Tiger magic returns
WELCOME back, Tiger Woods. The golfing fraternity internationally missed you dearly and it’s great to have you back. I have followed the fortunes, and sometimes misfortunes, of this mercurial golfer for many decades. Watching him play the World Challenge in the Bahamas was soothing, like the final piece of the puzzle fitting aptly into place.
Woods, competing for the first time after a 10-month lay-off during which he had spinal fusion surgery, appeared pain free and there were many glimpses of the “old” Woods in all aspects of his play. He gave Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood a run for his money in the early exchanges.
Woods has been playing at his home, but he admitted that it’s a little different when you have to tee it up in a tournament. Just ask the local amateur golfers and they will agree that it’s one thing when you go to the range to hit practice balls and it’s totally different when you get to play in a competitive match.
Woods, who turned 42 on December 30, delivered his trademark fist pump at a par three when he rolled in a 30m birdie putt, and you knew at that stage that the magic was back. The world’s top golfers all hailed Woods’s return to the sport, with many predicting that he is still a major threat.
Local amateur golfers have coined the word “Tigerline” when they hit over trees and find the shortest route to the hole.
Mark Calcavecchia and two-time US Open winner Lee Janzen, among others, were waxing lyrical about Woods’s comeback performance.
He said: “Tiger has a variable that is unmeasurable that you can never count him out.”
After all, his name is Tiger Woods. You don’t just forget that he has won 14 majors and 79 (PGA Tour) tournaments. Welcome back, Tiger. We missed you.
WHILE we welcome one player, we must get ready to say goodbye to two coaches who are not proving their worth.
Both the Springbok coach Alistair Coetzee and the Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter had better start packing their bags. They have failed to guide their respective national teams to any glory. Baxter has failed twice to take Bafana to the ultimate stage in world football, the World Cup in Russia next year, having failed to make the cut for the 2006 event as well.
Just what he is doing at the helm is anybody’s guess. It could be that Safa are looking out for a coach and I wonder if Roger de Sa, the current Platinum Stars coach, will get the nod.
According to inside information, De Sa lost out to Baxter recently. Bafana has slipped in the world rankings and all Baxter can tell the press is that we did not play bad football. Baxter must be told that the scoreboard does not reflect how good or bad you played. It does reflect the final score of the game, and that is what matters.
The same could be said about Coetzee. “We are getting better,” said the man at the helm of the Bok side, after a disastrous year-end tour to Italy and Wales. Again, it’s not how well you have played (and beaten). It’s about the win, a word that is non-existent in his vocabulary.
When you are a leader and not producing the results in any field, be it sport or otherwise, you have to make way for someone who can, and probably will, do a better job.
Stop clutching at straws or try to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Coetzee had no idea, or very little, as was evidenced in his team selection and substitutions. It’s like crisis management and running to put out fires. For goodness sake, Coetzee, go before you are pushed. Word on the street is that the current Southern Kings coach Deon Davids has been named as a front runner to replace the under-fire Coetzee.
Davids has the credentials to help resuscitate the Boks to its former glory. Speculation is rife that Coetzee is fast running out of time and will get the boot after a second uninspiring year as coach and will be axed after the SARB meeting today (December 13). Watch this space!
As this is my last column for the year, I wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a happy new and victorious 2018.