Tiger Woods, Elin Woods have options if they divorce - Tours & News - Golf.com

Tiger Woods, Elin Woods have options if they divorce - Tours & News - Golf.com

Tiger Mentally Weaker

By Johnette Howard NBCSports.com updated 1:44 p.m. ET June 22, 2010

Johnette Howard

If youre the No. 1 golfer in the world and a man with aspirations of passing Jack Nicklaus for best ever, you dont publicly blame the guy carrying your bag for losing the U.S. Open for you. You just dont. Theres a reason Tiger Woods is the global icon with the endorsements and Carnival Cruise Line-size yacht and billion dollars in career earnings, and Stevie Williams, his caddie, is stuck cleaning the grooves of Woods clubs every night: They arent equals. Williams makes his suggestions. And everything after that is on Woods.

That bargain between pros and their caddies is as old as tournament golf itself. And Woods knows the decorum as well as anybody. Yet there Woods was Sunday, complaining about some club selection advice that Williams gave him during a train wreck of a final round that featured six bogeys on his first 12 holes. Instead of Tiger the Worldbeater which Woods seemed poised to return to after a sizzling third-round 66 on Saturday pulled him back into contention what we got on Sunday was Tiger the Whiner. Story continues below advertisement | your ad here

Theres no use even mentioning the old Woods wouldve never yelped like he did about how Williams final-round advice doomed him, or about the difficulties of putting on the Pebble Beach greens, as Woods whined Saturday and Thursday before that.

Sunday, Woods was trying to explain why he couldnt take advantage of final-round leader Dustin Johnsons death spiral into a total collapse. Johnson blew his entire five-shot advantage over Woods before hed even finished the front nine on Sundays closing round.

The U.S. Open was there for the taking for anyone who could shoot even par or 1-under for the day, and maybe put a little pressure on eventual winner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. McDowell didnt gripe, didnt mutter and not surprisingly, conquered a course that Ernie Els, another thwarted contender, staggered away comparing to links golf on steroids.

Yet Woods not only didnt charge into the lead. He made excuses for the 4-over 75 he shot. He threw around blame. All the speculation that Woods would not come back to golf with the same impenetrable mental makeup he had before the Thanksgiving Day car wreck looks more than prescient now. It looks as if his sour state of mind could stick around for awhile. At times Sunday he looked like just another guy in a baseball hat and logos getting beat up by a tough course.

And the odd thing was, Woods game shows promising signs now and then. Whats changed about him is this new fragility hes showing, this inability to not only overcome setbacks but avoid turning them into public Shakespearean dramas where he tosses his head, drops his clubs in anguish after a bad shot, and later insinuates that the world or even those closest to him like Williams, his caddie of 11 years are betraying him.

I told Steve we made three mental mistakes and the only thing it cost us was a chance to win the U.S. Open, a glowering Woods said in brief TV interview.

It was a far cry from the predatory Tiger who persevered through the tortuous rain and chill and mud at Bethpage Black a few years ago to win the U.S. Open. At one point during that tournament, Woods shrugged and said the course wasnt all that hard at all only to have Nick Price scoff and bark back, If he doesnt think this is hard, Ill take my bat and ball and go home.


Slideshow U.S. Open - Final Round Back at Pebble Beach Take a look at some of the best photos from the 110th U.S. Open.

NBCSports.com The new Tiger is not that guy anymore. Woods opened his round Sunday with a three-putt bogey on No. 1.

On No. 4, he snap-hooked his drive and ended up with a bogey on the short par 4 that had been coughing up birdies all weekend.

On the par-5 sixth the first of those three mental mistakes Woods referred to Woods hit a 3-wood off the tee that bounced over the cliffs. He finished with a bogey again, this time on a hole that had been lit up for 38 birdies and four eagles by everyone else Sunday. That really hurt.

It shouldve been a 2-iron down there, Woods muttered later.

Yes, well the drive shouldve been hit straight too.

Then his round got even worse.

