For Tiger Woods, Less Golf Is a Winning Formula - The Wall Street Journal

Tiger Woods catches a ball tossed to him on the driving range during practice for the 2019 PGA Championship. Photo: tannen maury/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Brian Costa

The Wall Street Journal

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@BrianCostaWSJ
Brian.Costa@wsj.com

Updated May 15, 2019 11:40 a.m. ET

FARMINGDALE, N.Y.—During a pro-am round last spring, Tiger Woods played alongside one of the few athletes in the world whose celebrity and career arc are relatable to his own: Peyton Manning.

The retired NFL quarterback, who recovered from four neck surgeries to win his second Super Bowl in 2016, told Woods how he compensated for what his body could no longer do. Manning, for instance, relied more on film study and anticipation to overcome his diminished arm strength.

Now, Woods has essentially figured out what his version of that looks like, and it’s a concept that for years he was loath to embrace: less golf in pursuit of better golf.

When Woods tees off in the PGA Championship on Thursday morning, it will mark his first tournament round since he won the Masters in April. Rarely in his career has he played no tournaments between majors, and rarer yet have such breaks been unrelated to any known injuries or personal issues. But as Woods revives his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s all-time major titles record, the time off may well be a sign of things to come.

Peyton Manning, left, chats with Tiger Woods during the Pro-Am prior to The Memorial Tournament in 2018. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

At age 43, back on tour for more than a year after four back surgeries, Woods has demonstrated that he is good enough to contend at majors on a sustained basis again. A big part of keeping it that way will be limiting how much he plays and practices outside of the four tournaments that matter most.

“That’s going to be the interesting part going forward: how much do I play and how much do I rest?” Woods said Tuesday at Bethpage Black. “I think I’ve done a lot of the legwork and the hard work already, trying to find my game over the past year and a half. Now I think it’s just maintaining it. I know that I feel better when I’m fresh.”

The newly condensed schedule of majors—in which the PGA Championship moved to May from August this year—has created a steadier drumbeat of majors following the Masters. Next after this will be the U.S. Open in June, followed by the British Open in July.

Woods had been expected to play in the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago, but with it coming so soon after perhaps his greatest career triumph, he said he “just wasn’t quite mentally ready to do it.” He appeared to be walking gingerly in a video shot the week before the tournament.

Physically, Woods can still summon enough power, if not to the overwhelming degree he once did. He ranks 42nd on the PGA Tour in clubhead speed, at 118 mph, ahead of some young stars such as Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler. Woods just can’t do it as often anymore.

His practice days this week have been telling. After a scouting visit here last week to eyeball the course—the site of his win at the 2002 U.S. Open–he played nine holes on Monday and limited himself to the driving range on Tuesday. He said he planned to play only nine holes on Wednesday.

When Woods does practice, he doesn’t do nearly as much as he used to. He spends a greater share of his time on his short game than ever, practicing the wedge shots and putts that take less of a toll on his body. Sometimes, he said he’ll pull out a driver but swing it gently, hitting the ball only 80 or 90 yards in the air, “just making sure my swing feels good,” he said.

“I don’t load the body like I used to and be as explosive for call it a three-, four-hour period on the range,” he said. “Those days are gone.”

The question is how much golf is enough for Woods to play like he did at the Masters at more majors in the months and years ahead. There are plenty of examples of aging stars cutting their workloads to preserve their dominance when they most need it, the tennis great Roger Federer among them.

But golf is also a fickle sport with thin margins separating the best from the rest. There is some skepticism as to whether Woods could feasibly go from major to major without playing on a regular basis.

“He’s not making it easy on himself,” said CBS analyst and six-time major winner Nick Faldo. “As you get older, you need to play, for tournament sharpness, for your mind. You can’t have a month off and arrive at a golf course and expect to be able to pull the right club out of the bag all the time.”

Tiger Woods hits a shot during practice for the PGA Championship. Photo: peter casey/Reuters

The incentive to play more will grow in 2020, when Woods will look to represent the U.S. at the Olympics in Tokyo. Assuming the U.S. has at least four players ranked in the top 15 in the world, Woods will have to be among the four highest-ranked Americans to qualify. He is currently the fourth highest-ranked American, at No. 6.

Woods mentioned making the Olympic team as a goal on Tuesday. But without a healthy back, there is no Woods comeback. And without a more limited schedule, he may not have a healthy back indefinitely. Even on his good days, Woods’s body is still fragile.

“Whether I’m dominant or not going forward, that remains to be seen,” Woods said. “What I know is I need to give myself the best chance to win the events that I play in, and sometimes that can mean taking a little bit more breaks.”