Gene Frenette: Has Tiger's time as a major contender expired? Don't bet against him
Tiger Woods has fought off the ravages of father time with remarkable tenacity. But the last 15 months, capped by him withdrawing Saturday from the PGA Championship, are a clear indicator that golf’s all-time grinder will have to summon more resolve than ever to win any tournament or be a major contender again.
If Woods was a boxer, the referee would now be giving him a standing eight count. All those punches his body has absorbed — five back surgeries, a torn Achilles tendon, four knee operations and repairing a broken right leg, along with screws being inserted into the foot and ankle from his February 2021 single-car crash — have taken a massive toll.
Nobody can be accused of hyperbole to suggest this might be the end of golf’s most stupendous career. Just bear in mind one important caveat: Tiger’s ability to get up after being knocked down can never be underestimated.
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From a competitive standpoint, the test of Woods’ resiliency has never been greater than it is right now. While he deserves much applause for simply returning to play this year at The Masters and PGA Championship, the results of seeing his body in further decline on the course only magnifies the challenge ahead.
His latest test revealed him visibly limping around the Southern Hills course in Tulsa for three rounds, seemingly wincing a bit as he bent down to read putts. Woods is 46, and that number looks about right in his face, but the rest of his body is older and he knows it.
There’s a good reason Tiger shot his worst scores ever those last two rounds at The Masters, then carded a 79 Saturday and later withdrew from a major for the first time as a professional, preceded by WD at the 1995 U.S. Open as an amateur with a wrist injury.
Shaking off competitive rust while your body is still recovering from significant trauma has never been a recipe to sustain quality golf. That holds true for anybody, including someone who spent a record 683 weeks as the world’s top-ranked player.
Tiger a shadow of himself
The 2022 version of Tiger Woods is a flash in the pan. He shows brief glimpses of the golf magician he once was, only to revert back to an ordinary or far-below-average Tour pro who can’t get within shouting distance of a leaderboard.
We’ve only seen the most transcendent competitor in golf history at two majors this year. Both times, he was as noticeable for how much he labored walking — especially coming down off a tee box or wherever the layout wasn’t flat — as the outlier scores he posted.
His 78-78 weekend finish at The Masters, resulting in his all-time low tie for 47th as a professional there, was tough to watch. The 79 he shot in the third round at Southern Hills, where he won the PGA Championship in 2007, even moreso because how much he labored during a career-first stretch of five consecutive bogeys.
Sure, it’s an incredibly small sample size, but what remains indisputable is Woods’ medical circumstances are seriously eroding the tread on his tires. When he miraculously won the 2008 U.S. Open in a playoff with Rocco Mediate on a torn ACL and two stress fractures in his left leg, he was 32, right in the middle of his prime.
Since then, Woods has endured so many medical calamities, you need a scorecard to keep track of it all. He has twice withdrawn from The Players Championship for different ailments, missed a whopping 18 majors for health-related reasons and just added a first-time WD from a major.
As his body continues to betray him — no circumstance more damaging than what he did to himself by crashing his SUV last year and was lucky to come out alive — the downside for his game is every recovery takes more time.
For his whole career, Woods has always measured himself against Jack Nicklaus and his gold standard of capturing 18 major titles. While Tiger is tied with Sam Snead for a Tour-record 82 tournament victories, the reason he remains three majors behind Nicklaus is Tiger couldn’t match the Golden Bear in the health department.
Jack separator was good health
There’s no clearer illustration than seeing where the two greatest to play the game were at, physically, in their 40s. From age 40-46, Nicklaus played 87 Tour events, won five tournaments (three majors) and finished second 17 times. Tiger played only 43 Tour events, won three tournaments (2019 Masters) and finished second twice.
It wasn’t just Jack’s ability that has kept him ahead of Tiger on the major scoreboard. It was also his availability.
When Nicklaus won that epic ‘86 Masters at age 46, there was no competitive rust to shake off. He had kept himself in Sunday back-nine contention just enough to stay sharp when he got in position to win again. So that when he shot up that leaderboard in the final round of his 18th major triumph, Jack’s experience and ability to stay mistake-free under pressure put a cherry on the top of his career.
In contrast, Tiger’s dilemma at the same age is he’s building up more scar tissue than confidence due to so much time rehabbing and not playing with any regularity.
Before Woods teed it up at this year’s Masters, I wrote he would have to reserve closet space for a record-tying sixth green jacket. I’m not backing off that stance because Augusta is totally suited for his game.
However, watching him struggle to walk at the PGA Championship after five weeks away from competitive golf is a concern. By no means have the wheels come completely off Tiger, but they’re wobbling more than ever, undeniably in a danger zone.
If Woods is going to have the all-time wins record to himself, he must first get to a place where his health isn’t playing mind games with his golf. The game and the depth of young stars flirting with greatness is already hard enough without Tiger wondering if his body will hold up on the back nine or any hilly terrain.
Contending at the U.S. Open in four weeks at The Country Club in Brookline seems less than ideal, but Woods could be a factor in The Open at St. Andrew’s, barring any further medical complications.
It’s getting late in the fourth quarter. If Tiger Woods has one more shining moment left, the golf gods need to first let him walk without pain being a major handicap.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540
Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Future as major contender looks bleak for Tiger, but never count him out
