Roundup: Tiger's Mac Daddy Pic Spawns No Shortage Of Glorious Mocking

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I'm picturing agent Mark Steinberg, staring out the window at Excel headquarters listening to a pitch for Tiger, when a nervous assistant barges in and points at a cell phone, only to remember the boss is a Blackberry man. Just as Steiny had pushed back on the price to get Tiger into a new blue chip product endorsement deal, the assistant swipes off the dust on Steiny's desktop and brings up Tiger's Twitter account.

"Uh, I need to call you back, whoever I was just talking to," says Steiny.

There the image sits. For no rational reason, a stern, shirtless Tiger Woods is wearing a Santa cap, invoking his children and referencing Mac Daddy, a phrase Merriam-Websters defines as "a conspicuously successful pimp." Or option two, "a slick womanizer." The Urban Dictionary also weighs in (gloriously).

Steiny sighs nervously.

"At least it's the Thursday before Christmas, the Internet is on vacation, right?" he asks as the young assistant mumbles something about Grayson Allen just texted to tell Tiger thank you.

So in the interest of sparing that poor Excel intern the pain of presenting a roundup of Tiger's bizarre attempt at humor/coolness/something, here is the Busted Coverage roundup/slideshow, Des Bieler's take at the WaPo, and the GeoffShackelford.com favorites:

 


 

McGinley Not Bullish On Tiger Making It Back

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Most former players were suitably impressed by Tiger's initial impressions this month after a long layoff. But put Paul McGinley as skeptical Tiger will reach a level that motivates the 14-time major winner to grind.

Talking to The Mirror's Mike Walker, McGinley says he understands excitement surrounding Tiger's Hero Challenge appearance but...

“Personally, I think the reaction to the way he played in the Hero World Challenge was over the top. - his performance level was here (waist-high) and the reaction was up here (above the head).

“He has further to jump if he is to get back to the top level, where he was, and can he do it at 41 years old? Nobody has ever done it before at his age – there have been sporadic performances, like Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters at 46, but it’s not as if he was dominating the game then.

“Tiger’s a little bit like a footballer who reaches 32: He can still play the odd great game, as Steven Gerrard did at Liverpool, but can he do it day after day? That’s the big hurdle."

Indeed it is a hurdle and I respect McGinley's view.

Perhaps the bar was set low after so many mid-round walk-offs, but given where Tiger's game had sunk to, his Hero performance was most admirable. Should he at least get back to a level of contending in tournaments while picking off a few here and there, that would allow him to wind down his career on a positive note. Given where Tiger's been, that would change how he's viewed and how he's remembered. No insignificant accomplishment.

Tiger Finds His Ball, Other Nike Guys In Hoarding Mode

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In reading Doug Ferguson's story reporting Tiger's golf ball endorsement deal with Bridgestone, it's fun to read just how neurotic players remain about the ball they put into play.

I'm enjoying the thought of Brooks Koepka parking his cars outside the garage because of his Nike golf ball hoarding now that they are out of the business...

By choosing a new golf ball, Woods went a different direction from two of Nike's highest-ranked players. Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka said they have asked Nike to set aside as many golf balls as possible.

"I have about two to three years' worth," Koepka said in the Bahamas.

David Dusek's Golfweek.com story on the signing of Woods says Bridgestone ran the numbers, Japanese-style.

Corey Consuegra, Bridgestone’s senior director of marketing, said Monday evening that his company has an internal philosophy based on a Japanese phrase, Genbutsu-Genba.

“What that means is that we make fact-based decisions, decisions that are based on data,” he said. “So when we looked into the opportunity to be a partner with Tiger Woods, we studied closely and learned (in focus groups) that our brand perception increases by 50 percent when he is connected to our brand, and the purchase intent of our consumers goes up based on the nature of his credibility.”

Tiger Moves Bridgestone's Needle, Will It Continue?

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David Dusek looks at the attention Tiger Woods brought to the clubs he played in the Bahamas last week and in a strange twist, he might have brought more quality attention to those brands because he's not being paid by them. Will it continue when/if he signs with a company? After all, Nike probably couldn't sell a putter if they tried after Woods made clear he couldn't wait to put his old Scotty Cameron back in the bag.

