I read on ESPN.com where Martin Kaymer, last year’s PGA winner, wishes that Tiger would get back to the top of golf. He said it’s good for the players and good for the game. What? Are you telling me this guy wants a competitor to be as good or better than him, possibly win more majors and secure more prize money? That to me seems pretty lame. These golfers today just aren’t as competitive as they once were. Give me the days of Nicklaus, Arnie, Trevino, Player, Miller, Ray Floyd, Watson, Faldo and Seve even Nick Price over these guys. They just aren’t passionate enough about winning. Maybe they are passionate about winning, but they just don’t have the mental toughness those guys had. Those guys would stomp on your chest with their cleats if they had to to win. They were relentless competitors.
The reason Tiger can come back and win some more majors is because these guys are basically asking him to. They don’t want to beat him like a real competitor would want to beat his foe. Pretty hard to understand. Is it the great prize money they win that makes them complacent? That’s a factor. They win two or three million if they win a tourney and finish with six or seven top 10’s. I’m not saying that’s easy, it’s not, but where is the drive to be elite, to be in the class of a Palmer, a Player or a Watson? Nobody will be Nicklaus. I thought Tiger would overtake him, and his talent is equal to Nicklaus’s, though the competition isn’t as tough and the equipment is a lot more advanced now and there are so many luxuries afforded today by golfers on where they stay, eat and drive to the course that wasn’t available when Nicklaus played. There are swing coaches, golf psychologists and just a lot more outside help than guys had back in the days of hard-nosed grinding it out play. Tiger is no Nicklaus in character. I won’t coronate him a better golfer than Nicklaus either. He hasn’t broken Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors. Ben Hogan would have challenged Nicklaus’s rccord today with his work ethic. He hit balls till his hands bled. He would hit’em for eight hours a day. Tiger used to do that. He may again. I guarantee you that none of these guys do that. I think they’re lazier.
The bottom line is they’re just not as mentally tough. I hate to sound like a guy who lives in the past, I don’t, but it was better in the old days. I’m just stating the facts. Guys like Watson, Arnie before him, Seve, and Faldo won multiple majors. Plus those guys had personality. They were fun, emotional and played to the crowd. Guys these days are like robots on steroids. I heard an interview with Mark Wilson on ESPN ‘s First Take last night and he’s a nice enough guy and a two time winner this year after winning the Waste Management tourney on Monday. But listening to him was like watching grass grow. Just a boring guy. The guys who are flamboyant today, Rickie Fowler, Ryo Ishikawa, dress like clowns. They kind of look like stupid teenagers out there.
The reason these guys don’t win multiple majors is they don’t put in enough work, or if they do, they’re just not strong enough mentally to win on the backside at Augusta or particularly in a U.S. Open where grind it out toughness is at a premium. They don’t do it more than once if at all.
There are a couple of guys I like. J.B. Holmes seems like a pretty tough competitor and so does Anthony Kim (AK), Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi, but they’re just not that many. I like my Vandy guy, Brandt Snedeker; he’s been close. But he has trouble closing it out. Phil’s won three Masters and a PGA, but he’s never won a U.S. or British and he’s 4o, so his age may be starting to catch up with him. He’s still got a shot, but he just can’t seem to close the deal at the U.S. Open; he always seems to falter at the end, and never seems to be in contention at the British. Guys like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Fowler and Ishikawa look like guys who could break through, but I just don’t know if they will. They’re young, there’s time, but Johnson has choked on Sundays in majors and McIlroy, Fowler and Ishikawa have not gotten there yet. Will they? They could, but can they really be elite players? Do they have the hunger to be great? I’m not sure about that. It’s possible. Louis Oosthuizen made a nice run at the British, but is he another Michael Campbell (U.S. Open ’05), Ben Curtis (British Open ’03) or Shaun Micheel (PGA ’03)? One hit wonders who have never done anything since. Tiger has lost it, at least in the past couple of years, but he may get it back. Martin Kaymer (no.2 in world) and others like Lee Westwood (No.1) sure want him to be good. “Oh please Tiger, please make it back to number one. We need you.” What is wrong with some of these guys? They’re just a bunch of milk and cookie wimps. I hope that’ll change.
(Martin Kaymer is pleading for Tiger to get back to No.1.)