Tiger's Diagnosis: Rest and a New Swing Doctor

An MRI has revealed that there will be no long term problems resulting from Tiger Woods' neck injury. The injury caused Woods to withdraw from the Tournament Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass last week and brought more troublesome media attention on the world number 1. Some had speculated that the neck injury may have been connected to the car crash Woods was involved in last December, which opened the flood gates on a series of marital infidelities and caused his extended absense from the game. This neck injury, however, will hopefully have Woods back in the game sooner than the last one did.

Rest will be the best medicine for Woods, and it is unlikely that he will tee up at the Memorial Tournament, his next scheduled start. That tournament is two weeks out from the U.S. Open and would have been good preparation for the second major of the year. Now it is anyones guess whether Woods will be there at Pebble Beach, a venue where he has won the U.S. Open before.

The most analysed man in sport needs some good news, and although this is little consolation from the previous weeks of stress and frustration, it is good news nonetheless. Now Woods and his minders must set about finding a replacement for his swing coach Hank Haney, who severed ties with Woods on Monday. There is a possiblity that Woods will go it alone for once. Coaches are not essential in golf like they are in other sports, and Haney has described Woods as the most knowledable golfer he knows, "he knows what he needs to do and he'll be able to figure it out".

If Woods only knew how to fix his personal life like his golf swing, then we might see the old Tiger back sooner than we thought.

Woods Needs to Win Back Fans, and Tournaments

I was watching a program on the history of the British Open this morning, during which Greg Norman was interviewed. Norman said of the millennium tournament at St. Andrews in 2000, that Tiger Woods' performance that week was the best he has ever seen anyone swing a golf club. In four rounds Woods did not hit his ball in a bunker once, and went on to win by eight shots. It made me think of how much I miss that Tiger Woods.

We all have different opinions about what we should expect from our role models and sporting heroes. In their eyes maybe they feel unfairly dealt with by the media, and an adoring but equally scorning public. It comes with the territory though I guess. If a player is brilliant enough to win the support of fans throughout the sport, the fans will inevitably turn one them when they betray their faith.

It is not the first time this has happened in sport. But you would be hard pressed to find someone who has let down more people in such a short period of time than Woods, and with each week of his 'comeback' it is increasingly difficult to imagine him at the top of the sport again.

It is almost ten years since Woods took apart the Old Course at St. Andrews as a 24 year old, and five years since he repeated the feat at 29 years. Imagining him doing the same this year is not impossible, but it is by no means the near certainty it looked merely six months ago.

I sincerely hope we see those heights again from the Woods this time, as unlikely as it seems now that he is battling injury weeks out from the U.S. Open. With that, the British Open is increasingly looking as though it will be Woods' next realistic opportunity to win a major. It would be the first really positive step on a long road back to winning the support of fans he has lost the world round.

Woods and Coach Go Seperate Ways

"In coaching and teaching Tiger, I have also learned a lot, not only about golf, but about people and life in general" Hank Haney.

Tiger Woods' golf coach, Hank Haney, announced that he was severing ties with the world number 1 following a failed tilt at the Tournament Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on the weekend. While it is hard to decipher the exact reasons for Haney's departure, Woods' recent personal troubles have undoubtedly had an effect on Haney.

It is another setback for Woods who has come under heavy scrutiny for his mediocre performances since a fourth place finish at the 2010 U.S Masters. He is struggling with a neck injury, swing troubles, the seperation from his wife, and now the search for a new coach. A return to form soon becomes increasingly unlikely with every additional setback. Woods and his sponsors must be aware of this.

Many golfing greats still believe Woods will overcome these setbacks to break Jack Nichlaus's all-time majors record. But now it is more a case of if rather than when for Woods. All of this must put Woods in a low place right now. Golf should be his sanctuary - the crowds love him and the game's administrators treat him with the utmost respect. Instead of helping him put his life back together as hoped, his comeback has hardly gone to plan.

So where to now for the 14-time major winner? Another indefinite break from the game beckons and it is likely that he may miss the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, a venue where he has won numerous times. It is not panic stations yet for Woods, but if he endures another lengthy break from the game he may never reach the heights we have come to expect from him.

One thing is for certain, Woods will lose his number 1 ranking sooner rather than later. Phil Mickelson's rise in the same period as Woods' demise has been somewhat of a triumph for karma. His ailing wife and mother are both suffering from breast cancer, and Mickelson has deserved his recent success.

Whatever the case may be with Woods' injury, golf faces as very interesting finish to the season in which as much as any other year, anything could happened.