Tiger's excuses for poor putting at the majors are getting old

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Tiger Woods's excuses for poor putting at the majors are getting old


July 23, 2013

Posted at 12:12 PM by Cameron Morfit | Categories: Tiger Woods

The old Tiger Woods was predictable for winning whenever he got around the lead at a major. The new Tiger Woods is predictable for playing well on Thursday and Friday only to finish a milquetoast T4 or T6 or thereabouts, then disowning his failure by faulting inconsistent green speeds.

So it went at the 142nd British Open at Muirfield, where winner Phil Mickelson took 10 fewer putts than Woods over the weekend. How many strokes did Mickelson finish ahead of Woods (T6)? Five.

In a column entitled "Putt up or shut up," Robert Lusetich of foxsports.com takes Woods to task for being in denial, and for his stubborn refusal to get help with his putting.

Certainly his current coach Sean Foley doesn’t work on putting.

Woods’ putting coach was his dad, Earl Woods, who passed away in 2006.

Since then, he’s gone it alone.

But the time has come to bite the bullet and get someone to help him with his putting.

He has to know it was no coincidence that he won so convincingly at Doral after an impromptu lesson at Doral from Steve Stricker.​


At the very least, Lusetich adds, Woods should do himself (and us) a favor and stop faulting the greens themselves for his woes, as if he's the only one who has to putt them and adjust to the grain, the breaks and the tournament committee's whims.

It's time for Tiger to stop equivocating and own up to his part of the problem, not just because his denial is unseemly. If he doesn't get better on the greens under pressure he'll never win major No. 15, to say nothing of majors 16, 17, 18 or, dare we hope, 19. And that would be a shame.
 
I tend to agree with an explanation I heard yesterday...

He blames poor speed control. Actually, he blames the greens, but either way it's poor feel/touch for the speed. This is most evident it seems on Sundays. As the tournament progresses, what is the biggest disruption of a player's feel and touch?

Starts with P, ends with ressure.

He wouldn't be the first great athlete who thrived at an altitude that's now difficult to breath in.
 
I tend to agree with an explanation I heard yesterday...

He blames poor speed control. Actually, he blames the greens, but either way it's poor feel/touch for the speed. This is most evident it seems on Sundays. As the tournament progresses, what is the biggest disruption of a player's feel and touch?

Starts with P, ends with ressure.





He wouldn't be the first great athlete who thrived at an altitude that's now difficult to breath in.


You're doing it again Mike. Stop it!:D
 
Classic damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I don't recall Tiger blaming the greens at all, I recall him saying he was not able to adjust his own speed control properly. Tiger knows his game isn't as strong as it once was; he's not making excuses, he's answering questions.

I guess it's easy when you're a sportswriter and have all the answers for every athlete out there. It's amazing we don't have more sportswriters winning everything in every sport...
 
Classic damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I don't recall Tiger blaming the greens at all, I recall him saying he was not able to adjust his own speed control properly. Tiger knows his game isn't as strong as it once was; he's not making excuses, he's answering questions.

I guess it's easy when you're a sportswriter and have all the answers for every athlete out there. It's amazing we don't have more sportswriters winning everything in every sport...

I have no love for the man but I am super impressed that is been in thick of all these Majors either way.
 
Go to Taylor-Made and get fitted with a driver and he wins Majors again. To win Majors with his equipment is one of the great achievements in sports history.

I don't buy it. Plenty of Nike's golfers win major tournaments, such as Charl Schwartzel and Lucas Glover.
 

Burner

New
Go to Taylor-Made and get fitted with a driver and he wins Majors again. To win Majors with his equipment is one of the great achievements in sports history.

Who the H do you suppose manufactures the equipment that Nike put their name on? Probably the same foundry that churns out half the stuff in production currently, truth be known.
 
Who should help Tiger with his putting? Certainly not Dave Stockton, right?

Maybe Stan Utley. His teaching seems to be consistent with Tiger's current stroke, maybe not so much putter-toe-release. But you're right, Dave Stockton's method is completely opposite Tiger's. It would be like Tiger going from Hank Haney to Sean Foley for his full swing. Ah, umm, scratch that last line.
 
I don't recall Tiger blaming the greens at all, I recall him saying he was not able to adjust his own speed control properly. Tiger knows his game isn't as strong as it once was; he's not making excuses, he's answering questions.

I didn't see anything either. Unless someone has a link, I can't imagine Tiger would blame the greens for HIS poor putting. Not like he has different greens than others.
 
Tiger should......just watch Hunter Mahan. That's how you want to swing the golf club! :)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0zK3_90R5xw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Doesn't he have the same swing coach?

Sorry - just clicked on the link..but still, what a joke. If Mahan's so good, what's holding him back? Putting? No shit! Whoever putts the best wins...next question.

What Phil did on Sunday at the British Open, Tiger used to do every Sunday he was leading at a Major - make bombs for par or birdie. He will do that at least 5 more times in his career before it's all said and done - book it. Don't believe it? Phil's won two majors in his 40's (maybe once when he was 39 going on 40 - not sure) with that balky driver of his.

Will it satisfy the likes of Brandel Chamblee? Nope. All those second place finishes of Jack's count for something after all - who knew?

Anyway, the major record will be his...total PGA wins will be his...best winning percentage (not even close)...he will be the greatest winner on the PGA tour of all time - no dispute. The greatest golfer of all time? If the objective is to win - of course! If it's to be the straightest driver, best ball striker, greatest short game, the most gentlemanly (?), the dude that doesn't !@#$ your wife...well, that's a different subject altogether.
 
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