Tiger Woods expected to skip next week's Nissan Open, where he's never won before
After playing in Dubai last week, Tiger Woods is skipping the AT&T at Pebble Beach (as he has in the past few years), but also appears to be ready to skip next week's Nissan Open in LA. That would make his next tournament the Accenture Match Play. (More here)
Some have questioned whether this is a strategic decision to keep the "PGA streak" alive, since Tiger's never won the Nissan Open in the past (even though he's played there 11 times). Said Tiger: "People can say whatever they want.That's their opinion. They are entitled to it."
Frankly, I don't think there's any "streak" as I said before. And I don't think Tiger is the kind of guy who's thinking about the "streak" anyways. If anything, I would think the Match Play tourney is more of a crapshoot than a stroke play event, so Tiger would have increased his chances of extending the "streak" by playing the Nissan. I think Tiger has earned the right to skip any tournament, no questions asked.
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6 Comments:
Yup. Guaranteed he could care less about the streak. Only major wins count. I remember at last years PGA, he was (I think) 18 under on Sunday with a 4 shot lead. He's playing the par 3 16th or 17th. Kind of dangerous hole with water in front. Now if that was me, I would be thinking, "Man if I can birdie this, I'll go to 19 under. If I finish at 19 under, then I'll hold the scoring record outright in all four majors. Right now I'm tied for the PGA record with that loser Bob May." Not Tiger though, he took an extra club, hammered his approach over the green and I believe he failed to get up and down. Took the sure bogey to secure his lead, rather than risk going in the water, even though if he did go in the water, he would have had the win almost completely sown up anyway. Like I said, the guy is only thinking about major wins, not any other records.
Oh, I think there are two other records on his radar. Snead's career wins and the calendar year Grand Slam. But I don't think they mean nearly as much to him as the career major total.
Tiger is smart and knows how to address topics publicly to keep media pressure low. While I don't agree there is a streak, the PGA sure does and they want it to continue. So while they are counting, Tiger is too. When his career is over, he wants to leave no doubt that he is the best to ever play the game. At that point its a numbers game, he's a numbers guy and wants every record to be his. He may be one of the greatest competitors in all of sport and there is no doubt he wants his name ahead of Snead's. My bet, he is skipping the Nissan to keep the streak alive and he won't win his next stroke play event.
That all may be true, but I am doubtful he is skipping Riveria because he doesn't think he can win there. If I were him and trying to extend the streak to 8, I would play Riveria. It's not like he's missed cuts there. Also, some of the times he finished poorly, he's been in the middle of a swing change. He's at the top of his game now, so I like his chances there.
My point is that he is much more likely to extend his streak at Riveria than in a match play event. The odds are never in your favor in match play, no matter who you are. If he was really juggling his schedule for the sake of the streak, the Amex match play is last event he would commit to. True he would like to break Nelson's streak, however many asterisk's are next to it. At the same time, his principal concern will remain saving and marshalling his energy for Augusta. That's why he's skipping Riveria. Don't forget, this guy has to balance golf against his $80 million in endorsement commitments also. His priority is not create a hectic schedule ahead of the Masters, which I think he is entirely focussed on right now.
Tiger must be driving the PGA Tour crazy. They are promoting the Fedex Cup like crazy and he will not show up, except when he wants to. The Sponsors cannot be happy.
Tiger wants Majors and Career Records, streaks may come along the way, but they are not his focus.
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True, he's not cooperating very well with the PGA and the Cup marketing push. On the other hand, it would be pretty nervy of the PGA to complain about Tiger, considering his overall impact on the sport and their revenue.
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