Tiger, It’s OK To Say Goodbye

Tiger Woods was asked this week about retiring from professional golf.

“How would you explain why you keep putting yourself through the pain to play?” he was asked during his press conference ahead of the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon.

In typical Tiger fashion, he gave a one-sentence answer—a variation of the same reply he’s been giving for years. “I’ll play as long as I can play and I feel like I can still win the event.”

The reporter followed up: “Has that belief wavered in the last two years? That you can still win?”

“No,” Woods muttered as he shook his head.

That was that.

The question had come up because Colin Montgomerie gave a brutally honest interview about Tiger’s current state, saying it’s “past time” for him to retire.

“I hope people remember Tiger as Tiger was, the passion and the charismatic aura around him,” Montgomerie told the Times of London. “There is none of that now. At Pinehurst (for the U.S. Open), he did not seem to enjoy a single shot and you think, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ He’s coming to Troon, and he won’t enjoy it there either.”

While I wouldn’t recommend calling for Tiger’s retirement so brazenly—Montgomerie would later get dunked on by Woods at his press conference—Monty’s overall point is valid.

Woods is in no-man’s land. Reasons for why he should continue to play at this level are dwindling.

He will turn 49 at the end of this year but plenty of golfers have successfully competed beyond that age. Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship just shy of his 51st birthday. A 59-year-old Tom Watson came one stroke shy of winning the 2009 Open Championship. The ball doesn’t know how old you are.

Woods has more than a decade of Open Championship exemptions awaiting him. Past champions get into the event until the age of 60. He’s exempt into the Masters and PGA Championship for life. He accepted a special exemption into the U.S. Open this summer and he’ll surely be given as many of those as he wants to take. He even, as of last month, has a special lifetime spot in all signature events on the PGA Tour.

There is a lot more runway for Tiger as a competitive golfer—but it doesn’t feel right to watch him compete at this point. It is sad to witness him labor when his body can no longer hold up over 72 holes of championship golf. As Montgomerie notes, he doesn’t look like a player who is enjoying the process of competing.

Since January 2020—before the pandemic—he hasn’t finished in the top 30 of an official Tour event. We’re coming up on five years since he’s even sniffed being competitive.

Since his car accident in February 2021, he has missed three cuts, withdrawn three times and made three cuts—finishing near the bottom of the field each time he makes the weekend.

The results say it clearly: Tiger is no longer a factor at events. He’s 874th in the world. Our Alan Shipnuck called the possibility of him winning this week “science fiction,” which is an apt description for how unlikely it would be.

This is nothing like the 2018-2019 stretch where Woods climbed the mountaintop one last time. Tiger played 31 Tour events in those two seasons. He was a full-time player regularly contending for titles.

He’s a part-time player now and part-time is doing some heavy lifting. This is not the ’50s when Ben Hogan came back from a devastating car wreck to win 12 more times, including six majors. This is not 1951 when Hogan entered just five events and won three of them, including the Masters and U.S. Open.

Hogan was in his late 30s at the time. The depth of competition was a fraction of what it is today.

Woods is almost 50, having to compete against guys who are longer, sharper and healthier. Oh, and one of them has six wins this year and is playing arguably the best golf since Tiger’s prime.

We want Tiger to be more than ceremonial but he doesn’t have that gear anymore. He is fortunate just to survive four rounds of a major, let alone contend in tournaments with the best players on the planet.

“I have not come around to the idea of being (a ceremonial golfer). If I’m playing, I’m playing to win,” Woods said in February 2023. “I know that players have played, and they are ambassadors of the game and try to grow the game. I can’t wrap my mind around that as a competitor. If I’m playing in the event, I’m going to try and beat you. I’m there to get a W.”

Tiger hasn’t come around to the idea but most of the golf world has been accepting of his role for quite some time. We see him as the G.O.A.T. who has every right to play for as long as he wants to play for—but what is he proving at this point?

In order to play well in majors, he needs more starts. He doesn’t have the capacity for that. His injury-riddled, aging body can’t handle the stress of competition, Tiger is deeply involved in the Tour’s future. He is also deeply involved in TGL, which starts less than six months from now. He just passed up the Ryder Cup captaincy because he doesn’t have enough time.

Is he doing it for brand awareness to make sure Sun Day Red, TaylorMade, Monster and others are getting proper exposure? Surely, in this day and age, there are other paths, including TGL, to make sure that happens without Woods slogging his way through injury.

I think he believes he can still win. He’s been programmed to be a competitor his entire life—among the greatest competitors in any sport—and it’s extremely difficult to shut that off. He’s earned the right to shut it off whenever he wants.

But now he can’t win. He won’t win. He might make the cut if everything goes well.

That is a ceremonial golfer, the type Tiger said he would never be.

Tiger, if you want to put your body through this, that is your right. You’ve earned it more than anyone. We will watch and hope for the best with every competitive start you have left. We will be grateful that you are still giving it a go.

But you don’t have to do this just because you can. You owe us nothing.

It’s OK to say goodbye.

Top Photo Caption: Tiger hits a drive during a practice round in advance of the Open Championship. (GETTY IMAGES/Harry How)