Just like The Australian and Dubai... now Pebble Beach... he gets into position for the win then "gags like a rookie seeking his 1st". Use to be he "put the hammer down" on the field in the 4th round... nowdays, his knees buckle and he fades. Playing like a chicken-shit, shooting 75 on Sunday, ain't gonna cut it. Too bad...
This is a good lesson for trading. It shows how much confidence and mental clarity it takes to be an elite success. Skills alone does not make you a winner.
Now that he is getting rid of his getting stuck. I believe that putter he is using, if it anything like the one nike is selling -- may be part of the problem It does roll the ball really straight. It is amazing, great roll, right off the fact. But, it has very muted feel with sort of a fake out sound. It was exactly what I was looking for in the store. But, when you take it out... you sort of just have to make your stroke... no feedback to tell you you hit it right. You need that feedback... under pressure it is very hard to duplicate rhythm.... you need to seek out the feel... those polymetal lines do not have the surface area or the clicky firmness to produce enough feel... in my humble opinion.
If that was the case, he would have gone back to his 'old' putter in a heart beat. In fact, he was a phenominal putter when he was in college. I bet he still has the putter (s) stored away if ever he needed them. Putting is a pure touch thing. You can have it one day. Sort of have it the next day and then the next day it completely deserts you. Statistically, he has come back to the field,and I always thought it was his greatest asset.Difference between winning and losing. I did not care much about his ground stokes ,but loved just watching him put. The only problem these days is that he doesn't seem to have the same 'luck' when in trouble and forces it a bit. Whether he ever wins another major will be his greatest challenge.
His game declined once he got off the pills and the whores. Simple fix and more entertaining for the masses. Personally I don't care if he ever wins again.
I believe he is still using his old putter, in fact it's the only club in his bag that is not made by Nike. As his last win in a regular field event (Chevron 18-man tourney doesn't count) was way back in '09 he's developed a fair amount of scar tissue and can't take things for granted like the glory days. A lot has changed in golf since then with many hot players coming up that aren't intimidated and don't fear him. Besides, Lefty had a spectacular round and while he gets inspired by being paired with Tiger the reverse isn't true â an amazing 11 stroke difference in their Sunday scores.
Tiger's got bad Karma! He hits the ball into nasty divots multiple times.. That's a sign that he's been hanging around with too many winos and lowlifes..
Actually, it's not the putter, but his stroke. I don't play golf now, but did as a kid... I used to be a professional bowler... I know something about "sending the ball to the apex". Tiger uses a "swing open, swing close" stroke in putting. Stupid, STUPID! With that style, you must time not only time the hit correctly, but also the "close face"... if the toe or heel leads by a smidge, the putt is off-line immediately... a MAJOR reason he's missing those short ones these days. What he should be doing is using a "straight-back, straight-through" stroke to hit the ball to the apex of the break... like the long putters do. Of course, he ain't going to listen to me... what the Hell do I know? I went through this 35 years ago with Mark Roth and Marshall Holman. Both used incorrect thumb-hole pitch which not only tore up their thumb from the friction but also required them to "time the spin release" off of their hand... (not only did I make a living with a bowling ball for 10 years, I was also regarded as one of the best "ball drillers"... fitting the ball to the bowler's hand.) Both of them told me, "Yeah, but when you hit it correctly, the ball is more powerful".... Well, yes it is... but when under pressure, you tend to NOT "hit it correctly".... Holman could have won 20 more titles then he did... he "choked the big shot" many, MANY times on TV... Know what?... there is a correlation to all of this in trading...