Woods said taking some more advice from Williams to take dead aim for the flag on the 10th hole when In my heart I said, No, you cant play at that flag, led to another bogey.

Any hope Woods had of charging into the lead fell away for good two holes later. On his tee shot at the par-3 No. 12 a 203-yard downhill shot Woods said his instincts were to hit a 5-iron to the right of a green. But again he wavered. We thought a 4-iron would be better, and I just made an awful swing.

His ball plopped into the heavy rough, and his bogey left him six shots behind with six holes to play. He was done.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 offers video game realism at its best

From foxsports.com

It used to be that Tiger Woods and John Madden perennially boasted some of the highest Q scores, which measure the brand familiarity and likeability of athletes and sports personalities. Madden, despite retiring from sportscasting last year at age 73, is still running a close second behind Michael Jordan.

Woods, meanwhile, has plummeted from being the most likeable athlete in America to a mediocre 25th on the list -- surpassed this year by winter Olympians and retired golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. His negative perception, according to Marketing Evaluations, Inc., has increased about 160 percent in the past year.

Indeed, it would seem that Woods and Madden have little in common at this point, but each has an EA Sports video game title that bears his namesake. And these aren't just any video game titles. The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise and the Madden NFL franchise are the most successful of all time in their respective sports. Last year, Tiger's title surpassed $500 million in sales since the first edition -- Tiger Woods '99 -- was released.

Of course, Woods' free fall in popularity is directly attributed to the highly publicized sex scandal that began with a car wreck on Thanksgiving Day 2009 and continues with never-ending tabloid speculation about his likely forthcoming divorce. The change in public perception has far less to do with the fact that he missed the cut at Quail Hollow, pulled out of The Players Championship with an injury and finished in the middle of the pack at the Memorial in his latest outings.

When Madden announced his retirement, EA Sports said it had no intention of changing the name of the game that has given so many would-be athletes hours of joy and ensuing tendonitis. And when it was revealed that Tiger had cheated on his wife again and again ... and again and again ... (et al.), EA said it would stick with him for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11, which hit the shelves last week. EA made this announcement at a time when AT&T, Gatorade and Accenture had all dumped Woods as spokesman.

Sure, EA added wunderkind Rory McIlroy to this year's cover, but we all know it's still Tiger's game. McIlroy, who thrilled golf fans in May when he celebrated his 21st birthday with a record-setting win at Quail Hollow, leads a pack of exciting newcomers to the Tour who look to challenge Woods in his bid to return to dominance. It's not likely he'll take over as the face of the franchise, but it sets a new precedent -- perhaps EA's recognition that Tiger is no longer the only exciting name on Tour. It also opens the door for other young stars to become more involved in the marketing of the game's future.

In terms of gameplay, PGA TOUR 11 is, hands down, the most innovative and intricately detailed golf game ever made -- just as Madden fits that bill for football titles. And like the Madden franchise, each successive year has seen either vast improvements or minor tweaks, all to correspond with emerging gaming technology.

At this point, EA could rest on its laurels, say, "We have a virtual monopoly on golf games and we no longer need to try." Instead, they strive each year to bolster the gameplay, make the courses more realistic and provide exactly the types of interactive online features gamers crave.

It'll be interesting to see how Tiger's misadventures will affect the sales of PGA TOUR 11. Those who purchased the game because of the name recognition may shy away, but those who play it because it's an unrivaled golf gaming experience will be back no matter what face they smack on the front cover.

EA's PGA video game franchise will survive and continue to thrive just as the Madden titles will continue to shatter sales records for the simple reason that EA is the hands-down leader in video game realism. This game doesn't need Tiger Woods to keep you engaged or give you a reasonable facsimile of what it's like to tee off on the seventh hole at Pebble Beach.

It's more than possible that Tiger Woods PGA TOUR will one day be called something else and another Tour pro will be doing the bulk of the promoting. But as long as improvements keep coming to this already-strong title, that shouldn't be a difficult job.