’t changed, so it’s not her fault. It’s not my family’s fault, not my friends’ fault. It’s nobody’s fault but my own for not putting the ball in the hole fast enough.”
Woods also had to address questions about whether this year has been the toughest of his career. It’s not, he said. The most difficult times came in late 1996 and early 1997 when he tried to play while his father was having health problems.
The line of questioning went on and on. Everything seems to be fair game, and there appears to no end in sight.
When asked if a victory in the Western this week would stop the constant barrage of analysis and critiques, Woods said, “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Woods, though, knows the answer. It probably won’t.
