Sports pundits are now writing the requiem of Tiger Woods’s career in professional golf. They’re saying he’ll never win 5 more major championships to surpass Jack Nicklaus. Some, astoundingly, are saying Tiger may not win 5 more tournaments. But come on, the man’s only 35 years old.
I’ve written about Tiger’s character issues. And I’ve written about what he needs to do to reboot his life. Clearly, right now he’s experiencing knee injury problems and his public interviews seem to indicate he’s still struggling with anger and perhaps other emotional issues. Who wouldn’t, given what he’s put himself through and given the family and reputational price he’s paid?
But the man’s only 35 years old, he still must be considered the most gifted golfer in the world, and he has time. Tiger has won 14 major championships. Jack Nicklaus won his last of 18 majors, the high watermark of professional golf, when he was 46 years old. So on that measure alone Tiger has 11 more years.
In eleven years, representing 4 majors per year, it seems to me Tiger might reasonably be expected to win 5 out of 44 major championships. But to give sports pundits their due, this assumes several things that all must come together, and no one, not even Tiger, knows for sure that they will, i.e. his return to physical and mental or spiritual well-being.
But I’m not ready to give up on Tiger. I think he’s surly and often un-likeable. But I don’t wish him ill, I believe his personality could make a George Foreman change if Tiger took certain spiritual steps, I still believe his phenomenal golf skills are there to be reawakened, and I think he has time. So we’ll see.
As just another human being with issues like the rest of us, here’s hoping Tiger gets the help he needs--maybe from "Big George" Foreman himself.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
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