Will Tiger Return to the Top?

This Thursday marks the beginning of the Open at Royal St. George Golf Course in England. This also marks the second straight major that Tiger Woods will miss with his leg injury that he got back in May. Woods, now 35, has dominated the sport for over a decade and has been arguably the most popular athlete in the world for the last 10 years. He makes over 90 million dollars a year from endorsements alone and is the undisputed face of Golf. Will this be the case when he come back from his latest injury?

Wood's during the 2008 U.S. Open

Since Tiger's sex scandal back in 2009 he has failed to win any tournament and has been steadily sliding down the world rankings. Tiger had dealt with a torn ACL back during the 2008 U.S. Open and now is dealing with more pain the the left leg. As time goes on and he slowly gets older, people are starting to think that beating Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors won't be passed. Tiger has yet to win a major in over 3 years and with young up coming stars like Rory McIlroy , Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler are starting to take over the sport from Woods, Mickleson, Els and others.

Even with Tiger not being the best golfer in the world anymore he still is the heart and soul of the golf world and helps the PGA thrive. The viewership of events that Tiger isn't playing in are down almost 25% and there are less sponsors sponsoring the tournaments that he passes up with his injuries. He can do more just being on the course then any other player ever could.

If Tiger wants to come back from his injury and to succeed for the next 10-15 years he will need to change his swing dramatically. Sports Science did a clip about Tiger and how much pressure he puts on that left leg every time he swings, which if he continues his knee wont last and his next injury may be career threatening. Tiger still has his golf game with him but I feel as though he has lost his mental strength that he had for so many years. He'd go into the final round leading by 2 and win by 6 because he had that mental toughness and got into other players head. I feel this toughness was broken in the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship. Y.E. Yang was the first person to overcome a Tiger Woods lead after 54 holes and I felt like Yang was the one getting in Tiger's head. Since that round Tiger has yet to get that toughness back.

Tiger's game will need to be altered from power to finesse, ball striking, and elite putting and when he makes that adjustment in his golf game I believe that he will once again become the best player in the world. I feel as though Tiger will not only win another major but will go down in history as a winner of at least 19 majors.


'Sport Science' on Tiger Woods