Posted on 03/11/2012 2:07:01 PM PDT by N. Theknow
Tiger Woods just withdrew from the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in Miami. He was taken by golf cart to his car in the parking lot after going to 3 over par on his 4th round. Woods appeared to favor his left leg after a poor iron shot on the 10th hole.
Press was told by Woods caddie that it was his left leg that was hurting and caused him to withdraw.
Woods had dropped 19 spots down the leader board on a day when the leaders were also having difficulties....except for Rory McIlroy who is putting on a charge with a recent eagle from the front bunker on the 12th hole.
I was looking for a blonde woman chasing him with a golf club.
He did change his shoes during the round so there be something to it. Or it may be he was three over par for his round.
Golf at the professional level involves every part of the body working in unison with grace and power, coordinated by a clear and undistracted mind. Age and experience can change your perspective about trying to "limp along and win tourneys" as if an injury was no big deal. Tiger gutted out the final round of the 2008 U.S. Open - and won - with a knee injury that would have crippled most men. In the process he made the injury much worse, and he hasn't been quite the same since. Regardless of what anybody thinks of Tiger Woods personally, he has nothing to prove in the Guts Department.
It’s his middle leg that got him in trouble.
His last shot of the day was a 320 yard drive on 12. Last year, when he withdrew from the TPC, his last shot was a 280 yard 5 wood, that flew the green of a par 5 in two. I wish I hit it that well injured, or, heck, not injured.
I think his poor play of the last couple of years (i.e. “hasn’t been quote the same since”) is more complex than a bum knee.
As for his “guts,” steroids and pain killers will allow you to do things that would “cripple most men.”
Arnie’s Bayhill is coming up in 2 weeks (which he normally plays). And then The Masters. Let’s see if he is sidelined.
Steroids.
There has been some speculation that Tiger’s apparent use of HGH to bulk up did long term damage to the natural athletic balance of his body. The again, Tiger’s problem may simply be that demon that stalks us all: age.
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