The sobering truth about golf after Tiger Woods - New York Post

LA JOLLA, Calif. â€" By the time it had become clear Tiger Woods’ glutes had deactivated and he was unable to reactivate them, he deactivated himself from the Farmers Insurance Open on Thursday at Torrey Pines.

And when Woods did that, you could feel the air leak out of the tournament like someone had stabbed a large balloon with a sharp knife.

When Woods withdrew, it was as if the golf tournament had stopped in its place. It was as if nothing else mattered.

Woods had been playing with Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel in Thursday’s opening round and, when he abruptly left, the five-deep crowd along the ropes that had been following the group thinned to little more than friends and family.

“We became chopped liver,’’ Horschel said jokingly. “We went from 600 or 700 people watching us to about 50. We realized where we stand in this game of golf and we had a good joke about it.’’
It is, however, no joke.

It is actually a sobering glimpse into the new reality in golf: Life without Tiger Woods.

That time is coming, perhaps faster than we might think, although Woods is not done yet.

Maybe he never will win another major championship. Maybe he won’t win another tournament. But Woods will be back, for sure. Barring a doctor telling him he needs back surgery again, he’ll be playing in the Honda Classic in three weeks.

And, based on his recent travails that have included 20-handicap chipping and his back-stiffening episode Thursday, the Honda Classic will be must-see-TV, because it always is when Woods is involved.

We are as fascinated by his struggles as we were by his dominance.

Consider these words about Woods from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who spoke with reporters the day before the tournament began at Torrey Pines:

“Candidly, I think when [Woods] tees it up this week, everybody in the world is going to want to see how he’s going to play, because here you have a guy who was so incredibly good for such a long time and he’s struggling out there. [Even] if he’s not winning golf tournaments, people still want to see Tiger Woods play golf. As long as he’s playing, he’s still going to have the same impact.’’

Finchem’s words were equal parts arrogant, insensitive and truthful.

Woods’ presence in the game has made Finchem, the players on the PGA Tour and everyone else surrounding the game countless millions of dollars and opened up endless opportunities for many.

For nearly 20 years, Woods has been a crutch â€" for Finchem, for TV, for those of us in the news media, for equipment manufacturers and everyone else involved in the game. That crutch is splintering and weakening.

With Woods’ age (39), increasing list of surgeries, swing changes, new coaches and health-related tournament withdrawals, we are fast approaching a time when we need to come to this realization: If we like golf, we had better get used to taking interest in the PGA Tour pros out there who are not named Tiger Woods.

Because before long, Woods will not be around to carry the game, drive TV ratings and line Finchem’s pockets with cash. That’s going to be up to the newer generation of players, such as Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Jason Day, Fowler and others.

Finchem estimated on Wednesday that Woods still has “about a 10-year shelf life.’’

Yet the sight of Woods and his deactivated glutes being carted off the course mid-round on Thursday made that shelf life seem a lot closer to 10 weeks, 10 holes or 10 minutes than 10 years.