Dropping Zingers on Woods
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Paul Azinger went full Johnny Miller on Tiger Woods and his round of 76 on ESPN’s broadcast Thursday with a caustic indictment of Woods’ game.
The former Ryder Cup captain, who has previously given Woods the benefit of the doubt through his recent struggles, said it was “hard to watch the greatest player of this generation be a middle-of-the-pack hack.
“You almost want to say, ‘Who are you and what have you done to Tiger Woods?’ Azinger said.
It was almost as if Azinger was as frustrated as any Woods fan watching him struggle to a 40 on the softened-up front side. Only Nick Faldo, who has taken his shots at Woods from the CBS booth, played it worse. But Faldo’s 41, in his final Open appearance at St. Andrews, came when conditions deteriorated in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Azinger pointed out at the turn that Woods was 21-over for his previous 45 holes in majors and he repeated what he said during the ESPN conference call last week.
“Nobody needs to tell Tiger what to think, they need to remind him to think,” he said, adding later, “Everyone wanted to swing like Tiger except Tiger.”
Zinger was a little kinder to Woods in that conference call. It probably helped explain his comments.
“I would never ever personally write Tiger off with respect to anything until he decides to quit,” he said. “I actually made the mistake last year of suggesting that Tiger would be the lead story of every major until he decides to retire. Well, that’s obviously not the case this week since it took 42 minutes (in the call) to even get to Tiger Woods. The lead story is (Jordan) Spieth and maybe Rory McIlroy’s injury.
“Get your game out of the laboratory and be the best player again,” he urged. “Drive it, wedge it, putt it, at St. Andrews or anywhere. Drive it, wedge it, putt it, and you can compete, and Tiger can certainly do that again.”