Tiger vs Rory – 48 Hours Later

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to see it, does it make a sound?

If the two best golfers in the world play an exhibition in China, and nobody is there to watch it, does anyone really care?

I didn’t.  And I love Tiger and Rory.  Why would I pay money to watch an Internet feed of this exhibition match, especially when I can be doing better things in the middle of the night?  Like sleeping.

Well, I stumbled upon Ryan Lavner’s piece on golfchannel.com yesterday.  I think I figured out why I cared.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/rory-clips-tiger-by-a-shot-in-duel-at-jinsha-lake/

Here’s the key paragraph from Lavner’s article:

On the 10^th hole, Woods admitted to “struggling with Sean (Foley),” his swing coach, saying, “I’ve been hitting my short irons so (expletive) far.” He went on to explain how he rarely took a divot with his short clubs under former coach Hank Haney, but now, though, “all of a sudden, I’m taking divots.”

Well, well, well.  So Tiger is fully aware of the issues we all see.  His short iron game is simply not as good as it once, nor is it on par with the rest of his current game.  Now, I have no qualms with Sean Foley.  I also have no issues with Hank Haney either.  I have a lot of respect for both teachers.  I will say this: 

I think Hank’s way is the better way.

To take it one step further, I will paraphrase a comment made by Johnny Miller during the final round of this year’s Ryder Cup.  Miller commented that the best iron players hit their short irons low and their long irons high, and they take a more shallow divot. 

I’m not saying Tiger should go back to Haney.  I’m not sure Haney would have him.  Sean Foley is Tiger’s coach and that’s not likely to change for awhile.  At what point do Tiger and Foley work together to flatten(even slightly) the swing his wedges?    He shouldn’t be thinking about large divots over the ball.  He should be thinking about shallow divots and crisp, consistent contact.   Tiger’s short iron woes are a huge part what’s keeping him from winning major championships.  

We all remember Tiger’s magical win at the 2008 US Open.  It’s arguably the greatest tournament win of all time.  It’s the greatest tournament win I’ve ever seen.  But when Tiger tees it up at Augusta next April, it will be nearly five years since that US Open win.

Did anyone ever think Tiger Woods would go five years without a major championship?