Spending More Time in the Sand Than David Hasselhoff

So Tiger is coming back. As much as I love the idea of seeing the Striped One prowling the fairways again – without wincing in pain – I’m concerned.

The hype tidal wave is building.

I just don’t want the breathless excitement of the Kelly Tilghmans of the world, let alone the non-Kelly Tilghmans, every minute of every day, anxiously awaiting Tiger’s first swing. The over-analysis of every move, starting days before he even hits a shot in competition  (is he limping in that practice round?; he looks great in red, doesn’t he?; is he thinking of his new baby?; oh no, not a sidehill lie with that bad knee;  etc. etc. . . . add my nauseum).

He’s back. That is great. The Tour is better for it. And the directors of the Match Play in Tucson have to be ecstatic, and justifiably so. But for the rest of us – we knew he was coming back, right? I mean, your basic knee surgery doesn’t often lead to death or loss of leg, in most orthopaedist’s hands anyway. So let’s pretend like we’re mature adults and accept it for what it is – the return of a great athlete to the sport he and we love. Avoid the overblown, please. Remember, the millions of people without jobs probably aren’t that excited about Tiger right now, nor are the folks (barely) working for GM – or Saab, or Ford or . . .

Thinking of Tiger?

Settle, people.

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This just in – Tiger is back in competition and, best news of all, winning again!

Unfortunately for golf fans, it isn’t on the Tour. It is at the Westminster Dog Show. A Scottish deerhound, Ch. Gayleward’s Tiger Woods dominated the  Hound Group last night at Westminster and is on to the Best in Show competition.

Any bets on how he does? I mean, according to reports, this young hound has 4 stress fractures, two torn ACL’s – and a world of pride and competitive spirit. Not to mention the stunningly attractive Brussels griffon he has been associating with at all of New York’s finest places to be seen.

This cat is a winner!

Tiger Woods - the other

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At the risk of piling on to an overhyped subject, I want to give my opinion about the new Tiger’s Paw.

Tiger said at his tournament interview this week that his not so newly operated knee feels “unbelievable” and that it hasn’t felt this stable in years.

This interview clip on The Golf Channel was followed by a discussion of how this new knee might affect Tiger’s golf swing. There was some conjecture by Frank Nobilo that Tig would need to change his swing, with a “soft” left knee at impact – in other words, a bit of a lower body slide that Tiger has never done before. That left some question as to how Tiger might adjust on his return.

Are the Tour players holding some hope that Tiger 2.0 might not be as good as Tiger 1.2 (or whichever swing iteration you want to put on him)?

Don’t hold your breath, mis amigos.

Look, there are two ways of looking at this:

1. Tiger has played with a bad knee for nearly his entire professional career. Now he has a good, stable knee to really drive into. He is excited because, now that he is swinging short irons and wedges, he sees just how much better he is going to be with a solid, painless lead leg. Bad news for numbers 2 through infinity on the Tour.

2. Tiger will take some time to adjust to this new knee. He’ll have to change his old swing a bit to its third professional variation. And that swing will now take place on a knee that feels great and stable – a new sensation for Tiger, but not a bad one – at all. Remember, he changed his swing twice on a bad knee and just kept racking up wins. Again, bad news for everyone not named Eldrick.

I can’t picture too many ways that a stable lead leg, which he now has, hurts Tiger. As I learned at our TPI seminar last weekend, the knee is one of the components of the body in an athletic maneuver that needs stability. Tiger hasn’t had that, yet he is the greatest player of his, and maybe all, time.

Now it is stable. And that lets the mobile segments above and below fire at will, which they couldn’t do as well before. (Hip and ankle for those wondering).

And that doesn’t even take into account his mental state, with confidence in a new, pain-free, stable knee.

I also would like to add that as a left knee ACL tear survivor – I lived without my left ACL from high school to about the age of 36 – that confidence in a stable, pain-free left knee is very, very important in a golf swing. As an aside, I like to think that without that injury, my chances of making the Tour would have been vastly improved. (I didn’t say it was valid, just that I like to think it)

Watch out world – a new and improved Tiger is out there!

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The Pink Panther or a Tiger? Which one is the meaner cat?

On the face of it, no contest. Sure, the Pink Panther is cute, funny, and occasionally wicked. But Tiger is tough, fearless, lethal; the king of all he surveys.

In pro golf, however, the line became blurred this week. Paula Creamer, the so-called “Pink Panther” for her love of all things rose colored, sucked it up to play four solid rounds at the ADT Championship. She didn’t win, but she made it through two separate cuts and finished all 72 holes – in third place, no less. She had what is described as “an inflamed abdominal wall” with concerns that she had appendicitis. Not bad after having significant abdominal pain since the day before the tournament, not being able to warm up properly on any day, bending over and kneeling on the ground through her rounds to relieve her pain, not eating or drinking appropriately, and spending the night at a local hospital Saturday night, enduring 3 CT scans and getting IV fluids to re-hydrate her. She finally was discharged at 7:15 AM on Sunday, in time to get to the course to try to play.

Now, the cynic would say, “Sure, she was just doing it for the money.” And 1 million smackers is indeed a big incentive. But she has plenty of cash. She had to know she would have a hard time winning without being closer to 100% than she was. And she obviously felt horrible. I say, bravo! I hope she didn’t cause a real problem for her health, but isn’t this what we applaud in sports? Willis Reed emerging onto the court after a severe injury, that Japanese male gymnast sticking a landing on a broken leg, Kari Strug gimping through her routine after an injury to her ankle. We eat this stuff up. We admire these athletes.

Witness the hoopla around Tiger at the Open. Some didn’t believe him (Retief – I bet you wish you could have your words back), but what he did, to play 90 holes on a stress fractured leg, was amazing. The winning is even cooler.

I’ve had a stress fracture, as well as a bad knee, and I have a pretty good idea of what the Striped One went through during the Open. But I’ve never had an “inflamed abdominal wall” nor do I want one. But with the gut aches I have had, I look at what Ms. Creamer did, and I am amazed. All she wanted to do, I’m sure, is lay down and rest. But she hung tough and finished the tournament in great fashion.

So which cat is tougher?

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That’s right – it is the Striped One, status post ACL reconstruction, on the golf course. Of course, he is caddying for the winner of a Buick sponsored event (as he promised to do long ago) rather than playing. But he’s there.

Can a ripped 289 yard 3 wood approach to tap in range be far behind?

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