The Masters, “a tradition unlike any other,” tees off today. And there’s nothing new about it being all about Tiger Woods – even when nobody expects him to win.
I have marveled over the years that The Masters is all about Tiger even when he’s losing. But The Masters without Tiger is like the Heat [Cavs or Lakers] without LeBron.
The Masters is all about Tiger Woods
Except that even Woods knows he can’t win. He is a mere shadow of the confident Tiger who once prowled golf courses. That is most evident during his press conferences. Because they often feature Woods saying why he can’t win tournaments.
Doing so sets up the media consolation he revels in after he loses. But looking for consolation instead of victories has been the theme of his game for more than a decade now.
Tiger Woods said his right leg ‘will never be the same’ after his 2021 car crash, but he thinks his endurance has improved as he gears up to play his 25th Masters.
‘I think my endurance is better,’ he said. ‘But (my leg) aches a little bit more than it did last year just because at that particular time when I came back, I really had not pushed it that often.
He said Tuesday it was ‘nice’ to make the cut last year and admitted ‘I don’t know how many more I have in me’ regarding his Masters future.
(The Athletic, April 4, 2023)
I have often scoffed that Tiger’s back, but his back won’t let him play. And that he’s becoming the Hugh Hefner of PGA players.
It’s not his back but his legs this time. But the talk of The Masters is still all about how his injury will affect his play. In fact, media focus on Woods is beginning to demean golf the way media focus on Trump has demeaned politics.
But I’m all too mindful that, like Trump, Tiger is good for TV ratings. That’s why tournaments would welcome him even if his caddy has to push him around the course in a wheelchair.
Phil Mickelson just wants to play and skip the small talk
When media focus is not on Woods, it’s on Phil Mickelson.
The conversations were apparently free of controversy as PGA Tour stalwarts and LIV Golf defectors converged in one room for Scottie Scheffler’s Masters Champions Dinner on Tuesday evening. One LIV member in particular, however, might have made a statement with his silence, instead.
According to attendees of the exclusive dinner at Augusta National, three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson largely kept to himself and did not utter a word throughout the meal.
(Sports Illustrated, April 5, 2023)
Of course he remained silent. After all, he felt like the proverbial skunk at a garden party. Everyone knows he’s the ring leader of those LIV Golf defectors.
Far more interesting, though, is why Mickelson led this mass defection. I’ve lamented his notorious gambling debts, which have caused Tiger-like problems. I suspect they made him do it.
But he had to sell his professional integrity for Saudi LIV sportwashing money. That’s why it was difficult just to show his face, let alone schmooze with his old PGA competitors.
Sadly, this is the fate that has befallen golf’s oldest-ever major champion.