Alternate Shot: Where does Tiger go from here?

Where does Tiger go from here?

TIGER Woods has gone a full seven years since winning his last major championship, and his play of late suggests he has far bigger problems than that. The 14-time major champion is not competitive at the moment, and while few expected him to contend at the U.S. Open, it was nonetheless a shock to see him post an opening-round 80 and subsequently miss the cut by a whopping 11 shots.

As Jordan Spieth heads to St. Andrews in pursuit of the Grand Slam and Rory McIlroy hopes to defend his title, where does Tiger stand? ESPN.com’s Bob Harig and Jason Sobel debate the topic.

Harig: OK, Jason, the game seems to be transitioning quite nicely from the Tiger era. We’ve got a dynamic 1-2 combo of McIlroy and Spieth, who happen to hold all four majors at the moment. It will make for an intriguing Open Championship at the home of golf in Scotland a few weeks from now. But as long as Tiger is part of the scene, however far he falls in the world ranking, he will be relevant. His 14 majors and 79 PGA Tour wins afford him that status. Still, it’s understandable to wonder whether he will ever emerge from this abyss. Not many could have envisioned a ranking of 205th in the world. Where does he go from here?

Sobel: I was asked the other day whether the U.S. Open was rock bottom for Tiger, and my answer was, “I hope so.” Whether you’re a Tiger fan or an impartial observer, this is becoming difficult to watch. There’s no simple solution, either. Some people think he needs to cut bait with this new swing; others believe he just has to get his mind right. All I know is, for all the unsolicited advice he’s receiving, I can guarantee Tiger has already thought of it himself. His game is still stuck — figuratively, at least, if not literally — but it’s not for a lack of effort.

Harig: A few weeks ago, you tried to address the numerous “hot takes” that were out there concerning his game, whether it was his coach, his swing, the number of tournaments he plays or even if he should retire. Which one of those would you focus on the most as a big-picture reference point?

Sobel: Every aspect of his game is connected; it’s all part of a cycle. He needs to be healthy in order to practice; he needs to practice in order to implement swing changes; he needs to implement swing changes in order to improve; and he needs to improve in order to start contending again — or at least to consistently break par, which would be a solid first step. This isn’t all physical or all technical or all mental; it’s a combination of those issues. If one of them isn’t 100 percent, the cycle is broken.

Harig: And that’s where I go back to the big-picture view. All the negativity right now is understandable. But Tiger won’t quit and he won’t go back to Butch Harmon and he won’t give up on what he is working on. If anything, he is determined to see through the changes he started making under Chris Como seven months ago. And if history tells us anything, swing changes have never been a quick fix for Tiger. Under Harmon, Hank Haney and Sean Foley at least went by before Woods started seeing results. Things were never this bad, but we’re also not that far along in this process.

Sobel: We’re fast approaching the point of a “lost season” — and not for the first time in recent years. He will play the Greenbrier Classic next week, then The Open Championship, Quicken Loans National and PGA Championship. After that? Unless he turns things around in a hurry, he won’t qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational or the FedEx Cup playoffs. Compounding that problem is the not-so-insignificant fact that while Tiger’s game continues its steep decline, his peers (and his much younger peers, especially) seem to keep improving. Even if he starts playing better, it’s hard to imagine him beating Rory McIlroy or Jordan Spieth anytime soon.

Harig: He can’t worry about those guys at the moment. He needs to keep concentrating on himself. When you miss the cut by 11 shots at the U.S. Open after finishing dead last in your previous tournament and near last in the one before that, beating the top players should not even be a thought. As we’ve seen, Tiger appears to practice well but has difficulty taking his game into tournaments. That means he needs to play. He’s scheduled for four more, as you noted. He ought to add one somewhere, perhaps Greensboro after the PGA. If he doesn’t qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, he should consider going overseas for a tournament or two. It’s about figuring it out in tournament play, even if it might not be pretty for a while.

Sobel: Even though Tiger has insisted for years that he needs reps and even though I’m in the minority here, I just don’t think competing in more tournaments is going to be beneficial at this rate. Is he really taking anything from posting scores in the high 70s and 80s? How is this helping? I’m all for shaking things up to see if a new approach works, but he has always played on memory. He remembers every round, every swing, every putt. At this point, he’s simply creating bad memories that are going to linger in his mind as he tries to improve.

Harig: Maybe so. But if you agree that things look OK in practice — and there was no hint in the practice rounds or driving range sessions at Chambers Bay that Tiger would be anything as bad as 80-76 — then that improvement has to come inside the ropes. He can play all he wants at the Medalist and hit balls for hours, but right now, it isn’t translating to competition. The problem for Tiger is that almost anyone else in this situation would be making this comeback in anonymity. Obviously that is never going to happen for him, hence all these bad shots and bad rounds play out in front of the world.

Sobel: Not that he needs sympathy — and, to his credit, he hasn’t asked for any — but anyone who has struggled with his golf game, from touring pro to recreational amateur, understands the embarrassment of trying to figure it out with people watching. Multiply that sensation by a few million and you’ll know what Tiger is going through. He’ll never veer too far from the spotlight, but maybe the exploits of McIlroy and Spieth can direct some of that focus elsewhere, allowing Tiger to suffer with a little less fanfare and find a cure for whatever is wrong with his game.ESPN