Tiger Woods’s fire can be rekindled, but only if it hasn’t expired

The King is Dead. Long live the King!

How often have you heard these words said when a sports legend retires from the game? Michael Jordan and our own Brian O’Driscoll come to mind and more recently the legendary Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Time, you see, waits for no one. It does not recognise greatness – nor is it sentimental.

Tiger Woods’ press conference yesterday given as host of his own Hero World Challenge event only confirmed reality: that he is indeed a spent force in the game of golf now dominated by the younger generation.

Sad as this may seem, Tiger’s body language seemed to suggest that he too finally recognises this fact and for the greatest golfer of his generation that must be truly a crushing blow.

In his prime, Woods consistently performed at a standard that was light years ahead of his rivals. Like all great athletes, he was not dogged by the limitations of expectation. He set his own goals, living by his own by mantra. Physically, he was more gifted than anyone who had ever played the game, understanding that power, skill and finesse were all central ingredients to his dominance.

Technically, he was never the most dominant player on tour but what he lacked in accuracy off the tee box he made up with power, great iron play, a wonderful short game and, most especially, his mind. His mind was his greatest asset.

Under pressure, he always had the reassurance that he was going to be smarter, tougher and meaner than anyone else he faced. It allowed him to reach heights in the game that others could only dream about and in doing so he not only dominated his opposition, he beat them into submission.

Rory McIIroy has posted this following the news that Tiger Woods doesn't know when he'll return to golf #SSNHQ pic.twitter.com/qpYvEnk5pj

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 2, 2015

To date in his career, Woods has won 79 official PGA Tour events, including 14 major championships and is the only player to have won all four professional major championships in a row, accomplishing that feat in the 2000–2001 seasons. He also has the lowest career scoring average and the highest career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history and has spent the most consecutive and cumulative weeks on top the world rankings.

Quite a record but for more than a decade now, the foundations for Tiger’s golfing dominance have been steadily undermined.

Starting in 2004, Woods unexpectantly dropped his long-term coach Butch Harmon, the man who had guided him through the amateur ranks and over time into the most dominant player in the professional game. In 2006, he lost the most influential person in his life, his father and mentor Earl, and when in 2010 his coach Hank Haney resigned, followed by his long-term caddy Steve Williams in 2012, he had lost, in eight short years, all of the cornerstones of his golfing success.

Nor can one ignore the impact of Tiger’s marriage infidelities, both on himself personally and his family. Looking in from the outside, it seemed that this was payback time for some in the media who feasted on his public humiliation. Forced into a televised apology, Tiger’s unease was evident. Tiger’s own combustion coupled with his growing injury list of ailments finally marked a line in the sand from which he would never fully recover his competitive aura.

And so to his press conference yesterday.

His body language suggested a man short of confidence who feels that he has no masterplan in place to get himself back competitive once more. At 39 years of age, he is still young enough to be competitive and in fact Tiger would be well advised to remember that at the same age the great Jack Nicklaus had his own crisis of confidence before before rededicating himself to the game and going on to win three more major championships.

The fire can be rekindled, only if it hasn’t first expired.

Over the next five years, Tiger can fully expect to play in whatever PGA or Major Championship event he wants to play in, given his status in the game. For Tiger, that’s 20 major championships, so if he is serious about coming back and being competitive, it will not be about his injuries or his technique – it will exclusively be about his attitude.

Right now his attitude stinks, and that’s fine. He knows he will never be the dominant player that he once was because others have caught and passed him already but he can be competitive.

To get there, he needs to surround himself with winners in his corner who are not “yes” men. They are equally competitive and have something to offer. Earl Woods, Butch Harmon and Stevie Williams. All had attitude in abundance but they also had Tiger’s respect. They demanded from Tiger as much as he expected from them.

In my mind, there is no give up in Tiger, but only when he wants this badly enough will he put together the right team to pull himself back from the brink and be competitive again.

What that means in the full course of time no one knows, but I certainly wouldn’t back against a fully motivated Tiger Woods winning more major championships.

It would be a fitting end to a career of one of the world’s greatest sportsmen.