Racing to Predict Tiger’s Comback

So Tiger’s back. Or he isn’t. It all depends on your point of view.  One thing that is certainly back is the mountain of monotonous articles written on his every move, shot, thought, and interview. There seems to be a ramification, permutation, rhyme and reason for everything he does.  Forgive me a moment but… yawn.

I’d love to see Tiger back to his best, with subsequent articles lavishing praise on him for sensational victories, dominating performances, and impossible shots under pressure. But can we not save the headlines and questions until he produces just that?

You can’t help but feel that journalists believe there will be a certain amount of kudos bestowed upon them for being the first to rightly predict the dawn of the new Tiger era. Alright, I accept that they’re just doing their job and reporting on items that engage the readers, but it gets a bit ridiculous when he holes a putt and a commentator announces “I think you can safely say Tiger is back”. Crikey, I wish it was that easy for the rest of us. And isn’t it a little disrespectful to guys like Robert Rock that all the articles after this last weekend focused on the ‘nearly’ performance of Tiger rather than the ex-club pro who started the day level with the great Tiger Woods and beat him?

So he’s on the comeback trail, fine, but at the moment, that’s all you can say. A few years back, we were questioning why the best English players couldn’t get past the winning post in front of Woods. Now we have guys that do, but instead of focusing our attention on them, the trend is to question Tiger’s inadequacies.

Robert Rock is a prime example of how I believe golf has changed over the last ten years. A question was put to him on Saturday regarding his feelings on playing with Woods on Sunday, given that back in 2003 he was teaching golf and selling Mars bars, whilst Woods had won countless Majors and was dominating the sport. The answer, “It’s pretty cool’, was hardly insightful, but his performance on Sunday did all the talking. Ten years ago, most players would have done what the golfing media was expecting Rock to do and crumble under the pressure. Admittedly, a lot has happened in Woods’ career since those heydays, but he still has an aura. The difference is that ten years ago, when Rock, McIlroy, and the younger breed were still playing with a half set and from the ladies tees in a Junior Medal (or selling Mars bars), they were learning that in order to beat him, you had to raise the bar. It’s been the same in other sports, too. Just think of the impact Roger Federer has had on tennis. I’m sure Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic would be the first to tell you they wouldn’t be the players they are if they hadn’t had to set out to beat him.

In Tiger’s pomp, players hoped to get near to his level, but were resigned to losing once he had the lead. Now, players know they have to surpass the levels he set. I’m not suggesting Robert Rock is now a better player than Woods, but I think there is enough evidence over recent years to suggest that players know what levels they have to achieve in order to win. Previous statements such as “if Tiger plays well, we’re playing for second”, and “Tiger will win two majors per year, that only leaves two for the rest of us” are no longer valid. Tiger can play well and expect this generation to go toe-to-toe with him, regardless of how his supposed comeback is developing. Some even catch him on the last day now (Graeme MacDowell at the Chevron in 2010). That just didn’t happen before. Majors are won by guys who go out and seize their opportunity (Y.E.Yang beating Tiger at the PGA Championship), rather than by guys hoping Tiger’s game doesn’t show up.

Wood’s is certainly on his way back, but if he does get back to his best, the difference is that this time players aren’t scared to take him on. I’m sure he’ll have many victories in the future, including Majors, battling ones, and comfortable ones, but this generation will also inflict more defeats.

So there it is, an article complaining about the reams of paper wasted on Tiger in which I’ve managed to squeeze in 18 references to him.  Ah well, it’s an easy trap to fall in to.