Just ask Bryson DeChambeau, a mad scientist trying to make a career out of experimentation. The world number 19 was injured after a missed cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January. Since returning to the course in March, DeChambeau has failed to reach the knockout stages of the WGC matchplay event and missed the cut at the Texas Open. On Friday, the Dallas guy worked 80. Through 36 holes in 12-overs (76-80), DeChambeau had a good eight strokes from making the cut (4-over) at The Masters.
It is common. Even the most elite athletes take time to get back in form after a short break from the sport. In the case of Texans it was just a month. Woods is seventeen months away. Not far He spent three months in a hospital bed after severing his tibia and ankle in a horrific accident in February last year. But it appears that magic hasn’t left the bag for Tiger Woods. He started the week with 71 which was appreciated worldwide mainly because of how unimaginable such a result seemed on paper.
In the case of Woods though, the fairy tale ends with neither ink nor paper. Woods made another miraculous recovery on Friday. After four bogeys in the first five holes, a missed cut seemed like the most common and obvious result. But there shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary about Woods. always. “I told Joey that, hey, we’ve got a lot of holes to play. It’s going to be tough all day, so let’s get it back to par for the day somehow,” Woods said. If I could just be even for the day, I thought it would be a great comeback.”
But how do you do that when you’re rusty, the conditions are tough and you’re back a year and a half away from the game? “It feels more for distances and shot shapes. I don’t have to think too much about what I should be doing.
I can just get up there and feel it and play using my hands instead of just kind of thinking, well I need to do this, it’s to hit this shot, is Huh?” explained Woods. If that comment doesn’t seem obvious to you, don’t break the chair. Apparently, even the mysterious seems obvious to the genius living inside Woods’ devastated body. “Usually I see it, feel it, hit my number. I haven’t played a lot of tournaments in the recent past, so it’s gotten a little worse, but I’m starting to come around. I loved how I came back today and found myself (back on board). I could have easily ruled myself out of the tournament today, but I kept myself in it.” Despite all the emotion for his shots, Woods still had to find a way to get his putter in a good spot. “I was able to practice and get my touch, practice my short game, put in a lot of putts, which was great. Start watching the brakes again. I have lived in Florida. I haven’t played the Tour in forever, so we don’t see a break,” Woods elaborated on the challenges after the long break.
“Start seeing a 10-foot break, you have to get used to it, and I haven’t played a lot of competitive golf. So it takes a while to get used to it, but eventually I got my eyes back. Jack Nicklaus, 46, as Woods is now, six strokes behind the half-stage in 1986. He shot 69-65 to pick up his sixth green jacket on a legendary weekend at Augusta. Cut to the present – world No. 1 Scotty Scheffler at eight-under Runs into the distance with a superb 67 for a five-stroke midway lead. Woods was one over. Can he find a way back with nine shots? The Florida resident is also chasing down the sixth jacket and thinks it’s Very likely.” Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a big day.
It’s going to be good. It’s going to be difficult. The wind must be blowing again and there are tough scoring conditions. I have to go out there and take over my business and get in the red and get that ninth on Sunday,” suggested an optimistic Woods. “If you’re within five or six of that back nine going on Sunday, you have a chance. That’s why I need to get there.” Forgive him for making it so easy. After all, he is Tiger Woods. Despite the seemingly impossible suggestion, consider it a caveat. The tiger is on the hunt. And for the hunter, the field is just hunting.
No comments:
Post a Comment