osjouno16 MENU Jordan Spt Sa ‘gusta Nationals est ssadent — Jena Spit Ickes BBQ ard Chocolate chip Cookie Mater: The Meters Coverage, and More ings We Learned Tesy augusta 7 ‘Tiger Woods: What Happened? The Most Vering Question in Sports 1 Golf.com land down 68.18% ofthe time.) ‘The 17th-place finish at the Masters seemed lke something to bul on, but {wo ‘months later Woods cratered, At the Memorial, whore he has won five times, Tiger shot a third-round 85, the warst scare of his professional carger. His next ‘appearance came al the U.S. Open, and he started with an 80, He missed the cut at Chambers Bay and then atthe British Open and the PGA Championship. His ‘season ended in August, as he failed to earn enough points to be one of the 125 players who qualifies for the FedEx Cup, In September, Woods had microsiscectomy surgery, the same procedure he'd Uundergane a year and a half earlier; this cond operation was to correcta disk {fragment that was pinching a nerve. But the discomfort remained, and last (October he went under the knife again Itis a testament tothe cult of personality Woods created that despite yoars of poor play and bad healt, there are stl alot of true believers out there; for these fans and players and reporters it remains disorienting to see the depth of "Woods's struggles, and ignoring realty is less painful than admitting his compeltve mortally. He's stil Tiger Woods, and he has an imprint to play great golf, and he will doit again," says Howell. "I the guy were to get off his couch and show up at the Masters and win, | would not be surprised, because that's wha he i.” Haney is a clear-oyed critic on many things about Woods, but even he feels a similar tug: “I would never say he cant win again, because he's so great. Every time he tees It up, I think he's going to win, SU. I mean, he's Tiger Woods. These other guys" ~ Spiath, Rory Melly, Jason Day, otal. -- "they/re goad, but they're not even close to what Tiger was.” Yet Haney also recognizes ths is a convenient time for Woods to calt quits. He ‘rites in his book that Woods considered injuries to be "an athetic badge of honar. To him, injuries were a way of being accepted into the fraternity of superstars who played more physical sports than gol” Says Haney, “If he walks away now, the narrative is tha injuries cost him a chance to catch Jack. That sure sounds @ lot better than he lost the desire or he threw it all away with reckless behavior in his personal le.” ‘So many things are working against a comeback, but the public fascination with Woods remains as intense as ever. In late February, during the week of the Honda, he posted on social media 8 clip of himself swinging a shart iron very ingerly. The Internet practically melted “t got more attention than anything happening here,” McDowall said from the Honda, “I's a reminder of how big he was, and stills." Indeed. all of us ware licky to witness the ereatest golf aver played What a bp: gol. com/tourand-newslwha-happenedsipr-woodsi-emains-nostvexng-gueton-spurs page= St source=pocketuuin_mediun=emailtn_eampaigy 2osjouno16 ‘Tiger Woods: What Happened? The Most Vering Question in Sports 1 Golf.com bp: gol. com/tourand-newlwha-happened-ipr-woodsit-emains-nostvexng-guetion-spors pap metiumemalutn campaig) 22