From Dusek's Golfweek.com story, quoting Bridgestone's Corey Consuega:

Consuegra said that having staff Tour players such as Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar is extremely valuable, but Woods’s use of a Bridgestone ball created an immediate impact. In fact, Consuegra said Bridgestone’s website received about the same amount of traffic last Monday through Friday that it did in the entire third quarter of this year (July-September), and most of those visitors were going to the Tour B330S page.

“It changes the way we can tell the consumers and the public how good we are in the golf ball category,” Consuegra said. “We get outspent by our biggest competitors, but (Woods is) one of the best players to ever play the game, period, and he could have selected any golf ball on the market today he wanted, and he chose to go with the B330S.”

Rory On Tiger: "He looked happy"

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Brian Keogh reports on the remarks of Rory McIlroy speaking at Monday's Excellence in Sport Awards in support of the Irish Youth Foundation in Dublin.

Say what you want about Tiger--and many have--but this comment from McIlroy is the most important big picture observation from last week's Hero World Challenge.

“Anytime we saw him on a golf course in the last couple of years he had the furrowed brow and he has been so concentrated.

“But  he looked happy so obviously that tells you he has been away and he has come back out happy and he is in a better place.”

Keogh's item also explores the prospects of which players might play in the Irish Open two weeks prior to The Open.

Closer Look: Return Of A Legend, Tiger's Scotty Cameron Putter

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As we discussed on this week's ShackHouse there will be renewed interest in Tiger's old Scotty Cameron putter. And I suspect even more what-could-have-been analysis given that he putts noticeably better with it and seemed to know that by changing back to the Newport 2 model when Nike left the equipment business.

David Dusek takes an interesting Golfweek.com look at what Cameron does for Woods in preparing putters and in particular this model.

The 34-inch putter is made from German stainless steel (GSS), an ultra-soft material Cameron uses for some putters made for Tour players. The heel-toe weighted blade does not have an alignment line, but Woods requested a single dot on the topline so he can confidently put the ideal hitting area of the face directly behind the ball at address.

Cameron said Woods always liked the feel of the grips on some Ping putters he played as a junior, so he had Ping PP58 grips installed on the Newport 2 GSS over the years. Cameron said his team would submerge the grips in acetone to dissolve the grip’s white paint. Woods has also, in some instances, used a “blackout” version of the Ping putter grip.

The Scheduling And Financial Ramifications Of Tiger's "Return"

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Bob Harig has all sorts of tidbits in this ESPN.com about Tiger's schedule in the wake of his respectable showing at the Hero World Challenge.

There was this gem of a quote from Mark Steinberg, who no doubt has seen some UAE numbers pop up on his phone screen and is enjoying .

"My phone was pretty heated this week leading up to the first round,'' Steinberg said Friday at Albany Golf Club, where the second round of the Hero World Challenge was underway. "But it went from heated to hot.

Heated to hot!

Tiger seems likely to start 2017 in Abu Dhabi or the Omega Dubai Desert Classic (January 30-February 5th) depending on the appearance fee winner and other dynamics (can a Rolex man take Omega's money, or does Shaikh Mohammed have final say?).

There is also the question of Tiger's willingness to fly across the world to reach Torrey Pines in time for the Farmers while asking a lot of his surgically repaired back.

With the Woods Foundation running and benefiting from the rebranded Genesis Open at Riviera, the Dubai option would allow for a week off after Dubai and more sensible start to the season. Tiger would also be able to make his return to Los Angeles even grander by making it his first domestic start.

Harig makes this point about scheduling influences and differences for Woods.

Regardless of what Woods chooses to do, it is unlikely he will be eligible for the WGC-Mexico Championship or the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship, meaning he might play in some events he normally does not play. Woods is likely to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he has won eight times.

The story also delves into Tiger's more promising leverage in negotiating equipment deals, with Harig predicting Bridgestone as his first choice for a golf ball.

