Brian Manzella
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Tiger has weekend off to reflect on disappointing U.S. Open
By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — What's next for Tiger Woods, now that he has missed the cut in a major championship for the first time since 1996 when he was an amateur playing in The Masters?
"Practice," he answered Thursday, 30 minutes after shooing 76 for the second consecutive day at Winged Foot Golf Club to finish his U.S. Open at 12 over par.
There will be much analysis of Woods' performance in this Open, a championship that proved to be a reminder that behind his 10 major championship trophies stands a man who is human and capable of failure.
He came to New York to play tournament golf for the first time since his father Earl died nine weeks ago. He said that his father's death would not be a factor in his performance and he left Friday repeating that it was not a factor.
"When you don't execute you're not going to be happy," said Woods. "... Poor execution is never going to feel very good."
Michael Campbell, the defending Open champion and also a casualty of the cut, sought compassion for Woods.
"You've got to give him credit for actually turning up," said Campbell. "One thing I admire about Tiger is that he wanted to come back just to play golf and get away."
Six years ago, after Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 majors, said Woods would have to cope with life's normal changes and adjust to maintain the high level of play that he showed in the early stages of his pro career.
Among those changes Nicklaus cited were marriage, the birth of children and the death of a parent. Jack's father died in early 1970, and the loss forced him to reevaluate his career. He concluded he had not been adequately devoted to his work, so he responded with new resolve and reached greater heights as a golfer.
Nicklaus remembers taking a couple of weeks off after his father died, and playing poorly in The Masters and the U.S. Open, before winning the British Open.
Woods said he'll most likely play again at the Western Open, July 6-9 near Chicago, in a tuneup for the British Open later in July.
"Unfortunately," he said when he asked about missing the cut, "I missed this one. Hopefully, I can win the British Open."
Woods' goal is to break Nicklaus' record of 18 victories in professional majors. Last March, Gary Player, like Woods and Nicklaus one of only five golfers to have won each of the four majors at least once in their career, was asked at the World Golf Village about Woods' chances of breaking the record.
"The only thing that I fear about Tiger," said Player, "is his driving. Jack Nicklaus hit some loose shots off the tee, but he was no where near as wild as Tiger."
At Winged Foot, Woods hit three fairways in regulation in the first round and four in the second. He hit 10 greens in regulation in the first round and eight in the second.
This is not the Tiger Woods who the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000 and The Masters in '01 to hold all four major titles at the same time. That Tiger drove the ball with power and precision. In major championships, that's the first part of the equation. If you can't do that then skillful iron play, short game creativity and putting touch won't help you because you never get in position off the tee to use them.
Woods had all those skills six years ago, but he chose to alter his swing. He split with teaching pro Butch Harmon, who trained him though college and into his first five years as a pro. He replaced him with Hank Haney, a respected teacher and tutor to Mark O'Meara and others.
On the practice range Friday morning, while Tiger was hacking his way out of town, Harmon, a member of Winged Foot, was asked about Woods' training. He declined to comment.
In his recently released book, The Pro, Harmon wrote glowingly of Woods and Greg Norman, two high profile players he guided to No. 1 in the world only to have them leave him for other instructors.
Harmon said he always takes "the high road" and in the book he said he encouraged Woods to seek other opinions about the golf swing from different teachers. More than once when asked about Woods' struggles Harmon has said, "He'll be fine."
All the game's best players have had to adjust. At some point in their career they realized what they were doing was not working, or that they needed more help than they were getting.
Phil Mickelson fell to rock bottom in '03 when he didn't win a tournament and was helpless in the Presidents Cup, eventually becoming pretty much a cheerleader for the U.S. tied the Internationals in South Africa.
That fall he went back to work with his teachers — Rick Smith, who teaches the full swing, and Dave Pelz, who specializes in the short game and putting. Everybody knew that Mickelson was talented, but since he embraced the teachings of Smith and Pelz he has won the '04 Masters, '05 PGA Championship and '06 Masters.
Smith was standing at the entrance of the practice range Friday, maybe 50 yards from Harmon. When asked about Woods, like Harmon, Smith declined to talk specifics, adding, "I won't criticize Hank Haney."
