PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida |
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Troubled Tiger Woods needs help to deal with his growing problems, former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said on Friday.
Dogged by injury problems, struggling with swing changes and without a win since his personal problems began in 2009, Woods limped sadly out of the Players Championship midway through Thursday's first round and many are wondering just where his troubled career goes from here.
"This is career threatening stuff. It's sad to see, I was very disappointed to see it," 2008 Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger told the Golf Channel.
Azinger believes Woods can still come back and beat Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major triumphs but he says, more than the knee, Tiger needs help with his head.
"People ask me all the time if I think he can beat Jack's record? I think if he replaced his knee he could still beat Jack's record. I have that much confidence in him. My question is -- does he have enough confidence in himself now? I think he is really worried about this one."
Woods' problems date back to the breakdown of his marriage following a series of reported affairs and Azinger says that piecing together his life is something he may need help with.
"His world self-destructed. I think he needs help, whether it is professional help or really a good friend that he can communicate with. I know he is angry, he is angry at himself and he is angry at the world that tore him down, he is angry at a lot of people. He has got a lot of stuff going on in his head -- he has physical issues and he is trying to make a swing change.
"Tiger needs to be able to have a shoulder to cry on to get over some of the things that have gone on in his life."
LITTLE STEPS
The 14-times major winner had shot 42, his worst nine at the TPC Sawgrass, before conceding defeat to his painful injuries as he sadly and slowly limped off the course.
In the short term, it is clear that Woods needs to get his knee and Achilles problems healed before he can even think about turning up for June's U.S. Open.
"If the limitations that Tiger is facing with his injuries are holding him back, then he needs to get those totally fixed and get back, and then he needs to come back and just take little steps to get back, because he knows how to win," said Woods' friend Mark O'Meara, who won the U.S. Masters and the British Open in 1998.
O'Meara, playing at the Players this week, was one of those Woods turned to for advice when he first joined the professional ranks and he and his wife had a pre-tournament dinner with Woods on Wednesday.
He said he doesn't believe Woods feels the clock ticking on his bid to beat Nicklaus' record but said he may have lost some passion.
"Is the fire burning as bright as it once did? Maybe not. But that's to be expected when you look at the intense pressure that this kid has lived under for the last 20 years of his life," O'Meara said.
"Any athlete that's under the scrutiny like he's been under, there's a little price you have to pay, and so it slowly erodes at maybe... no one can be inside his brain or his body and figure out where he's at, but he needs to just get around his friends, keep practicing, get healthy, and then I think he'll be back where he wants to be."
Where Woods wants to be is at the very top and that looks a very long journey back at the moment.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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