Tiger’s Fall from Dominance Continues

Tiger Woods was eliminated in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship by Thomas Bjorn Wednesday afernoon.

           Heading into the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Arizona, much of the speculation was about former world number one Tiger Woods. Which Tiger would we see? The motivated, determined player who nearly won the Chevron World Challenge in December, or the dejected Woods who spat his way (literally) to a final round 75 at the Dubai Desert Classic.

            Woods was the number one seed in the Sam Snead bracket and was set to face off against tour veteran Thomas Bjorn. Everyone expected Woods to run away with this match, but the complete opposite happened. Tiger made a mess of the first playoff hole, making a double bogey and basically handing the match to the 65^th ranked player in the world.

            It is clear that Woods definitely doesn’t have his ‘A’ game going. He’ll show flashes of brilliance and then hit a very poor shot. That was very evident on Wednesday afternoon. There were several instances where he had an easy opportunity to get up and down or a chance to sink a putt, but unfortunately he couldn’t get it done. The ‘old’ Tiger Woods would have completed these tasks in his sleep. In the past, if Tiger was in a playoff, he would usually blast his drive down the fairway, hit an iron onto the green and drain a twisting putt for birdie. This time around, not so much. He sprayed his tee shot well right of the fairway into some cacti-filled mulch and hacked his ball around for a double bogey.

            The world knows that Woods is going through a swing change. Whenever he’s been interviewed, he talks about how his overall game is progressing heading into a tournament. This time around, new coach Sean Foley has radically changed his swing. Previously, when Butch Harmon and Hank Haney were in charge of Woods’ game, he seemed free to really go after shots. With Foley’s instruction in his head, Tiger seems very restricted over the ball.

            Those who golf often know the feeling – you’re on the driving range and you find a swing key that makes the ball soar farther than it ever has before. But once you step on the course, the usual slice or hook comes back into play. I think Tiger is going through a similar problem. He may be playing well at home, but practicing on the range at home and competing in tournament golf with millions of dollars on the line is very different.

            Golf is probably one of the most mentally driven sports in the world. Ben Crenshaw said it best, “I’m about five inches from being an outstanding golfer. That’s the distance from my left ear to my right.” In his glory days, Tiger could never be phased mentally. Nowadays, he seems to get flustered a lot quicker and that translates to the rest of his game.

            In the past, Tiger has played in far less events than his competitors. But since he won so many times, he would be able to get away with it. It doesn’t appear that his playing schedule is going to change any time soon and I think that’s going to hurt his overall game. The well known cliché ‘practice makes perfect’ applies here. If Woods plays more tournaments, I believe it’ll make him a more consistent player.

            If Tiger plays more on the PGA Tour, he can become more consistent, which will allow him to win more tournaments. If he doesn’t, we may not see his name in the winner's circle any time soon.

To Tweet or Not To Tweet?... That is the Question!

Twitter can be a very fun social networking source, but as some athletes have learned, it can also be a very dangerous thing.

           Over the past few years, the evolution of social media has completely changed sports from both the fans’ and players’ perspectives. The most commonly used social media source is definitely Twitter.

            Twitter was originally created in 2006 and people used it to either update their whereabouts or promote their own companies. Movie stars and well known celebrities or icons also began to make accounts, which started a transition to the real purpose to Twitter. Everyday 'Average Joes' started to use Twitter for the sole purpose of following these icons and learning more about them. A glaring example of a well-known icon who has Twitter is US president Barack Obama, who has over 6 million followers. This transition that the movie stars created began to evolve into athletes. Hundreds of sports icons have verified Twitter accounts and can easily speak to the public about any issues. More recently, well known media personalities have created accounts and use the social media source to post recent blog posts, to promote a show they're starring in, or to announce the latest news or player signings. A prime example of this came just this afternoon when several media members tweeted that Francois Beauchemin had been traded to the Anaheim Ducks before network stations had reported it themselves.

            Twitter has been a great source for athletes and icons to post their latest thoughts, but it has also caused some people to get into some issues. Being in Toronto, Chris Bosh really 'stirred the pot' when he asked the Twitter world which team he should sign with when he was a free agent this past summer. Bosh was with the squad for seven years and is the Raptors all time leading scorer, but all of his credibility with the city quickly vanished after this whole scandal. Bosh and the Miami Heat haven't played in Toronto yet, but when he does, I'm sure he'll hear his fair share of 'boos' and it'll definitely be a hostile environment.

            Another prime example of a player who caused some commotion with Twitter was NHL player Paul Bissonnette. He is extremely popular solely because of his Twitter account. In fact, his original account 'PaulBizNasty' was deactivated because of some off colour remarks about New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk's recent 15 year contract. However, he has made up for this blunder and has made a new account. 'BizNasty2point0' has over 36,000 followers and has created a hilarious aura with NHL fans. His humorous tweets evolved him from a minimum salary NHL agitator into an NHL fan favourite. In fact, his work on Twitter was an integral reason he was named on The Hockey News 100 People of Power and Influence list.

            Twitter can be a very dangerous thing. Athletes who are posting may not be the smartest guys in the world, and there isn't any spell check on a post. In fact, the tweets aren't even editted by team's PR reps. Athletes and well known icons can either use Twitter as a source to bond with and create new fans, or it could just as quickly cause turmoil and hardship.