Another year of golf is underway and we are left to wonder once again whether or not Tiger Woods will ever be back. Among those confused by the state of Woods is the one and only Jack Nicklaus, who has praised Woods time and time again.
During an interview at the Honda Classic this weekend, the legendary and iconic Nicklaus expressed his concern about the status of the injury-plagued Woods the way so many following the sport have before.
“And now, I don’t know about Tiger,” Nicklaus said. “That is the biggest puzzle to me that I know. I just don’t know where he is and where his mind is. I don’t know.”
Woods returned to the golf course last December at the Hero World Challenge, and he signed a new equipment deal with TaylorMade in January. Then, in early February, Woods was hurt once again and he had to withdraw from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic due to back spasms.
Woods is probably never going to be Tiger Woods the way you once knew him ever again, and that is a shame. The comeback talks will never truly go away either, because Woods will attempt to return to form, and maybe he will one day surprise us all with a great run. But this has been going on for a while now, and rarely does it look as though Tiger is up for becoming the greatest golfer in the world again, or even anything close to it.
“You’re going to ask him the same exact questions; it’ll be the same exact answers that he had before,” Nicklaus said of Woods, referring to Woods pulling out of interviews as a result of his injury concerns recently. “And I think from his standpoint, he’d be tired of answering them.”
Can you blame Tiger? It really is the same cycle with no end in clear sight.
[ESPN]
