With the excitement building up for the past few weeks, it really was anticlimactic that Tiger Woods decided to pull out of this week’s Safeway Open.
As disappointing as it was for his millions of fans, I am sure the superstar himself must have felt even worse. When you have been the world No. 1 for countless weeks (683, to be precise), and have had the kind of success Woods has had (14 majors and 79 PGA Tour wins), success becomes an addiction.
More than any other player, Tiger will be mindful of not letting his fans, and himself, down. I have no doubts that he is among the top-three players who has had the greatest impact on our sport, and even as he steps into his 40s, his importance to golf has hardly diminished.
There is no doubt that Tiger is under intense pressure. It’s not just the high expectations from rest of the world, but also his own. Forty is no age to walk away from golf, and I think he has at least another seven-eight years of high-quality golf left in him. After all the injury setbacks he has had, the top priority has to be that he comes back with his back issues completely sorted out. And then, there is the question of getting back to match condition.
Obviously, last week Jesper Parnevik was quoted by the media that Tiger was absolutely “flushing everything” when the two played together at Medalist Country Club. But every professional player can vouch for it that hitting the ball brilliantly on the driving range is one thing, and then taking it to the competition is another thing.
Even if you are hitting the ball great, it is the feel of the short game that makes you think you need some more time to work on it. And Tiger will be wary of that after struggling with his chipping when he made his first comeback last year after the first microdiscectomy.
We should take Tiger at face value and just believe in what he says. Nobody knows better than him whether he is ready physically, mentally and skills-wise. If even one aspect of the three is not up to scratch, he should wait. Having said that, I personally feel that there is only one way to get match-fit — and that is by playing a few matches.
The new season on the PGA Tour starts this week with the Safeway Open, while the European Tour is at The Grove for the British Masters. The tournament, hosted last year by Ian Poulter at Woburn, was a great success, and the hosting duties are with Luke Donald this year.
One of the reasons my sympathies are always with Tiger is that I can compete with him when it comes to injuries. I am playing this week with a painful back after I managed to do something wrong while playing the pro-am in Korea a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, I will be all right after all the physio sessions when I tee up on Thursday.
— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour
