The Tiger Woods meltdown? Analyst says it was due to an ‘unusual’ sin

Tiger Woods was magical to a youthful Jordan Spieth. The good photographs have been good and all. But it was what he did after the not-so-good ones that was really memorable. 

Woods, Spieth stated, forgot about them.

“The number one thing that struck me every round that we’ve played together is that he’ll get mad, but he won’t get negative,” Spieth stated a number of years again on a podcast. “I’ve by no means heard him get damaging. And I’m making an attempt to take that into my sport, the place I’ve been much less mad and extra damaging. He’ll hit a shot, and he’ll let himself find out about it. But it’s mad. It’s not, ‘I can’t determine this out.’ There’s no can’t. Or ‘I’m fighting this.’ 

“It’s literally just him to himself, gets the anger out and then moves on.”

All of this brings us to Friday. 

When, in the course of the Hero World Challenge second spherical, he’d been taking part in properly in his first occasion since April, when he had undergone an ankle process. Four birdies by seven holes on the Albany Golf Course within the picturesque Bahamas. On the thirteenth, he was nonetheless at that quantity. Then Woods missed a putt from just below a yard away and bogeyed. Then he missed a 2-footer for birdie on 14. 

Then, on 15, he dumped his second shot, from the center of the green, into the proper greenside bunker. And from there, Woods began to soften down. With little inexperienced to work with, he raced his sand shot 33 ft previous the opening. 

Then he putted his ball about 30 ft previous. It ran by the left aspect of the opening. It completed again within the bunker. He had putted off the inexperienced. 

“I mean, it’s shake-your-head kind of stuff,” announcer Dan Hicks stated on the Golf Channel broadcast. 

Notably, on the published, Hicks was speaking with Dr. Pawan Munjal, the CEO of the match’s sponsors, Hero MotoCorp. After Woods’ putt, Woods underhand threw his putter towards his bag, began to put his glove again on, grabbed his wedge from fill-in caddie and confidante Rob McNamama and labored his means again into the bunker. He took two follow swings, hit out to 14 ft, walked out and grabbed his putter again from McNamara. 

From there, he made his bogey six. But what may need occurred on shot 4? The first putt, again into the bunker?

On the published, analyst Curt Byrum, additionally a former professional, had a thought. 

After studying the introduction to the story, you in all probability know the place that is going. 

“I think he was so disappointed in the tactical error of missing left in the bunker on his second shot, it carried over, which is unusual,” Byrum stated. “But it carried over to the bunker shot and the putt.” 

Later within the broadcast, analysts Smylie Kaufman and Paul McGinley, additionally former execs, famous that too.  

Said Kaufman on the published: “Kinda just watched all that unfold over the last 30, 45 minutes with Tiger and really it was just that one shot he hit in the bunker that he just did not take that extra breath on that putt, give it the proper amount of time, the putt he hit in the bunker. Got to stay in grind mode here to the finish.” 

Said McGinley on the published: “Not like him to lose his poise like he did there on the par-5.”

Of course, these items occur. But from Woods? A day earlier, he admitted he made psychological errors throughout his first spherical and blamed these on rust, so this may be that. 

At two factors in his post-round press convention, he was requested about his putt on 15. No, he stated, there was not a scarcity of focus. No, he additionally stated, he couldn’t recall placing right into a bunker earlier than. 

“Not that I can — not that I can remember,” Woods stated. “That was not putt. It was downwind and I hit it means too exhausting. It acquired occurring the wind and acquired occurring the grain and was gone. 

“The mindset, I was obviously ticked. At the end of the day, it was better than yesterday.”

As for tomorrow? He begins his third spherical at 11:43 a.m. on Saturday. 

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his position, he’s answerable for enhancing, writing and growing tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be taking part in the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and consuming a chilly beer to wash away his rating. You can attain out to him about any of those matters — his tales, his sport or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.