A man shoots 6 over par at a major golf tournament 10 weeks after back surgery is promptly declared a has-been.
Tiger Woods' British Open hopes: "I can do anything I want."
Such is the aura Tiger Woods has built.
Brandel Chamblee proclaimed the end of Woods' dominance in golf at the British Open when he finished 23 strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy. Woods shot a 6-over at the Open after carding a 3-under 69 in the first round.
"There was a beginning of his career, middle of his career, and this is the end of his career, no question about it," said Chamblee said. "And if you want to qualify 'era' as dominance, then the Tiger era is over, and we'll never see it again.
"I'd say this was a coup d'etat by self-immolation. We're talking about a guy who has willfully dismantled a golf swing that made him the best player in the world. Saying 'I want to get better' is one thing. But most people say that because, well, they're not good enough, and they're not the best. Well, he was the best, and he willfully dismantled the golf swing that made him the best player in the world."
Why did Tiger Woods spend $200,000 on Alex Rodriguez's doctors?
It's not Tiger's swing that is setting him back. It's his swagger. That is what is missing. It's what could come back with a single win at a major tournament.
And that could open the floodgates.
A decade ago, the question that golf analysts were wondering was whether Tiger could actually double Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories. Tiger was that revered by those away from the golf course.
He was feared by those that were on the golf course.
Then the 1-2 whammy stopped Woods in his tracks after his 2008 U.S. Open win on one leg - injuries and infidelity.
He was responsible for both. Obviously, his personal behavior was reprehensible. From a purely practical standpoint, it also seemed to be inconsistent with Tiger's will to win. Juggling extra-marital affairs would take time away from the focus of winning golf tournaments.
At the same time, he ignored his troublesome knee, figuring he could just will his way to victory through the pain - as he did in the '08 Open.
Both caught up to him, and he's been trying to figure out how to get past each since.
The public shame and embarrassment from his infidelity for the first time made him human in the eyes of competitors - and, perhaps more importantly, in his own eyes. It could be argued that when he made his first public appearance since the news of his infidelity broke in 2009, it marked the end of his dominance because he proved to be fallible.
It took Woods four years to rebuild his game, but he regained the No. 1 ranking by winning five tournaments - all non-majors - in 2013.
That reconstructed golf swing that Chamblee criticized was necessary, Woods said, to preserve his increasingly frail body.
He shot a first-round 69 at the British Open. There is nothing wrong with his swing.
The problem for Woods has been to recapture his own swagger, to forget that he's human, that he makes mistakes - as was the case from 1999 to 2008. He has contended in majors the last couple of years - prior to his back surgery in April that confirmed another mistake that he let that injury linger too long as well because he was winning.
Chamblee added that Tiger's current swing will doom him to major failure.
"Watching a guy swing that short and that quick and develop the yips - and there is no other word for it, the yips - with his driver, is really sad to see," Chamblee said. "And he is never, ever going to dominate with this move unless he changes it because he still has between his ears what made him the best player of all time perhaps."
Tiger has mastered every new swing he has undertaken. His swing isn't causing any "yips."
What's between his ears is causing the problem, He still is carrying around doubt - about his game as well as his health - which he did not have when he stormed out to those 14 major victories.
If Tiger can find a way to put four rounds of golf together at a major - like Rory McIlroy found a way at the British Open - he can win another one.
And that help him chase down Nicklaus. Not 15, not 16, not 17, not 18 ...
It's just that the longer Woods can't do it, the harder it gets. And as he approaches his 40s, the pressure of fighting his age also casts another shadow of doubt.
After his finish at Hoylake, Woods said he was encouraged by how hard he was able to hit the ball. If he actually believes that, he could contend for the PGA Championship in August, and majors beyond.
If he doesn't, then Chamblee's comments are likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Do you think Tiger Woods can regenerate momentum to break Jack Nicklaus' 18 major victories? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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