For a player reputed to possess one of the best short games in the history of golf, Tiger Woods has handled his similarly nuanced public-relations issues like a guy who suffered from extreme frostbite.
His efforts to engender positivity have been numb and number.
Yet while most players experience a pronounced drop-off in short-game sharpness as time erodes their savvy and skill, Woods this week achieved a remarkable save from deep in the wilderness, from what seemed like a no-win situation.
In fact, the beleaguered former No 1 executed his biggest public-relations salvage job in years when he announced late Wednesday that he was withdrawing from consideration for a US Ryder Cup spot.
Read more: Tiger Woods rules himself out of Ryder Cup due to injury
In a career full of verbal missteps, half-truths, eye-rolling prevarications, haughty deflections and terse denials, Woods not only made the right decision, he was saluted like a hero for doing it.
Five days after he limped through the second round at the US PGA Championship and missed the cut, Woods told US Ryder captain Tom Watson to look elsewhere in his attempt to fill the three allotted wildcard spots on the 12-man roster.
“While I greatly appreciate Tom thinking about me for a possible captain’s pick, I must take myself out of consideration,” Woods said. “I’ve been told by my doctors and trainer that my back muscles need to be rehabilitated and healed. They’ve advised me not to play or practice now.”
Woods had back surgery on March 31 and has been a mess in his PGA Tour appearances ever since, which had left Watson very much in the leadership lurch.
With few other experienced options as far as wildcard picks, Watson said Monday that the decision of whether Woods would play in the Ryder Cup would effectively be left to the player himself.
Two days later, Woods said no thanks, and for that, fans should exhale in relief.
Even before considering that Woods has a losing record at the Ryder Cup, the issue had become a recipe for unmitigated disaster on a global scale, considering the Ryder’s reach as one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.
Imagine if Woods had been put on the team, taking a spot he admittedly had not earned, and then stunk up Gleneagles like a 20-year-old pair of leather Nikes.
Unless the US pulls off what seems destined to be a long-shot win, Woods and Watson would have been barbecued – and analysts would have been fighting over the basting brush.
Woods would have been a week-long sideshow at the event, which starts September 26.
He likely would not have been used in foursomes (alternate shot), because he cannot keep his driver on planet earth. Thus, he would have been sitting out at least two matches. Moreover, he can barely complete 18 holes, much less walk 36, which is required of those playing in the morning and afternoon sessions.
The notion of Woods riding the bench, and assertions that he was added to mollify sponsors and TV rights-holders, would have swallowed the tournament whole.
Where’s Woods? Why is Tiger not playing? What does he think about sitting? Why isn’t Woods out on the course, providing moral support? Why pick Woods and not use him? Hey, is that Lindsey Vonn?
After withdrawing, if the US absorbs the beatdown many are predicting, Woods cannot be blamed.
Mind you, he has been singled out for criticism plenty of times in the past, and it is worth nothing that over the past 15 years, the Americans have won the Ryder exactly once – when Woods had knee surgery and did not play.
Interestingly, Woods said that his doctors advised him not to practice or play over the short term, which presents an interesting follow-up query: What, exactly, were they telling him before, when he elected to play in a string of tournaments only three months after back surgery?
In truth, nobody outside Woods’s inner circle can confirm what advice his medicos imparted, and we never will. So Woods, conveniently or otherwise, can lay the decision off on his doctors while looking like he took a bullet for Uncle Sam’s betterment.
Meanwhile, Watson mercifully has two more weeks to find three warm bodies before his picks are announced on September 2, and he will not be forced to dance around the availability of Woods, a player he has openly criticised over the years.
The only way Woods could have looked better in the sticky scenario is if he had played, finished undefeated for the first time in eight Ryder appearances and led the US team to a monumental upset in Scotland. The odds of that transpiring are more minuscule than his PGA Tour earnings total this year.
So, for those scoring his Ryder move in match-play terms: This was a 9-and-8 romp for Woods.
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