With golf game broken, Tiger must look within - New York Post

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. â€" The third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open went on as scheduled Saturday, just as Super Bowl XLIX between the Patriots and Seahawks will on Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium.

But on Saturday, Tiger Woods was not at TPC Scottsdale, where he should have been, nor will he be at the Super Bowl, where he planned to be.

Woods hastily flew home immediately after shooting a career-worst 82 in Friday’s second round, missing the cut by seemingly as many miles as his flight back to Florida.

His shocking 13-over performance sparked debates far and wide about what’s wrong and how he should fix it.

I am, by no means, an expert on the golf swing, but as I’ve watched Woods struggle the last couple of years and listened to his explanations and how technically twisted up he sounds, I’ve wondered why Woods doesn’t stop being so technical and just play.

I spent a very informative couple of hours with Notah Begay, a former PGA Tour pro and current Golf Channel analyst, in December at Woods’ Hero World Challenge tournament at Isleworth in Orlando, Fla.

Begay, a former teammate of Woods’ at Stanford and still one of his close confidants, said something that strikes me with an even more powerful force today: “Tiger knows more about the golf swing than every swing coach combined out there.”

This begs the question as Woods has continued to struggle: Why not try to fix your problems on your own?

Most of us, in whatever profession we’re in, can use instruction and guidance. But most of us have not accomplished the level of things Woods has. Most of us have not dominated whatever field we’re in the way Woods has in golf. Most of us are not in the discussion as “greatest of all time” at whatever it is that we do.

I do not know Chris Como, the latest swing guru in Woods’ stable â€" someone Woods has been careful to label a “consultant.” I don’t know if Como is helping or hurting Woods. No one really knows for sure. And, to be fair, the two barely have worked together long enough to have been on a third date.

But I believe Woods needs to ditch all swing coaches and go it on his own for a while and see where that gets him. Because it cannot get any worse than it has been his last two times out â€" last place at his own tournament, 26 shots behind winner Jordan Spieth, and last place in Phoenix, 12 shots on the wrong side of the cut line.

I want to see Woods simplify his approach on the golf course and just play golf, just trust his own instincts and feels, because those are the things that got him 79 career wins and 14 majors.

Golf Channel analyst Arron Oberholser, a former PGA Tour player who knows Woods well as a fellow Californian who came through the junior ranks playing against him, sparked a spirited debate on the Friday broadcast while Woods was putting the finishing touches on his 82.

“He needs to simplify,” Oberholser said. “He needs to get more target-oriented. He needs to go to the range by himself and dig it out of the dirt. … He needs to get rid of Chris Como. There, I said it.”

That created an uncomfortable moment in the broadcast booth, because it was Begay who introduced Como to Woods. Begay, when we spoke in December, said he believed Como’s low-key personality and swing beliefs were a good fit for Woods.

They still may prove to be in given time. Woods certainly is not going to rid himself of Como this soon, because it would be an admission he made a mistake. And Woods likes to concede to mistakes as much as he likes to double-bogey par-5s.

There have been thoughts out there that Woods should try to reunite with his former swing coach Butch Harmon, but sources I’ve spoken to say that is as likely to happen as Woods getting back together with his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren.

The Harmon-Woods relationship did not end well, and Harmon, at age 71, has spent the past few years paring down his stable of players. There, too, is a belief that Harmon is uncertain Woods’ problems are fixable at this stage.

Woods needs to get back to what made his great in the first place: Just play golf. Look at the targets, trust your swing and play.

“He’s going to have to ask himself some very hard questions these next couple of days on how to handle this,” Begay said.