In another example of the fact that players on tour aren’t particularly intimidated by Tiger anymore, PGA Tour rookie and Nationwide Tour grad Brendan Steele told SI that he thought Tiger didn’t give a 100% effort in the final round at Torrey Pines:
I don’t think he gave it everything today. Once it started going in the wrong direction, I don’t think it had his full attention.
Steele shot a 2-under 70 en-route to a T17 finish. Tiger shot a 3-over 75 on his way to a 44th place finish.
He may have a point. Tiger’s problems seem as much mental as anything else and after things went south early on, he may have just lost interest. It’s not like Tiger needs top 10 finishes to keep his tour card. And a 44th place finish probably means as much to him as a 5th place finish. It’s either win or go home.
But more interesting to me is the fact that he was willing to say anything arguably negative about Tiger at all. I can’t imagine anybody just a couple of years ago being willing to provide a quote about Tiger not giving a full effort on the course. Everybody was intimidated and nobody wanted to say anything that could stoke Tiger’s competitive fire.
I think we’re going to see a lot more of this until Tiger comes out and demolishes a field. It doesn’t have to be a circa-2000 US or British Open style win, but he needs to make a statement. Right now nobody is intimidated and they view him as just another golfer.
[Image Flickr/Chase McAlpine]
