TIGER: IS HE FINISHED?

Like it or not, the new wave of golf stars have broken out in a big way. Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer, and Charl Schwartzel have all won major championships while Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar have all come close. Clearly the most impressive of this group is Rory McIlroy, who has stamped himself as the best player in the world with his dominating U.S. Open championship at Congressional this weekend. His brilliance hasn’t been seen since, well, Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open.

With this new wave of exceptional, young golfers here to stay, where exactly does that leave Tiger Woods? Tiger hasn’t won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open, and hasn’t won a tour event since he returned from his whole saga at the 2010 Masters. Putting the personal issues aside, Tiger’s health is a big concern. He has been forced to miss three majors due to different surgeries since the victory at Torrey Pines in ’08. With problems like this at age 35, what condition will he be in at age 40 and then 45? The next ten years will be where he either breaks Jack Nicklaus’s record or continues his fade into the sunset.

Most of the media seems to be counting him out. Almost all say he won’t catch Jack now and several people are saying he’ll never win another major. This is mainly the same group of people that said he would win the Grand Slam in 2009 and tie Jack’s record that year! I’ve personally never bought into the extreme opinions of the media. I believe most people just write stuff with such extreme opinions to deliver a “wow” factor just so that more people will read and comment on their stuff. I find it hard to believe most of these writers actually believe their words to the fullest extent. Not many people are going to be that intrigued by an article or newscast that says, "well Tiger could still break it, but it is going to be much tougher now”.

I really do find it silly that anyone at this current moment can dismiss him from ever winning another major championship. The man won a major on a broken leg at Torrey Pines, and despite all the personal/physical issues over the last year and change, he has finished in the top five at three out of the five majors he’s competed in since his return last April. Unless his legs are that far gone, I find it very hard to believe he’ll never win another major. Love him or hate him, no one can dispute the heart he plays with at these major championships. No one can dispute how mentally strong he is either. He willed himself to that win at Torrey Pines as well into the top five at those recent majors. Imagine where he’ll be when his game starts to come around which it appeared to do at times at the Masters in April. I throw out those events where he totally bombed like the Bridgestone Invitational last year. Obviously his game wasn’t there, but clearly his heart wasn’t in it either. Outside of the 2006 U.S. Open which was weeks after the death of his father, Tiger's heart has always been in it for these majors.

Barring we find out that he won't ever be able to play on his legs again, I will guarantee that Tiger will win another major championship. I base that on partly on his performance at Torrey Pines and his ability to stay in contention at majors since. However, I also base that on the fact several of golf’s greatest players have had a ton of success after the age of 35. Jack won six of his 18 majors, Ben Hogan won eight of his nine, Sam Snead won five of his seven, and more recently Phil Mickelson has won three of his four majors after their 35th birthdays. Even Tom Watson, who never won a major after the age of 35, was a putt away on the 72nd green from winning the 2009 British Open at the ripe old age of 59. I think Tiger will have long put the clubs away for good when he's 59, but there is no reason he cannot compete until he's 45,50.

Whether I believe he’ll ultimately break Jack’s record is a different story. With the wave of young talent taking over, it is going to be very difficult for Tiger to win five more major championships on reconstructed legs while these younger guys are pretty much playing with a full deck. They quite frankly are probably more physically talented right now. However, I’ve seen this man win on a broken leg where every swing was so painful, so while I acknowledge (not a bold statement) it will be much more difficult than it appeared it was going to be a few years ago, I don’t believe his quest for the all-time major championship record is over. No game is more fickle than golf. One week you can be on top of the world, the next you can be at the bottom. Let’s see where Tiger is when this extreme point in his career levels out. I would like to see what happens when he finally wins a PGA event even if it isn’t a major championship. To call him finished at this point is way too premature.

Patrick Morgan