New dawn, new start for upbeat Tiger

A NEW week, a new start.

That is Tiger Woods’ strategy for bouncing back from one of the worst weeks of his professional career, and it came last night with a rethink on his Ryder Cup participation and the possibility of hiring a new swing coach.

Woods was speaking at Whistling Straits ahead of the US PGA Championship at which he will attempt to win his 15th major, the 14th having come at the 2008 US Open.

There have been two lengthy absences from the game since then, the first directly after that memorable Torrey Pines win on a crumbling left knee that needed reconstructive surgery and the second following the damaging revelations about his private life that sent him into hiding as a target of the paparazzi and entertainment television news hounds.

Since ending that second absence with a comeback at this year’s Masters in April, good golf has been hard to come by for Woods, despite top-four finishes at both Augusta National and at June’s US Open.

Yet last Sunday at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, marked a nadir as a final-round 77 left him with an 18-over-par finish at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, the highest 72-hole score in relation to par of his career, and a tie for 78th that was his worst four-round closing position as a pro.

If Phil Mickelson had blown his chance with a closing 78, Woods would have lost his world number one ranking but he did admit he did not want to play at the Ryder Cup in Wales this October if his present form continued.

Two days later though, came a new week and a new start. Asked if he would accept one of US captain Corey Pavin’s four captain’s pick and play at Celtic Manor, Woods replied unequivocally: “Yes.”

“Hopefully I won’t be a pick. I would like to be able to play myself on to that team.”

During his pre-tournament press conference, Woods remained upbeat throughout.

“I think in life, you just have to keep moving forward, and that’s what I’m doing now,” he said. “Life is certainly getting a lot better.”

Of the possibility of losing his number one spot in the rankings, he said: “Just go out there and play. That’s been the case for the last couple months. Whole idea is to go out there and play. I’m trying to win a golf tournament just like everybody else here and I’m going to give it everything I have.”

And of his performance at Firestone, Woods remained on message.

“‘Hurt’ is definitely the wrong word there,” he said. “Frustrated, yes. Certainly frustrated in the way I hit the ball, the way I putted. I didn’t do a whole lot positively around the golf course. Unfortunately I couldn’t put together any rounds.

“But I’ve done some good work the last two days, and I’ve still got one more day of some work and hopefully I’ll be ready come Thursday.”

Some of that work yesterday involved time spent during a practice round in the company of fellow Americans Hunter Mahan and Sean O’Hair and their swing coach Sean Foley.

“I wasn’t doing anything with (Foley) today,” Woods began. “He was watching Hunter and Sean, and I did ask him to film a couple (of swings), I would like to take a look at it, which I did, so I’m heading the right direction. So I’m pretty excited about that.”

And of the prospect of working with Foley on a more professional basis, he added: “Certainly it’s a possibility. No doubt. But there also is a lot of other coaches out there that’s a possibility, as well, that I’ve talked to.

“I wanted to have him take a look at it today on video and so I can take a look at it and that’s what we did.”

Practice partner Mahan was certainly impressed by the progress made by Woods. “I felt Tiger hit it nice today,” Mahan said. I think he was hitting pretty much every shot he wanted to hit, so he seemed pretty comfortable out there.”