After Tiger's latest setback, it's time for some self-reflection
— -- Spending 17 years on the LPGA Tour, I played in countless pro-ams, but the one that stands out most was at the 2004 ANA Inspiration -- formerly the Dinah Shore -- a major I already had won twice.
With the great fortune of being paired with Michael Chang, who had recently retired from the ATP tour, I asked him when he knew it was time to face what has been termed by some as the "first death of an athlete" -- retirement from competition -- since I had already gone through one shoulder surgery and faced the likelihood of another.
His answer came quickly.
"When I was spending more time rehabbing than getting better at my game," he said about his sport, his profession and his life, having won 34 top-level professional events and one Grand Slam title.
After Tiger Woods?withdrew, citing back spasms, from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, where he opened with a 77, we are getting closer to the time when he will have to make that difficult decision of whether to continue to push forward with yet another comeback, or retire from competition.
Chang's simple answer gave me an enormous amount of freedom and peace. His statement allowed me to take an honest look at where not only my body was, but how I spent my practice, fitness and rehab time. Maybe even more so, I could see where my brain and heart were at in this equation.
I was different after my first shoulder surgery, which provided an extended break from the game. I suddenly had more time to do things that I didn't as a full-time player, and I developed many more interests.
Life became more well-rounded, but my competitive fire was not raging. I needed to play a little bit angry, and that just wasn't there anymore. Looking at a competitor's "death" on the field made me realize there was so much more life ahead -- it just wasn't on a golf course, week in and week out. Having a valued and useful college degree, at my parents' insistence, added a level of confidence to my decision to retire mid-2004 because I had that cushion to fall back on that so many do not.
For Tiger, multiple surgeries dating back to 1994 -- some of them major -- have taken their toll. He is no longer capable of dominating a field with length and power the way he could in the past.
My friend Jim Kaat -- who won 283 games in 25 years pitching in the major leagues, with three All-Star Game selections and a Gold Glove -- shared some thoughts with me about how power pitchers could change their deliveries to extend their playing careers. Hall of Famers like Robin Roberts, Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux put more emphasis on deception than power.
But that isn't possible in golf, according to the golf-obsessed Kaat, and I couldn't agree more. Golf is a one-person show. There are no fleet-afoot outfielders or slick infielders to back you up after a bad pitch.
In Dubai, Tiger also talked about having to "swing away from the pain." No athlete excels playing away from anything. Peak performance is never achieved trying not to do something, even if that something is just avoiding further injury.
Success in golf comes from moving forward, using all of your tools; not just power, not just great mechanics, not just course management, not just experience and not just mental strength.
Being injured is exhausting. Rehab and maintenance take hours out of every day, and when that effort isn't churning out results, it is very easy to get down.
What we as golf fans -- and those who have marveled at how the 14-time major champion dominated the game for so many years -- have to realize is that the Tiger we have before us today, at 41, is not the one who said "Hello, world" in 1996 and not the Tiger who lapped the field at the 2000 U.S. Open.
Nor is he the Tiger who won the Masters in 2001 to complete the "Tiger Slam," or the Tiger who won the U.S. Open in 2008 on a broken leg, and not even the Tiger who won five tournaments in 2013 and was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
And that is OK!
He almost singlehandedly changed how we view the game and he reset performance bars that today's 20-somethings winning on the PGA Tour know as their only standard.
My hope for Tiger is that he has the good fortune of a Michael Chang-like conversation with someone he respects, followed by the honest self-evaluation of exactly where his body, mind and interests are. I can promise you that "death of an athlete" decision is just the beginning of a wonderfully fulfilling life after competition.
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