In general terms he did discuss the skills that a pro needs in order to be a major championship winner and a great player. He spoke of three areas:
"Repetition," he said. "You have to have a swing that repeats under pressure. You can't rely on rhythm. You have to be able to swing the club in an aggressive manner with accuracy.
"You have to be able to control the spin of your golf ball. People say the modern player is not a shot-maker. If you want to win majors you have to be able to move the ball left and hit it high and low. When you can do that, you have a swing that deals with any issue."
Smith went on to explain that the great champions learned to control the ball generally by taking the hook out of their swing. They didn't need the power that comes with a draw; they needed the control that comes with a fade.
Ben Hogan struggled with a hook early in his career, and created a new style of swing that produced a fade which saved his career. Lee Trevino did the same thing, developing a swing that no pro would teach an amateur, but it would create a fade on command.
Jack Nicklaus always hit a fade, some say because he grew up at Scioto Country Club in Ohio, where everything on the left was out of bounds. Others believe his teacher, the late Jack Grout, had played the PGA Tour in the 1930s and '40s and noticed that the most accurate players, the ones who hit the ball closest to the hole on their approach shots, hit a fade.
Smith convinced Mickelson that he had to develop a fade if he wanted to control the ball.
"A hook doesn't listen," said Smith, echoing an old line from Trevino. "It can create bad things on a golf course. Under the pressure of competition, a fade will work."
Smith said his one opinion on Woods is that he's trying to hit a draw now, "and with his fast hips and a tendency to drop the club inside" on the downswing, he's developing "a dangerous combination."
Woods has so much athletic ability that he can copy any swing for a while, and his flaws are masked until he gets to major championships like an Open, where the setup is designed to demand perfection.
"Marginal shots are going to get killed here," Woods said before leaving Winged Foot. "At any U.S. Open venue we play, marginal shots get penalized, but it's more here than other places."
Smith said Woods has a good iron game and is a great putter.
"If there's a player who could play successfully with a different swing each year it would be Tiger," said Smith. "That's what makes him different."
He was certainly different in '99, 2000 and '01, both in his swing and his accomplishments. Back then he was almost perfect and one wonders if he'll ever get that close to perfection again.
By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — What's next for Tiger Woods, now that he has missed the cut in a major championship for the first time since 1996 when he was an amateur playing in The Masters?
"Practice," he answered Thursday, 30 minutes after shooing 76 for the second consecutive day at Winged Foot Golf Club to finish his U.S. Open at 12 over par.
There will be much analysis of Woods' performance in this Open, a championship that proved to be a reminder that behind his 10 major championship trophies stands a man who is human and capable of failure.
He came to New York to play tournament golf for the first time since his father Earl died nine weeks ago. He said that his father's death would not be a factor in his performance and he left Friday repeating that it was not a factor.
"When you don't execute you're not going to be happy," said Woods. "... Poor execution is never going to feel very good."
Michael Campbell, the defending Open champion and also a casualty of the cut, sought compassion for Woods.
"You've got to give him credit for actually turning up," said Campbell. "One thing I admire about Tiger is that he wanted to come back just to play golf and get away."
Six years ago, after Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 majors, said Woods would have to cope with life's normal changes and adjust to maintain the high level of play that he showed in the early stages of his pro career.
Among those changes Nicklaus cited were marriage, the birth of children and the death of a parent. Jack's father died in early 1970, and the loss forced him to reevaluate his career. He concluded he had not been adequately devoted to his work, so he responded with new resolve and reached greater heights as a golfer.
Nicklaus remembers taking a couple of weeks off after his father died, and playing poorly in The Masters and the U.S. Open, before winning the British Open.
Woods said he'll most likely play again at the Western Open, July 6-9 near Chicago, in a tuneup for the British Open later in July.
"Unfortunately," he said when he asked about missing the cut, "I missed this one. Hopefully, I can win the British Open."
Woods' goal is to break Nicklaus' record of 18 victories in professional majors. Last March, Gary Player, like Woods and Nicklaus one of only five golfers to have won each of the four majors at least once in their career, was asked at the World Golf Village about Woods' chances of breaking the record.
"The only thing that I fear about Tiger," said Player, "is his driving. Jack Nicklaus hit some loose shots off the tee, but he was no where near as wild as Tiger."
