The Loop

Tiger Woods 'appears to have competitive stage fright'

June 06, 2015

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"It has come to this for Tiger Woods, the man who not long ago appeared on a fast track to obliterating every record golf has ever known: He appears to have competitive stage fright," Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post writes. "Woods — like so many of the rest of us mere mortals — cannot bring his game from the practice range to the first tee."

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(Getty Images)

"Tiger Woods has played in 16 PGA Tour events at Firestone Country Club and won eight times. From 1997-2009, he never finished worse than tied for fifth.But the golfer who has drawn massive galleries to the legendary course on Warner Road probably won't be there this year," Akron Beacon Journal columnist Marla Ridenour writes of the diminishing likelihood that Woods won't qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.


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Jordan Spieth and Anthony Paolucci grew up together in Dallas junior golf circles, were best friends. Spieth took a short cut to the stardom, while Paolucci is taking the more traditional route to the PGA Tour. "Paolucci, 22, hasn't cratered. He is taking a more conventional approach to reaching the PGA Tour, learning how to win in a sport that has skyrocketed in terms of depth of field. The Latino America Tour, Canadian Tour and PGA Tour China feed into the Web.com Tour — The Path to the PGA Tour,'" Bill Nichols of the Dallas Morning News writes.


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The U.S. Open at Chambers Bay is a home game for Tacoma, Wash., native Ryan Moore, and he's reminded of it frequently, Todd Milles writes in the Tacoma News Tribune. "Oh, man, I can't go anywhere without getting asked about it, that's for sure," Moore said. "Even players, caddies, media - somebody, every day, somewhere is asking about it."


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"If you could peek into the mind of Tiger [Woods] and [Lydia] Ko at the same age, they probably had similar career aspirations," Brian Han of the Korea Times writes in this Ko profile. "I do think about normal type things [including] the Hall of Fame, winning multiple majors,' she said. But then she breaks away from the pack again. One thing I'm hoping people will remember me by over my career is that I was the player who had the most fun!'"