This short article may be of interest only to golfers, especially those who saw Tiger play in the PGA Championship last week.
In February of 2021, Tiger Woods totaled his car and mangled his right leg, with many doubting that he would ever be able to play golf at a professional level again. But, surprisingly, he came back 14 months later to play in the Masters Tournament last month, where he made the cut.
And he played again in the PGA Championship last week, hobbling badly but shooting a heroic round on Friday to make the cut before dropping out because of his aching and gimpy leg. He was one of only 14 players in 156 to score a better than par round on Friday. Quite a feat for a wounded and rusty player.
I saw almost all of Tiger’s shots during that second round. So, to others who saw it and had grown tired of me proclaiming how Tiger should play his tee shots during his prime, I say, “See! I told you so!”
Please recall his tee shots in the PGA Championship. Every driver or fairway metal shot off the tee was a fade shot, something I got tired of wishing he would do back in his prime.
Tiger Woods has the best winning percentage on the PGA Tour of any top player in history. So consequently, friends thought I had some nerve to complain that he could have won many more times if he had not had spells of wild tee shots. And I proposed a ready solution for that—a fade shot which he was already very good at.
I had company in my complaints. Johnny Miller, Hall of Fame player and expert golf tournament television commentator, consistently argued that a Tour player needed a go-to shot, which could be relied on in times of golf swing travails. Johnny also proposed (with much more weight than me) that Tiger consider using a fade with his driver in those situations.
Tiger did not hear me, but he obviously heard Johnny Miller and stubbornly refused to change his regular tee shot approach.
During this recent PGA Tournament, he consistently used a fade and was in the fairway more often than when he was healthy and in his prime.
See!