http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-08-20-42-24
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- At No. 7, Tiger Woods bent over so gingerly to pick up his tee that you wondered whether he'd get back up.
At No. 8, he leaned so heavily on his putter while retrieving a ball from the cup that the shaft bowed like a guitar string.
By then he was 3-over par for the day, a half-dozen strokes on the wrong side of the cut line with a still-sore back and one foot already out the door. Sympathy for Woods might be in short supply, but it was still sad to watch.
Sadder still, we might look back someday and remember what happened at this PGA Championship as his Willie Mays moment.
Like Woods, Mays was the greatest player of his era. But Mays was already 41 and a shell of what he used to be by the time he returned to New York to play his final two seasons for the Mets. In Game 2 of the 1973 World Series, he stumbled and fell trying to run down a ball in the outfield and said not long after, "growing old is a helpless hurt." He batted in Game 3 and never appeared in a major league contest again.
Where he goes from here is anyone's guess. Woods said he has no idea what his schedule the rest of the year looks like. Asked what he'd tell Watson if he calls about the Ryder Cup, Woods was glib.
"I don't know," he replied. "He hasn't called."
Tiger may be done at 38 Which begs the question is golf too hard on someone's back? Tiger is one of the most in-shape athletes ever seen on the golf course. A lot of golfers suffer from back problems, and Tiger may have used up his good back days.
People say that golf needs Tiger. I'm not so sure. Maybe golf wants Tiger of ten years ago when he was winning majors routinely and strutting to an adoring crowd. It seems the "incident" when he lost his family and most of his sponsors began the rapid downfall he's now living through.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- At No. 7, Tiger Woods bent over so gingerly to pick up his tee that you wondered whether he'd get back up.
At No. 8, he leaned so heavily on his putter while retrieving a ball from the cup that the shaft bowed like a guitar string.
By then he was 3-over par for the day, a half-dozen strokes on the wrong side of the cut line with a still-sore back and one foot already out the door. Sympathy for Woods might be in short supply, but it was still sad to watch.
Sadder still, we might look back someday and remember what happened at this PGA Championship as his Willie Mays moment.
Like Woods, Mays was the greatest player of his era. But Mays was already 41 and a shell of what he used to be by the time he returned to New York to play his final two seasons for the Mets. In Game 2 of the 1973 World Series, he stumbled and fell trying to run down a ball in the outfield and said not long after, "growing old is a helpless hurt." He batted in Game 3 and never appeared in a major league contest again.
Where he goes from here is anyone's guess. Woods said he has no idea what his schedule the rest of the year looks like. Asked what he'd tell Watson if he calls about the Ryder Cup, Woods was glib.
"I don't know," he replied. "He hasn't called."
Tiger may be done at 38 Which begs the question is golf too hard on someone's back? Tiger is one of the most in-shape athletes ever seen on the golf course. A lot of golfers suffer from back problems, and Tiger may have used up his good back days.
People say that golf needs Tiger. I'm not so sure. Maybe golf wants Tiger of ten years ago when he was winning majors routinely and strutting to an adoring crowd. It seems the "incident" when he lost his family and most of his sponsors began the rapid downfall he's now living through.
