You cannot guess Tiger Woods, can you? Roger Federer wins most of the time, but Tiger does not always win; he wins when it matters the most. He cannot overwhelm a field anymore, he cannot hit longer than so many anymore, but what separates him still is his toughness. He may not win the Masters, but if there’s a 14-footer to decide it, he won’t be scared.
It happens to everyone, and it will happen to him. He’ll start missing putts, crucial putts, have-to-make putts. His confidence will go, his fingers will twitch, his technique will betray him. And we’ll say with a sigh, well, he’s not the Tiger Woods he used to be.
It is the only thing we know he can’t do. Beat time. Everything, and everyone else, he seems to. Woods won the US Open on a broken knee in June 2008, was out for nine months, arrives at his third tournament back this March, is five shots back on the final day at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and sinks a birdie putt in near darkness on the 18th hole to win.
Evidently he’s never heard of rust. Nor read the reports that suggested he’s not the same Woods. This does not mean he will win the Masters this week (he hasn’t won there since 2005). But it means that when the Masters ends on Sunday (April 12), it will be astonishing if his name is not in contention (he was tied fo third in 2006, tied for second in 2007 and second in 2008).
Woods has been called the “opposite of hope” by a writer; he is also a murderer of surprise. He cannot win everything, but almost no one in sport wears pressure as consistently as him and no one in golf wins as consistently as him.
Measure him, for instance, against his rivals, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh. Woods has played 239 events on the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson 390, Vijay Singh 410. Woods has won 27.6 per cent of tournaments entered, Phil 9.2, Vijay 8.2. And Woods’ percentage of top 10 finishes is 63.6, Phil’s is 36.1 and Vijay’s is 40.2. It is the difference between great and genius, between tough and unyielding.
In a recent tennis match, Victoria Azarenka was asked how she upset the higher-ranked Dinara Safina, when down, 1-3, in the third set.
Her explanation was interesting: “The image I had in my head was actually (Rafael) Nadal, the way he plays all the time. No matter what, he fights. For me, it’s the best mentality anybody has ever had.”
Golfers will tell her, Woods is tougher.
In fact, they will argue he is mentally the hardiest sportsman since Lance Armstrong gave up his ownership of the Tour de France. Of course, Woods’ sport is static and this is a problem, for Nadal is relentless even as his lungs bellow and his feet race. Woods’ art is not interrupted either, no one is trying to stop him as they do Lionel Messi or Kobe Bryant, and to keep your resolve and concentration under physical pressure, well, that is a gift, too. Still, it is intriguing that a golfer should even be entered in such a conversation.
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