The Tiger Balks!

Tiger Woods has said he will not play in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am because the greens are too bumpy and it takes him weeks to trust his putter again after playing the course.

It seems to me that Tiger is sounding like a duffer. Are the greens really bumpy by design? Or is the cause of the "bumps" the use of the metal spikes the Pros are allowed to use? I have seen undulations, I have seen tiers, I have seen spike marks and scuffs, I have seen more than my share of unrepaired or poorly repaired ball marks, but I have never seen "bumps" (I take that back - when I was a teenager I had pimples so I do know how bumps look!)

What exactly do bumps look like to Tiger? Do they look like miniature mole hills, are they larger like the domed hills they put in the miniature golf courses, or is he referring to childhood acne?

Help us understand the problem, Tiger. In 2000 you came back from 7 behind to win the tournament. Granted you did not win in 2001 and 2002, and 2003 was skipped because of your bad knee, but the question still has to be asked. How bad can this problem be?

You did not play Pebble Beach last year because of your knee and everyone understood this and supported your decision. Have you been to Pebble Beach recently so you know the greens are in disrepair, or did Vijay pull you aside and whisper about how bumpy the greens are?

You need Pebble Beach in order to show the world that you are still the "phenom" everyone thinks you are. You also do not need to skip a tournament where Vijay could pull ahead of you in victories or money won.

We, your audience, need to believe in you and your ability to make the miracle shots. You have inspired countless young people to take up the game and they emulate you in doing so. Is it fair to these youngsters to deny them a week of watching the Tiger on the prowl? After all, you are old enough to mentally make the distinction between good putts that don't drop because of the course and bad putts. I hesitate to mention the word "YIPS" because I don't think this is a problem for you, however it does beg the question, can a particular course cause a temporary case of the yips?

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic