Tiger Woods Playing Like a Mere Mortal

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods made three straight birdies, and you could feel that buzz that has a way of working its way around a golf course, connecting the fans, even from holes far away.

This was it. Finally! Tiger was making his run. It has been months. And then?

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Well, he did shoot 3-under, 69. He's 4-under for the tournament, just seven strokes behind leader Alex Cejka, who is not going to win the Players Championship. Woods did make some putts longer than 10 feet for a change, and Nick Faldo, who has become a credible, honest critic on the Golf Channel, did describe the round as "great scrambling."

Look, I'm trying here. You did see the word "great," right? But no, it was not great play overall. It was barely good. Wanting it, hoping for it don't make it true.

Woods still does not have it. He is not back. He is not in control of his swing, of the ball. Not to his usual standards, anyway.

"FORE!"

That's what some woman yelled after he hit his tee shot on 18. And to be honest, it's a little strange hearing that after watching Tiger swing. But that tee shot went far right, under a tree.

On the 9th hole, his second shot hit a fan, who supposedly asked Woods for a golf lesson when he came over to check on the guy. Woods signed a glove instead.

"Just one of those days," he said. "Just kind of plodded my way along today."

Plodded along. Another term that does not match up with Woods. Fly over. That's more like it.

On 14, his tee shot went far right, too, off the fairway and near a tree. Someone asked if he had trouble getting out around the tree on the second shot.

"No," Woods said, "I'm hitting good enough where I can miss that tree."



Truth is, Woods doesn't know what's happening to him. He looks like a superhero still in the cape but without any powers. It doesn't make sense. And we've gone past the time now where we can blame this on recovery from his knee surgery.

This is a legitimate slump. And swing coach/guru Hank Haney is having about as much luck fixing Woods' problem with the driver as he did with Charles Barkley's un-fixable swing in his TV show, The Haney Project.

So now what? Tinker and adjust or just wait it out? I'm thinking this problem has crept into Woods' head, though you could never tell from talking to him.

Earlier in the day, Padraig Harrington, who won two majors last year, talked about his struggles, saying he was analyzing things far too much. He has not finished in the top 10 this year, and survived the cut by one stroke Friday.

"I've just got to get back to playing golf and not be so heavily addicted to my golf swing," he said. "It's always a mental thing."

Harrington said that in the past few months, he could hit a good shot with a bad swing and be upset about it, and then a bad shot with a good swing and be happy. And you could see how twisted up he is.

Golf can take the PGA Tour player of the year and do that to him. Have you ever met a golfer who wasn't tinkering with his swing?

"Yeah, but they don't actually become addicted to it," he said, "and obsessed."

That's not to say Woods is that far gone, but this is the mind game that golf can play. Too often, golfers can't allow themselves to kick back and let their swings come back to them.

I asked Harrington about teaching the game (actually about teaching tennis to my son), and he said, "I would tell a kid to stand up and smash it. We can work on technique later."

That might not be bad advice for Woods.

Johnny Miller was giving advice before the tournament that Woods shouldn't use the driver here, and Lee Trevino said he'd like to help Woods with the driver. But these suggestions plants more doubt. Woods will get it back eventually. But it's just so strange to see anyone even wanting to give him advice on his swing, as if he's human or something.

On Friday, he made putts of 15, 23, 13 and 9 feet. But Faldo was right that his round was great scrambling. He kept getting himself into trouble and then hitting some amazing shot to get out. On 18, for example, he was under a tree that hung low. So he punched out a low 7-iron from 189 yards and watched it roll most of the way to within 10 feet of the hole.

He found creative ways to recover all day long.

"Unfortunately, I've been in those spots, so you have no choice," he said. "You have to think of something."

It's more comfortable watching Woods when it doesn't look like he's thinking at all. Just stand up and smash it with no one yelling, "FORE."