By Julie Buehler
If the Leaning Tower of Pisa ever just tipped over, we’d probably say, “Welp, it was about time.”
Tiger Woods has been leaning towards mediocrity for years now.
He’s tipped over.
And it’s about time.
He’s dropped out of the Top 100 golfers in the world for the first time since 1996 when he was ranked 221st and began his ascent into sports lore.
It’s been nearly 2,500 days since he won his last major, the 2008 US Open, and it’s not looking like that drought is going to end any time soon.
Oh sure, he’s likely to string together a start at The Masters. And he’s even more likely to withdraw with back pain or perhaps just play so badly he misses the cut. Again.
It’s not good. Not at all. He’s taking attention away from good golfers with his bad play and the headlines could read: Woods played poorly. Byline: Captain Obvious.
Look, I’m not a “Tiger hater” and I don’t have anything against the guy, I simply watch a lot of sports and can recognize when an athlete fails to compete at a level commensurate with his peers.
Now, add to his poor play, the whispers of his PED usage that have been prolific long before a journeyman named Dan Olsen put the Lansing, Michigan market and subsequently the nation on notice, his ailing back and leg and fill-in-the-blank physical ailment and then, add to ALL that, the guy has lost his instinct and you’d understand why he’s lucky it’s taken THIS long to drop out of the world’s Top 100 golfers. Actually, it’s a credit to his illustrious career that he’s still ranked 104th.
The career-worst 82 Woods carded at the Phoenix Open may have been a key point of evidence for Tiger fans, but those in the golf world not swimming in Tiger’s Kool-Aid have recognized his fragilities began as his Thursday and Friday scores were respectable but his Saturday and Sunday scores sounded like the kind of numbers high schoolers are looking for on math tests.
It used to be the opposite.
Tiger used to save his best for the times that required the most grit, the most skill, the most precision and he’d artfully attack a course like Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.
Now it looks like he’s finger painting. He’s not even Bob Ross tapping color on a canvas to make happy little trees. Tiger is your favorite 4-year-old slapping something onto any surface and hoping we’re all impressed enough with effort to applaud him.
Apologists will say that Tiger created this perception with his outrageous success. Because he was so great for so long, his mediocrity feels like outright failure when juxtaposed to his legend.
Uh, ok. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
I say the guy’s brain is short-circuiting. He’s unable to decide which direction to go with his swing, with his coach, with his approach to a hole. He doubts his instinct and tries to power through a course when his body is hardly in any shape to be powering anything but a remote control.
He’s old and hurt and exhausted and rather than pull a Greg Maddux and try to outsmart the competition, he still thinks he can out-power it.
He’s not only wrong, he’s going in the wrong direction.
And once the tower started leaning, it was only a matter of time until it tipped.
While Tiger has yet to decide if he’ll play in The Masters that begins in a week as of writing, he has decided to enter the ring with Father Time, one arm tied behind his back. A battle no athlete has ever won.
And rather than be surprised by the outcome, we should just say, “Welp, it was about time.”
Julie Buehler hosts the Coachella Valley’s most popular sports talk radio show, “Buehler’s Day Off” every day from 1-4 on 1010 KXPS, the valley’s all sports station. She can also be seen every morning between 6-7am on KMIR sharing the coolest stories in sports. She’s an avid gym rat, slightly sarcastic and more likely to recite Steve Young’s career passing stats than American Idol winners. Tune in M-F 1-4 pst at www.team1010.com or watch “Buehler’s Day Off” on Ustream and KMIR.com for her sports reports.
