Tiger Woods is nearing a crossroads in his career. There’s only one major championship remaining before the one-year anniversary of when his life took a downward spiral.
This is the second-longest drought of his career, and first that doesn’t include a swing tuneup. Despite firing swing coach Hank Haney two months ago, Tiger doesn’t appear to have the swing flaws of his past. He also hasn’t returned to his trademark wayward driving. He simply can’t make a big shot when needed – a la the 2008 U.S. Open again Rocco Mediate – or get on a birdie train.
Not only has Woods not won a major championship, he hasn’t won a tournament period in 2010, in seven events. That’s Woods’ longest drought in 12 years. The major championship drought is nine, the longest since 2003-04.
Before the British Open at St. Andrews, Woods was viewed as a favorite, 6-1 odds according to one British bookmaker, and was even picked by many analysts to win the tournament.
But despite a change in putters, which lasted only three rounds, Woods finished tied for 23rd and never threatened the top of the leaderboard. In 2000 and 2005 at St. Andrews, Woods won by a combined 13 shots.
As Bob Harig wrote on ESPN.com, Woods used to win tournaments by double digit strokes. Now he’s losing them by that margin. It’s not that he finished 13 shots behind champion Louis Oosthuizen. It’s that he was also six shots out of second place. It’s easy to be a prisoner of the moment, and look to closely at what Woods hasn’t done. But what gives you hope?
He’s won half of his 14 majors at Augusta National, Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. But despite fourth place finishes at The Masters and U.S. Open, he never gave me the idea that he would challenge the leaders. It doesn’t help that he’s never won a major without having the lead after three rounds.
Woods’ apologists might say that he’s had droughts like this before. And in those years, he had a larger gap to close, but he at least had the swing tuneup to fall back on. Now he’s got the mental hurdles of his personal life, and an influx of young stars like Anthony Kim, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. They don’t appear fazed by Woods’ intimidation.
No matter if Woods, who's won 14 majors, falls short of Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors, or if he never wins another, one thing is sure: the awe is gone. The separation he had from other golfers in the mind of non-golf fans, like the average woman who knew a lot more about him than even Phil Mickelson, for example.
What this does is put more pressure on Woods at Whistling Straits, the site of the PGA Championship. The longer this lack of winning goes on, the more Woods must feel a sense of urgency to inch closer to Nicklaus.
As Rick Reilly wrote on ESPN.com, the all-time golfing greats, from Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer, to Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and Nicklaus, hardly won any majors after their mid-30s. Watson and Palmer didn’t win any after 33 and 34, respectively. Woods, by the way, turns 35 on Dec. 30.
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Some people have a career that crashes and burns at the end. If he had quit after all the chaos, many would be asking when will he return and/or would he have survived it all. By failing to play so well, all these questions are actually answered, and now if he wants, he can leave the game in peace. But he's no quitter, so I think he eventually is celebrated with whatever he wins, like a comeback story made for movies.
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