Is Tiger Woods over as being a Major's Champion?

On the subject of professional players there's definitely not one single player who's received more publicity compared to Tiger Woods. That obviously is due to his tremendous talent level during his career; of course, we do not spend much time talking about average golfers. But now we are discussing the arc of Tiger's career, and after some inferior results of late in major tournaments, we are questioning if he'll be able to make any comeback.

Any time we analyze the career of great sports champions that have extended careers, those who are successful have the ability to stay at the top competitively by reinventing themselves. With only a few exceptions athletes are similar to all of us: with time our bodies change, and what we were able to do easily when we were more youthful becomes a great deal more difficult. In Woods's situation the enormous torque that he put on his body early in his career to generate that extraordinary power took its toll. Even while he was always in great physical condition that stress brought on by his swing led to a lot of traumas both small and large.

It goes without saying that he'll need to make a major modification in his swing movement to take the stress as well as pressure from the body. From all accounts he is going in that direction, yet to be able to make big alterations in your swing requires a period of adjusting, all of which will take a great deal of time and resolve. Thanks to his God-given athleticism he will be able to do this, provided he's still driven to go toe to toe with the very best golfers.

It looks like the greater concern that he's going to have to confront is more on the mental side. To make it possible for him to become a champion of major events once more he will need to reinvent himself regarding his mental approach on the course. Which is, he will have to be able to become a better "grinder". My idea of a grinder can be described as a golfer who can find a way to succeed when he's not at the top of his game, as well as overcome if things won't be going his particular way.

You might argue that any player that has won as frequently as he has certainly has learned to win in a number of ways. But in the majors he's only won as being a front runner. That may signify that when his golf game is on he's difficult to top, but once he's behind and sometimes struggling somewhat he will lose the elite status. Since the era of Tiger Woods dominating with ability by itself has ended, he is on a par with the rest of the field. And since during the major events he is able to no longer rely on superior talent alone, he will need to be able to grind and find a way to win the same as other players. In other words, he has a great deal to overcome.