In what amounts to one of the quirkiest of the many historical footnotes in his record-setting career, Tiger Woods has, for better or worse, been ranked No 1 in the world while working with a succession of three swing coaches.
As far as TV analyst Paul Azinger is concerned, Woods’s myriad swing overhauls not only have not helped, they have “backfired on him”.
Less than a week removed from the start of the British Open, Azinger believes Woods’s compulsions to improve have instead had quite the opposite impact on his game.
“Tiger’s quest to get better, I think he’s actually gotten a little bit worse,” Azinger said in a teleconference on Thursday.
Next week at Royal Liverpool, Woods will attempt to win a major for the first time since 2008, which would move him within three grand slam titles of the record held by Jack Nicklaus.
“I think Tiger is always going to be compared to Jack, and there’s a big difference in where these two players are at this age, or were, at the age of 38,” said Azinger, who will work the broadcast as an analyst for ESPN in the US. “I think one of the big differences that’s very rarely articulated is the fact that while Tiger in his dominance always, for whatever reason, was in this quest to get better, I don’t remember Jack ever saying that.
“Jack might have made some tweaks and twerks here and there, minor tweaks and twerks, but Tiger has made astronomical changes in a quest to get better, and as a result Tiger has actually gotten a little bit worse. I think we can all pretty much see that.”
Woods, who had back surgery in mid-March, missed the cut in his lone start since the procedure, and it would be a surprise to many if among the leaders next week. Woods has dropped from first to seventh in the world ranking because of the lay-off and the unusually sloppy play that preceded it.
“I think where Tiger has made his mistake is, he’s dabbled with the fingerprints of his golf swing, not necessarily the fundamentals,” Azinger said. “Tiger remains fundamentally fairly sound in his lower body, but the changes … I think he’s probably the only person that’s ever played well who’s looked radically different throughout his career. Even the layman golfer can see the difference in Tiger Woods’s golf swing.
“Jack never had the severity of injuries, the career-threatening injuries that Tiger has had, and now that’s the big question. To speculate on, ‘What do we expect out of Tiger Woods at this point’, shoot, we don’t know, either. How fit is he?”
Woods, working with swing coach Sean Foley after hugely successful stints with Butch Harmon and Hank Haney, turns 40 next year.
“I think that most golfers have made the same mistakes in some weird way about changing their golf swing, about changing fingerprints, if you will, for fundamentals, and I think Tiger has done that to his detriment, and Jack never made those mistakes,” said Azinger, a former major winner and Ryder Cup captain. “Jack understood that if he could stay the same, he would still dominate.
“Tiger didn’t need to get better. He just didn’t need to get worse. He needed to stay the same and he could still dominate, and in his quest to get better, it’s kind of backfired on him.”
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