Can Tiger strike back?
SIMPLY GOLF
| He spoke about Tiger's swing problems. But when Butch Harmon, Tiger's one-time coach said a few words about it, it was enough to upset Tiger and team. |
| As Vijay made his observations, Tiger was busy with his marriage. Vijay, who is having the time of his life with PGA wins, including one Major and a record $9.5-million in prize money, feels that Tiger's problems are a result of his inability to focus his mind and adjust his swing the older he gets. |
| Yet, Vijay is convinced that Tiger will start winning sooner or later. Talking to the media before the Dunhill Links Championships, he observed, "At the moment I think his focus is elsewhere... But as you get older you have to keep adjusting to your golf swing. I think your body does not stay the same." |
| Vijay gave his own example. "You know I have adjusted accordingly and for the better, and I don't think he has done that. I think his body and his golf swing do not match like it did some five years or four years ago, so he has to adjust that. I'm sure once he figures that one out he'll be okay." |
| But Tiger needs to do things his way. While the golfing world screamed that he may have lost motivation and could be distracted by his relationship with his fiancee, Elin Nordegren, Woods simply turned a deaf ear and went about his work. |
| Then came the rumours that he might have split with his fiancee. An upset Tiger not only dismissed those rumours but within a few days had actually married Elin in a romantic sunset ceremony overlooking an 18-hole golf course and the Caribbean Sea at the island resort of Sandy Lane in Barbados. |
| The ceremony included 120 friends and relatives who flew in for the lavish ceremony. The list included retired NBA superstars Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. |
| Woods, who guards his privacy most carefully warded off unwanted visitors by booking the entire 112-room resort for nine nights, which is believed to have cost him $1.5 million. Small change compared to his $100-million-a-year-earnings. |
| Woods arrived in Barbados from the World Golf Championships event in Ireland. His last days as a bachelor were spent swimming, snorkeling, diving and lounging in a motor yacht that cost more than $150,000 a week. Meanwhile, Elin spent her last bachelor days in an adjacent villa that cost $32,000 a night with her friends and family. |
| Meanwhile, where is Tiger's golf headed? He has slipped to No. 3 for the first time in five years as Ernie Els won the WGC-American Express Championship to move to No. 2 spot. |
| Woods is now scheduled for only three more events, including one in Japan. So he has virtually no chance of regaining his No. 1 spot this year. |
| For the rest of the season, the fight for the No. 1 spot is between Vijay and Els, who are clashing at the Dunhill Championships this week and the HSBC World Matchplay next week. They could face each other at least two more times this year "" at the Chrysler Championship in Tampa and the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta. |
| Meanwhile, Els had two great chances to get to No. 1 this season; by winning the US Open or the PGA Championship. He was two shots behind going into the final round at Shinnecock Hills and shot 80. He made a bogey on the 72nd hole at Whistling Straits to miss the PGA playoff by one shot. Els was in the running at each of the four Majors after three rounds. |