Finally, there is the timing of Tiger's return and the big ratings that came with it: the PGA Tour is believed to be ready to re-open their weekend television rights. Commissioner Ironclad steps down December 31st and hands Jay Monahan the keys to the PGA Tour Citation, re-working the weekend television rights may be priority number one. A resurgent Tiger certainly improves their leverage after dreadful fall ratings and mostly flat or down weekend numbers in 2016.

But will the major networks or potential new blood in the streaming world be enticed to pay more given Tiger's spotty playing record?

Roundup: Tiger's 24-Birdie, Final Round 76-Shooting Week Back

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As we noted today on Morning Drive in assessing the reation to Tiger's week, the views on his return seem to be split between respectful empathy celebrating the obvious positives, to continued apathy over an imperfect performance. But how could any golfer expect perfection after surgeries, yips and even signs of stage fright?

Both Doug Ferguson and Steve DiMeglio worked the red shirt into their ledes and then assessed.

Ferguson for the AP:

Woods showed no stress in his swing or in walking five straight rounds, starting with the pro-am. He had plenty of length, at times going after his driver with a little more pop to clear a bunker. He holed a few long putts . He missed a few short ones. At times, he looked like he had never been away for that long.

And at times it did.

After a lede with Rickie Fowler celebrating the return of the red shirt, DiMeglio for USA Today in nearly identical words to Ferguson's:

His return to competitive golf after an absence of nearly 16 months — which included two surgeries to his troublesome back — was a success on nearly all counts as the positives far outweighed the negatives. This despite the final-round 76 and the final-hole double bogey as he finished 15th in the elite 17-man field, 14 shots behind Hideki Matsuyama, who won at 18 under and was two clear of Henrik Stenson. It was Matsuyama’s fourth victory in five starts and he was a staggering 90 under during that stretch.

Bob Harig for ESPN.com offered a measured tone in an overall positive take that also included assessments from Tiger's last two instructors pre-Chris Como:

"I really like how much longer his backswing is -- especially with the driver,'' said Sean Foley, Woods' former coach. "I like that his lower body and pelvis are moving more. The movement is not restricted; it is much more free. He looks great.''

Another former coach, Haney Haney, said: "The swing is smooth; there are no apparent issues.''

Golf World's Jaime Diaz offered this:

Most of all, there was a palpable and overdue ease to his game. Woods looked leaner, which seemed to aid in more swinging of the clubhead and less straining of the body. Along with his speed, he had rhythm and flow and balance. Technically, his stance was narrower, posture taller, hip turn bigger and his once rigid left leg softer through impact. There seemed to be less thinking over the ball, and more of a subconscious freedom.

Jeff Babineau in Golfweek's on-site assessment was broken into five areas of interest related to Woods' game:

But he showed he has plenty of game. Sure, four rounds isn’t very much to go on. But with more chances to compete and if he can get back to some semblance of a normal schedule, Woods should be able not only to contend again, but win again.

Definitely.

Mark Cannizzaro in the New York Post:

Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, had a modest goal for his man for the week.

“I thought it was good, a lot of positives,’’ LaCava said. “He’s upright, No. 1. Seriously. You laugh, but I think that’s good. I love the fact that he was hitting a lot of shots that he was kind of picturing in his mind. There were a few loose ones, obviously, but he hit plenty of good shots, plenty of good things to take away from it. And he made some putts.

“The fact that’s he’s making birdies is a good sign. I wasn’t going to compare him to the rest of the field. It’s a great field, they’ve been playing all year and they’ve all been playing great.

Michael Bamberger writing for Golf.com:

No player made more birdies than Woods over the four rounds -- he had 24 of them -- and nobody had more double bogeys than Woods, who had six, half of them on the par-4 18th. Woods's has been the greatest closer in golf history, but those three doubles suggest a certain mental frailty.
That's golf. You can say whatever you want to yourself and to reporters and to your caddie but the little boxes on a scorecard leave no room for self-talk.

Gary Koch broke down Tiger's swing on the broadcast and it's worth a look.

From the detractor side, Brandel Chamblee on Golf Central (16 minute mark) didn't see an improvement in the swing or chip yips Woods has suffered.