Woods forgoes links practice
Tiger Woods has revealed that he will not be playing any links golf ahead of time to practice for the British Open next week at St. Andrews. Will it pay off?
Woods has traditionally prepared himself for the major tournament by practicing at various Irish links courses. Forgoing practice rounds on similar seaside style links, the world’s number one is flying home to Florida.
“I need to get home. See my kids.”
The 34-year-old is in the process of divorcing Swedish wife and former model Elin Nordegren. The couples’ two children, Sam Alexis, 3, and Charlie Axel, 17 months, will remain in permanent custody with Nordegren. Nordegren will return to Sweden where she hopes to raise the children under a modicum of privacy. She will maintain a home in Florida and Woods will get to see the children once a month, and possibly for longer periods of time throughout the year.
You can’t blame the guy for trying to see his kids before they are whisked away from their adulteress father. Woods is making one last go for the Father of the Year award by sacrificing much-needed practice time to work on his personal life.
“There are times in one’s life when things get put in perspective,” he said at a press conference in Europe.
This was the first time Woods spoke out about his personal life since admitting to having several affairs, 14 to date, with various women throughout the couple’s marriage. Wood’s double-life came as a shock to those close to him, who had no idea the golf star was being unfaithful.
Woods spoke with sincere emotion at the press conference, and it was easy to tell the man stretched thin between working on his family and working on his career.
“Everything is working itself out,” he told reporters about his current personal life. The same can’t be said for his golf career.
For the second time this year, Woods is in a position to lose his title as the world’s number one golfer. Phil Mickelson, the world’s number two, is once again closing in on the title as he plays to win at the Scottish Open this week. The tournament concludes on Sunday and even if Mickelson comes in second place the points still add up to enough to leapfrog the 40-year old before Woods.
It wouldn’t be the first time he has been unseated. In 2004 Vijay Singh had a great year of golf and surpassed Woods. However, it didn’t take Woods long to regain his title. It has been obvious that Woods is not playing at his pre-scandal level, and is struggling to regain his form and commanding presence.
If Woods loses the title this time, he might not be able to recover from it. Then again, maybe that is exactly what the golfer needs to snap him back into action. As hard as it is to see a man suffering in the spotlight as his personal life is broadcast for the whole world to judge, the split from his wife might be exactly what his career needs.
With Nordegren and the kids heading to Sweden for an undisclosed period of time, Woods won’t be torn between the family and his work.
Woods came in fourth place at both the Masters and the US Open last month at Pebble Beach. He skipped out on the Scottish Open to play in the JP McManus Invitational Pro-am Irish charity event.
“I felt I made some good strides last week, I drove it great last week, I just putted terrible and finished way down the board,” He said of the AT&T National where he finished in 46th place.
Woods will find time to practice on his short game before heading back overseas for the British Open:
“Something I need to work on is my lag putting and there will be a lot of long putts at St Andrews”
Tags: