Tiger Woods has vowed to “fight to the end” after a disheartening performance at the 106th US PGA Championship sparked renewed calls for the 15-time major winner to retire.
The 48-year-old, who won the major at this Valhalla venue in 2000, missed the cut with seven to spare, finishing 133rd in a 156-man field with 20 club pros, perhaps best summed up by the two triples. -bogey sevens that he carded in three holes early in his second round.
Woods fell six shots off the target needed to qualify for the final two rounds of the weekend and after finishing last at last month’s Masters, it was inevitable that social media would be filled with people pleading with Woods to make it a day.
There were pundits within this chorus of disapproval, with Nick Bradley – former coach of the likes of Justin Rose, Sir Nick Faldo and Paul McGinley – agreeing with Colin Moontgomerie’s assessment after the Masters. “I wish Tiger had gone away after swinging on the Swilken Bridge at St Andrews a few years ago,” Montgomerie told TalkSport last month. “He’s kept going, he thinks he can do it, but it’s now physically and mentally clear that he can’t. There’s a right time to go and there’s a wrong time and I think he’s putting it off a little bit now.
Bradley drew a comparison, and a connection, with Muhammad Ali’s refusal to hang up his gloves in the early 1980s. “Ali was born in Kentucky and fought for two years after he was supposed to retire,” Bradley said. “Tiger Woods is in Kentucky… and must retire before his latest bookend is seen as the same as Ali’s. There is no shame in realizing you have lost a step.”
The main difference, of course, is that Ali risked his health by returning to the ring. Woods’ body is undoubtedly battered from multiple back surgeries and the catastrophic injuries he suffered in a car accident three years ago that nearly cost him his right leg. But he hardly risks his life by continuing.
It is Woods’ right to leave on his own terms and at this point he insists an exit is not imminent, despite his record showing that he has played in the seven official tournaments he has played in since emerging from that wreck was towed in Los Angeles in February 2021, having retired just twice in the final round, with a best finish of 47th.
When asked why he continues to fight so hard even when he is chasing a losing cause, as the last fourteen holes on Friday apparently were, Woods replied: “Just keep fighting. Keep the pedal to the metal, keep fighting, keep grinding, keep working hard to get the best score I can possibly get. That’s all I can do. It will be a lot [of work]but I will fight to the end.”
‘I just have to play more’
There were actually positives for Woods to take from Vahalla and not just the fact that he came so close to converting his first competitive hole in 27 years at the eighth. Woods rode it well and his condition looked much better than at Augusta.
“Yes, I have to clean up my rounds, but physically, yes, I’m better than I was a month ago,” he said. “I still have more ways to go. Hopefully my team and I can get that done before Pinehurst and get started on it [the US Open].”
The problem is there are only three weeks until he flies to North Carolina for his national championship and how much can he do in that time? Woods finds himself in a dilemma when he realizes that while his game isn’t tournament sharp, his leg and back don’t allow him to play the tee more often.
“That will happen over time,” Woods said when asked if he believes his golf will improve. “I just have to play more. Unfortunately I didn’t play very many tournaments, and [there are] There aren’t very many tournaments on my schedule either. Hopefully everything will somehow come together during my practice sessions at home and I’ll be ready for Pinehurst.
That seems like a long shot, even for this legendary opponent of all odds. Woods also claims – although there may be an exaggeration – that his role in negotiating a peace deal between golf’s warring factions is also proving to be exhausting.
“If you want something from the [PGA Tour] player directors, we just don’t sleep much,” he said. “There are a lot of late nights and Zoom calls at odd hours of the night, all night long, and a lot of emails to read. These are all things I signed up for as a player director and ways I can help, and hopefully we can make more of an impact.
Perhaps Woods’ biggest ambition in 2024 is to prove he can play in each of this year’s majors, with Royal Troon hosting the Open five weeks later. It’s been half a decade since he last played in all four in a season. That could mean at least a small victory for the icon ranked 807th in the world.
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