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| © Rob Kinnan, USA TODAY Sports |
Despite attentively watching some of the world’s top golfers, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott, play that first week of December, the family’s conversation inevitably turned to soccer. The kids, after all, are nuts for the world’s most popular sport.
So the youngsters were asked a simple question: Would you rather be Lionel Messi on the pitch or Tiger Woods on the golf course?
“Messi,” Sam immediately said with a big smile and a giggle.
“Messi,” the more reserved Charlie said. After a slight pause, the youngest Woods chimed in again.
“He’s playing.”
With that stinger, the elder Woods dropped his head in mock humiliation before cracking a huge smile and laughing out loud.
“Well,” Tiger Woods said, “he’s right.”
Out of the mouths of babes comes harsh truth at times, no matter how cute the delivery. As Woods celebrates his 40th birthday on Dec. 30, his legacy is secure, but his future on the golf course is in doubt.
He hasn’t played since the third week of August because of an ailing back that’s required three surgical procedures in the same area in 19 months. His game, along with his body, has been in tatters the past two years.
But the divorced father of two, still the world’s most famous golfer and one of the most dominant athletes of all time, isn’t eyeing the milestone birthday with any reverence or significance.
He’ll tell you he’s not facing a mid-life crisis despite a stunning fall inside the gallery ropes and on Madison Avenue. Life is good, he says, even though he can’t play the sport that has fueled him since he walked on The Mike Douglas Show at 2 and wowed Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart and Douglas by hitting golf balls into a net.
Woods is first eyeballing a return to another sport.
“The kids are so into soccer, and they always want to play, and I can’t do that,” said Woods, who is still limited to light stretching and walking following the third procedure on his back Oct. 28. “I have to be the best cheerleader I can possibly be. But still, it’s nothing like interacting with my kids and being a part of their lives and being out there with them. I just hope I can do that soon.
“If I can get to that, then we can start talking about golf.”
A good run
When he did talk golf at the Hero World Challenge, the tournament which benefits his foundation, it sure sounded like his playing days are over. In an uncharacteristically revealing news conference, the man with 14 majors and 79 PGA Tour titles painted a bleak future with a steady stream of telling comments.
Downtrodden and in obvious pain, Woods said there was no timetable for his return to the game, no light at the end of his tunnel. He said everything beyond this “will be gravy.” He’s looking forward to the 2016 Ryder Cup as an assistant captain (if he doesn’t play his way on to the team).
And the man who has always had Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors in his crosshairs didn’t talk about needing five more to pass the Golden Bear; instead he mentioned how he had passed Nicklaus in wins (Woods has 79 to Nicklaus’ 73).
“For my 20 years out here I think I’ve achieved a lot, and if that’s all it entails, then I’ve had a pretty good run,” Woods said. “But I’m hoping that’s not it.”
Hoping? That didn’t sound like the Woods of old. It sounded like an old Woods. Sports writers everywhere have written him off. And why not? He’s cashed for more than $1 billion, according to Forbes. Owns a yacht called “Privacy,” and a seaside palatial estate in Jupiter, Fla. He’s had seven surgeries (four to his left knee). And in 2015, in the 80s (including a career-high 85 in the third round of The Memorial).
He appeared to have reached his breaking point in that news conference Dec. 2. The physical toll from unleashing one of the most powerful swings in the game has beaten his body down. Living in the spotlight, especially since his infidelities led to a divorce from Elin Nordegren in 2010, has weighed heavily on his mindset.
Since he last won in the 2013 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, he’s notched just four top-10 results, missed six cuts and withdrew three times in 27 worldwide starts.
He last won a major in 2008. His world ranking as of Monday will be 416. It’s a stunning reversal for the player who holds the record for 623 weeks atop the world rankings. A player who once went 142 consecutive tournaments without missing a cut. A golfer who won four consecutive majors and won five or more tournaments in a year a record 10 times.
But after speaking at that news conference, an upbeat Woods emerged, especially when his two priorities arrived on Friday. Although he is resigned to accept whatever his future holds, he wasn’t aware his words were taken as if he was riding off into the sunset. He said he still has the work ethic and drive to return to the course. He’s not given one thought to hitting the ceremonial first tee shot at Augusta National in the Masters, he said.
“Come on, I’m not retired. I’m not done yet,” Woods said later in the week. “ ... I know there will be a time when I will get to rehab, get to start working out again and I’ll do everything I can to get back out here. It’s going to be tough to get back. You know I’m not patient. And it’s so different this time. To get better I can’t do anything. That’s never been the case in the past.”
His colleagues hope he’ll return to join them on golf courses the world over. Although no one has moved the needle like Woods the past 20 years, the PGA Tour has rolled along in his absence, led by a powerhouse group of twentysomethings in Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Fowler and Spieth.
To many of the younger set on the PGA Tour, Woods was their childhood hero. To this day, his is the bar they strive to reach, especially his standard of consistent excellence.
“What we were able to do kind of this season, he did for 15 years straight,” said Spieth, the world No. 1 and reigning Tour player of the year who won five tournaments this year, including two majors.
“You just hope he gets healthy. I know maybe we’ve said it a few different times, but I think he really has his head around making sure that he takes his time getting back because he’s still got a lot of good years ahead of him in my mind. ... I think we certainly haven’t seen the end of him even if he does say that if the sun sets on the career now, it’s still good. I think he’s still got some really good years left out of him.”
Looking beyond golf
Woods collapsed into an oversized reclining chair in the movie theater of the clubhouse at Albany Golf Club following his news conference, letting out a long “Aaahh,” as he snapped up the foot rest. The plush resort’s weight room was within 500 yards, but Woods, a workout animal who led golf into the world of weight training and fitness, must now bypass it.
“It’s really tested my patience and my resolve, no doubt about it,” Woods said of his inability to work out. “It’s been hard, harder than most of the times after my surgeries over the years. Those had timetables. I was working out early and I was rehabbing. With this one, in order to get better, I have to do nothing.”
Unable to hit a golf ball, Woods has plenty of time to think about what he’s missing on the golf course.
“On the golf course, it’s being able to hit any shot I want to hit. I certainly miss that,” Woods said. “I miss being able to create and hit shots and do things that I know I can do. When healthy, I’ve proven to myself I can do that at any given time, and that’s been fun over the years.”
And if his doctors and physiotherapists tell him his back won’t let him try to do that again, Woods will accept his fate. Other interests, he said, will fill the void of not being able to go mano-a-mano with his peers on the golf course. For instance, his burgeoning foundation is working to expand internationally. His golf course design business is flourishing. His restaurant — The Woods Jupiter — is doing just fine. And his kids are growing up.
“If I’m able to prepare, and do the things I need to do to win a tournament, I will play. If I can’t prepare, I won’t play,” Woods said. “ ... It doesn’t always have to be about hitting a golf ball and getting it in the hole as fast as I can. If I’m not able to compete at the highest level (in golf), I will find things where I can compete at. It might not be at the highest level, but I will find other things and other avenues to compete.”
And above all else, Woods is a dad who just wants to kick a soccer ball around with his kids.
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