Tiger Still Has Teeth
~ Amy Lignor
You would think, considering the amount of press Tiger Woods gets whether he wins or loses in the sport of golf, that he was literally the only one who has ever picked up a club or stepped on to a ‘green.’ But this time around, perhaps because victory was not even seen let alone ‘just missed’ by the 
golf great, the headlines have gone bazaka…with some saying that Tiger did a great job taking his first step at getting back in the game, and others (as always) calling out for Tiger to retire and call it a day.
However, when you ask the player, Tiger was adamant that he actually was positive about his performance in Bethesda, even though he played badly and was cut far earlier than he has ever experienced. But even though he did show that he could still play after his back surgery, four straight bogeys on the back nine took him out of the Quicken Loans National. And the two rounds he did play at Congressional showed him missing sixteen greens and managing to save par only three times. But…it also showed that Tiger will not be quitting anytime soon.
No matter what fans have to say (and whatever his rivals or simply gossipers have to yap about), Tiger stated every clearly that he actually felt very encouraged by his performance. “I missed the cut by four shots…but the fact that what I was able to do physically, and the speed I had, and the distance that I was hitting the golf ball again, I had not done that in a very long time. It felt great today.”
Although over some of his career highs and lows people can say ‘That was a shock!’ when it comes to this one, it really wasn’t. This year Tiger has played only four tournaments with an incredibly sore back that took him down more than once. By having back surgery at the end of March, Tiger did miss out on the first two majors, but set a goal that he would return for the British Open which will be played next month. Feeling the strength early to move forward, Tiger appeared at the Quicken Loans National, possibly to see just how much better he has become and the exact things he needs to work on in order to come back strong.
The mistakes Tiger made were simple (unlike the horrors that are being shown by the women at Wimbledon); and the mistakes he’s making can be corrected before the British Open comes to pass. Woods, basically looked sloppy in some areas; such as, the short par-4 on the eighth. But it was truly the four bogeys that did him in: the 11th through 14th holes showed fans everything from overshooting to poor chips.
Even his rivals on the greens said later that with Tiger you never knew what performance would come about. And just because the man went through back surgery, he still has the skill, talent and ability to not only be a favorite going into the British Open, but also to win the whole gosh-darn thing.
The biggest upside for Woods was the fact that he did not feel any pain in his back while he worked – and that success will once again make him THE force to be reckoned with!
