Tiger Woods: Retirement not on the horizon yet
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The end of a star’s career arrives the same way Hemingway described the onset of bankruptcy: gradually, then suddenly. Stats dwindle so gradually you hardly notice — a couple errant makeable putts here, a couple yards off the drive there — and then one day, you wake up and you’re missing cuts and hacking out of the rough. The people still turn out to see you, of course, but they’re cheering your resume, not your performance.
A light drizzle dotted the course as Woods began to speak to an over-capacity press room, and the questions were as soft as the Old Course’s greens. It will shock no one to know that, yes, Woods is excited to be here and yes, he does think St. Andrews is special.
But that’s not what anyone wants to hear. Woods arrived in St. Andrews coming off what now counts as a victory: a 7-under performance at the Greenbrier. Prior to that, his season had been NSFW: one top-25 finish (a tie for 17th at the Masters), two missed cuts and one withdrawal in six events. Woods didn’t just look tired, he looked overmatched, beaten. If life were match play, Father Time was on the verge of closing out Tiger 5&4.
So it’s understandable that talk would turn to Woods’ retirement. Golfers don’t really retire, of course; hell, Tom Watson is only just now walking away from the Open Championship for good, and he played here when dinosaurs roamed the earth. But you get the idea: when would it be time for Woods to consider stepping away from competitive golf, from halting the idea that “the process” and “reps” would ever again coalesce into winning form.
“I don’t have my AARP card yet,” Woods smiled, though at 39 he’s only a decade away from getting it. “I feel like my body is finally healed up from the surgery from last year,” he said. “It would have been one thing if I would have gone through the procedure and then had the same golf swing, but I’ve changed the golf swing, too, on top of that, and so that was kind of a double dipper there where I had to fight both at the same time.”
One can question the wisdom of Woods pursuing a swing change at the same time as he was rehabbing from a long-term injury, but what’s indisputable is that players can remain viable at the major level for years, even decades longer than previous generations. Nowhere is that more true than at the Open Championship, where guile and nature combine to keep older players in the same area code as current stars.
If Woods is able to win another major, he’ll likely do it either at the familiar confines of Augusta, or at an Open Championship. He’s fuller in the face now than he was when he won here in 2000 and 2005, but he’s quicker to smile even as he’s swatting aside lines of inquiry like a Djokovic backhand.
When asked if, come on, wasn’t it time for Woods to give up this dream of catching Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors, Woods smiled and replied, “No, not at all. I’m still young. I’m not 40 yet. I know some of you guys think I’m buried and done, but I’m still right here in front of you.”
That, then, is your answer: Woods will walk away when he’s good and ready. If he turns in a respectable performance this week, he might just push that retirement date a few more years down the line.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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