Fijian Vijay Singh was the last player to dislodge Tiger Woods from the world number one spot.
Not only did he unseat the American but on the way to the top ranking, he wore a cap that had “Tiger Who?†written on it. It was his golfing skills, and not the words, that took him to the top but, without doubt, it succeeded in riling up Woods.
It is like trying to stand up to the class bully. But it worked. Singh believes that same bravado is needed if the rest of the golfing world is to catch up with Woods.
Since that brief period of Singh domination, Tiger has return to the top even more emphatically and the classroom appears to be bare in terms of boys willing to take him on.
In a BBC interview, the 11th-ranked Singh said there are too many golfers in awe of the Tiger and urged his fellow chasers to challenge Woods, who has won six consecutive tournaments. He said:
“It’s up to us to give ourselves a kick up the butt, play well and beat him. If you stay back and admire him you’re never going to get up there. That’s what is happening with a lot of players. He’s playing incredible golf and there’s nothing we can do but play better.â€
Singh was number one for a while before Woods regained the summit in March 2005. Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie is also a player who believes he can tackle Woods, and compared the American to the great Arsenal football team of 2003-04 who won the league without losing a single match. Said Monty:
“You talk about the famous Arsenal team that never lost a match but in golf terms so much can happen, so many outside influences can play a part in golf more so than any other sport. We’re talking a season without losing – and that means winning the grand slam which has never happened before – but who’s going to back against him doing that?â€
According to Vijay, everybody else should.
Tiger Woods is an intimidating player with an unrivaled ability to convert impossible lies into awesome shots. If and when he decides to return I have no doubt he will regain the number one position and retain it until a younger hot shot with a “true grit” appears. The current playing field has nothing to challenge him with. Until then, let the children play.
I agree with Mark and Nazvi. Once you reach the level that these guys are playing at, the separation between golfers is determined by their minds and not their physical abilities. Right now, it seems as though Tiger is un-shakeable.
If someone wants to challenge him for the top spot, then the answer is inside the mind.
Absolutely agree. Pro golfers anywhere would tell you it is all in the mind. They have all the shots so at any given moment, they can sink 30-foot putts or hit an approach shot to within feet of the pin because the skills are all there. It is all about whether you have conquered your mind to allow your skill to manifest itself. This is why many athletes use sports psychologists to help them get over this mental hump, which is far more difficult that learning to drive straight.
I am a complete nonentity as far as golf is concerned,but I know a bit more than most about psychology & performance success.There must be scores of professional golfers with adequate technique to match Tiger.Each of them has hit thousands of perfect shots with every club in the bag.But most of them have self-doubts & inner beliefs about their ability to repeat these shots when needed.Their concious mind gets in the way of their subconcious knowledge & ability.Vijay for instance has hit so many more balls than anyone else that his subconcious is mechanically perfect.It knows exactly what to do in every situation,but his concious mind too often gets in the way.This is true for most of the top pros,none more so than Adam Scott,who could easily be No.1.
Mike Weir has successfully taken Tiger on head to head at the President’s Cup. He did it by playing his own game. Fortunately, that day his short game and putting were sharp. Mike is smart enough to know he cannot match Tiger for length, but, on any given hole, or day, he can match or better him with superb iron and short stick play.
The recently concluded massacre of Stewart Cink is an indication that Tiger’s real strength in the skill portion of his game is his ability to manage his irons and his putter. He was way down on driving distance and fairways hit, but number one in the two most important categories, greens in regulation and putting.