Tiger Woods tries to turn back time at the PGA Championship
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a sport rife with change, recent and unwanted, nostalgic solace is found in something that remains familiar after all these years.
There’s still nothing like watching Tiger Woods hit a golf ball. “His skill level, his talent, is still just mind-blowing,” said fellow PGA Tour golfer Max Homa.
Woods, 48, tees off at the PGA Championship in Valhalla, where he won the tournament in 2000 — literally half a lifetime ago. His appearance is a rare treat for golf fans who have become accustomed to seeing him rarely walk the course.
Since July 2022, Woods has only competed in five PGA Tour events and withdrew from two. The competitive spirit is voluntary, but physically? That’s his question, and it won’t go away. Woods said on Tuesday that his body was pleasant. I will play a lot. Still, Woods said, as if he meant it, “I still feel like I can win golf tournaments.”
“I still feel like I can hit the ball,” he said. “I still feel like I can reach the green and hit it.” I just have to do it all four days.”
For those old enough to remember Woods in his prime, it’s strange—and, frankly, a little sad—to imagine him sitting on the site of a major tournament, having to convince everyone of his ability to play golf at the highest level.
As a clear underdog, Woods doesn’t qualify given his unmistakable aura and the huge crowd that follows his every step on the golf course. But at the same time, for him, he will be truly surprisingly repeated to repeat the previous PGA victory here in Barhara. There are too many steps on this golf course.
Old baseball pitchers will tell you, years after retiring, that they’d still be capable of heating up their arms for one, good, vintage performance. The trouble would come with asking their aging arms to keep doing it again and again against younger competition. Woods believes that he can still have a special shot, blow, or round. Former golf, Kertis Stenji, said he became an analyzer.
Last month, Woods cut the round 73 and 72 masters, but chased him in a disappointing round of 1982 and 77, and finished in the 16th pair. “This transition is difficult for me to encounter, recovering every day, and will push myself on a fierce day of competition,” Woods said. “In other words, I saw it in August. I got there two days later and didn’t have a very good weekend.
My head is telling me I don’t have a chance, but my heart wants to hear from Homa, who played alongside Woods in the first two rounds of the Masters.
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