Out of whack
One thing or another keeping Woods from breaking through
It’s always something.
This is the lament of virtually every golfer on the planet in virtually every round they play. The occasions when every element of a golfer’s game is in sync sometimes feels as rare as a hole-in-one, which is to say that for some it might never happen.
Even Tiger Woods, with 79 career wins, including 14 major championships, shares this lament — particularly this season as he’s sought his first win since 2013.
Woods has played in 10 tournaments this season, beginning with his own Hero World Challenge in December, and in every one of them, one element or another has held him back, prevented him from winning or being in contention.
This week’s U.S. Open represents the 10th anniversary of his last win in a major, the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. It’s a week Woods hopes that everything — driver, irons, short game, putting — finally clicks and ends his drought.
“Golf is always frustrating,’’ Woods said after his practice round Tuesday at Shinnecock Hills. “There’s a l ways s o me - thing that isn’t quite right, and that’s where we, as players, have to make adjustments.
“You’ve seen the tournaments I’ve played in this year. There’s always somet hi ng. Hopefully, this is one of those weeks where I put it all together and even it out. We’ll see what happens.’’
Two weeks ago at the Memorial, where Woods finished tied for 23rd, it was his putting that doomed him. Woods uncharacteristically was missing 3- and 4-foot putts with regularity at Muirfield Village and he never had a chance to get into contention.
When he initially emerged in this latest comeback of his from back surgery, Woods’ short game was magnificent at Torrey Pines in January, but he couldn’t hit a fairway if it was as wide as the length of a football field.
In between Torrey Pines and the Memorial, different parts of Woods’ game have let him down and left him to look much more mortal than he did when he was dominating the sport.
The spinal fusion surgery Woods had in April 2017 has allowed him to swing with abandon without pain or worry about reinjuring himself. That has resulted in Woods’ regaining his length off the tee.
That length, however does him no good if he’s not in the fairways — particularly this week at austere Shinnecock, where the penalty for hitting the ball in the thigh-high fescue is just short of a five-year lockup in a maximum-security prison.
Woods, with his game as sharp as it’s been in his comeback, stood on the 16th tee in the final round at Bay Hill in March just one shot out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational lead and blew his tee shot out of bounds into someone’s yard to the left of the
fairway to end whatever chance he had of winning.
This has been the theme of this season for Woods.
First it was the driving and, most recently, his putting.
“What I did at Memorial, I just didn’t feel comfortable over [the ball] … and didn’t hit many good putts,’’ he said. “I hit a lot of bad ones. This is a different week, different setup, different grass. The key is to hit putts solid and see what happens.’’
Woods said he “worked on’’ his putting “pretty hard this past week.’’
Asked if, as well as he played for a stretch earlier this season, with a runnerup at the Valspar Championship and a top-five at Bay Hill, he’s surprised he hasn’t broken through with a win yet, Woods said, “There’s two ways of looking at that. I’ve given myself chances to win, which I didn’t know if I was ever going to do again, and then again, I’m not happy with the fact that I didn’t win, because I loved how it felt being there.
“I had a chance at Valspar. I was very excited to be back in the mix on that Sunday at Valspar. I was right there with a chance. Honestly, I felt very calm. I’ve been there so many times throughout my career that it was … it felt very familiar.
“Bay Hill, I was rolling with a few holes to go. So yeah, I’ve had my opportunities. Also, I’m very thankful to have had those opportunities. I didn’t know if I was going to have them again. I would like to get myself there more times. Therein lies the trick, trying to get myself there.’’