At Winged Foot, Woods hit three fairways in regulation in the first round and four in the second. He hit 10 greens in regulation in the first round and eight in the second.
This is not the Tiger Woods who the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000 and The Masters in '01 to hold all four major titles at the same time. That Tiger drove the ball with power and precision. In major championships, that's the first part of the equation. If you can't do that then skillful iron play, short game creativity and putting touch won't help you because you never get in position off the tee to use them.
Woods had all those skills six years ago, but he chose to alter his swing. He split with teaching pro Butch Harmon, who trained him though college and into his first five years as a pro. He replaced him with Hank Haney, a respected teacher and tutor to Mark O'Meara and others.
On the practice range Friday morning, while Tiger was hacking his way out of town, Harmon, a member of Winged Foot, was asked about Woods' training. He declined to comment.
In his recently released book, The Pro, Harmon wrote glowingly of Woods and Greg Norman, two high profile players he guided to No. 1 in the world only to have them leave him for other instructors.
Harmon said he always takes "the high road" and in the book he said he encouraged Woods to seek other opinions about the golf swing from different teachers. More than once when asked about Woods' struggles Harmon has said, "He'll be fine."
All the game's best players have had to adjust. At some point in their career they realized what they were doing was not working, or that they needed more help than they were getting.
Phil Mickelson fell to rock bottom in '03 when he didn't win a tournament and was helpless in the Presidents Cup, eventually becoming pretty much a cheerleader for the U.S. tied the Internationals in South Africa.
That fall he went back to work with his teachers — Rick Smith, who teaches the full swing, and Dave Pelz, who specializes in the short game and putting. Everybody knew that Mickelson was talented, but since he embraced the teachings of Smith and Pelz he has won the '04 Masters, '05 PGA Championship and '06 Masters.
Smith was standing at the entrance of the practice range Friday, maybe 50 yards from Harmon. When asked about Woods, like Harmon, Smith declined to talk specifics, adding, "I won't criticize Hank Haney."
In general terms he did discuss the skills that a pro needs in order to be a major championship winner and a great player. He spoke of three areas:
"Repetition," he said. "You have to have a swing that repeats under pressure. You can't rely on rhythm. You have to be able to swing the club in an aggressive manner with accuracy.
"You have to be able to control the spin of your golf ball. People say the modern player is not a shot-maker. If you want to win majors you have to be able to move the ball left and hit it high and low. When you can do that, you have a swing that deals with any issue."
Smith went on to explain that the great champions learned to control the ball generally by taking the hook out of their swing. They didn't need the power that comes with a draw; they needed the control that comes with a fade.
Ben Hogan struggled with a hook early in his career, and created a new style of swing that produced a fade which saved his career. Lee Trevino did the same thing, developing a swing that no pro would teach an amateur, but it would create a fade on command.
Jack Nicklaus always hit a fade, some say because he grew up at Scioto Country Club in Ohio, where everything on the left was out of bounds. Others believe his teacher, the late Jack Grout, had played the PGA Tour in the 1930s and '40s and noticed that the most accurate players, the ones who hit the ball closest to the hole on their approach shots, hit a fade.
Smith convinced Mickelson that he had to develop a fade if he wanted to control the ball.
"A hook doesn't listen," said Smith, echoing an old line from Trevino. "It can create bad things on a golf course. Under the pressure of competition, a fade will work."
Smith said his one opinion on Woods is that he's trying to hit a draw now, "and with his fast hips and a tendency to drop the club inside" on the downswing, he's developing "a dangerous combination."
Woods has so much athletic ability that he can copy any swing for a while, and his flaws are masked until he gets to major championships like an Open, where the setup is designed to demand perfection.
"Marginal shots are going to get killed here," Woods said before leaving Winged Foot. "At any U.S. Open venue we play, marginal shots get penalized, but it's more here than other places."
Smith said Woods has a good iron game and is a great putter.
"If there's a player who could play successfully with a different swing each year it would be Tiger," said Smith. "That's what makes him different."
He was certainly different in '99, 2000 and '01, both in his swing and his accomplishments. Back then he was almost perfect and one wonders if he'll ever get that close to perfection again.
