Liguori: Off Yet Another Major Disappointment, Tiger Puts On A Brave Face
By Ann Liguori
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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (CBSNewYork) -- Tiger Woods said he would spend the rest of the weekend in Florida watching the leaders at the PGA Championship, probably from his new sports bar.
Tiger is heading home because he missed the cut in his third straight major in what has been his worst non-injury season. After finishing tied for 17th at The Masters, Woods missed the cut at the U.S. Open, the British Open and now, this week at Whistling Straits.
With rounds of 75 and 73, and the cut line set at 2-over par, Tiger's 4-over par 148 didn't get it done.
"I hit it good enough to be where I needed to be," Woods said, "but I putted awful. And I finally figured something out today on the putting green, but the damage had already been done."
When he was asked what he figured out, Woods said it was just his setup.
"My lines were off. So I got my lines organized, and all of a sudden, I was seeing my line again," he said.
"Lines," "swing patterns," and "deactivate" have become Tiger-speak of late as he's come up with explanations as to why he's been struggling with this most recent swing change.
The player who dominated the game for so many years, winning 14 majors, tried to describe his 2015 season, in which he has played in 10 events, but has missed four cuts, withdrew from another tournament and shot in the 80s at The Memorial and at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.
The three rounds he shot in the 60s at the Quicken Loans National was his best stretch of golf all season.
"Now, if I can start putting like I did today or what I did at Quicken Loans a couple of weeks ago, start putting like that, then we got something," Woods said, as he tried to look on the bright side.
"The first two (tournaments) were not very good at all. Hence I took the break to try and figure it out, and came back at Augusta and had my short game back. Then I started getting my ball striking in order, but then I lost my putting. I hit too many balls and neglected my chipping, because I thought that was sound again," he added.
"And then I just need to do both at the same time. I just haven't done that. I haven't put together all striking and putting. It's been one or the other," Woods said.
It sounds a bit confusing to me, but it sounds like he's keeping the faith -- or at the very least putting up a good front.
Tiger announced on Friday that he is committed to play in next week's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina.
One thing is for certain with Tiger Woods: at 39 years of age, and at this stage in his career, he is a heck of a lot more reflective and expressive. He's trying to stay positive by the sounds of it, but more often than not, his body language on the course reveals much more -- he mostly looks miserable.
Woods' confidence has to be taking a major hit even though he says his confidence "is growing quickly ... and to have the control that I need to have going forward, it's starting to come back, which is nice."
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