PGA Tour Video Onslaught: Tiger Was Great, Is Great And Will Be Great, But Never As Great As He Was

You see a lot of things in the blogging business that make you scratch your head, but I have to say the onslaught of videos posted on YouTube today by the PGA Tour celebrating Tiger's place in the game, made me double check to see if he had announced his retirement. The videos speak of him as if he's left the game, or, God Forbid, left the planet.

Not once, not twice, not three times, but four different videos are dedicated to the same basic theme: Tiger was great, is great, may never be great again because the competition is tougher, and has been a great player in the game. It's revelatory stuff.

Almost like Commissioner Sure, Use-Our-Clubhouse-But-Bring-Your-Own-Blue-Drapes randomly called down to PGA Tour Productions and said, "order me up some the nostalgia, heavy on the Tiger."

Woods did appear in the AT&T National press center (transcript here, Golf Channel video below) for a Q&A and admitted his short game has been lacking. Steve DiMeglio reports:

"I finally have a swing that doesn't hurt, and I am still generating power, but it doesn't hurt anymore," said Woods, who overhauled his swing previously with Butch Harmon and Hank Haney and is now working with Sean Foley. "I would say certainly my short game has been something that has taken a hit, and it did the same thing when I was working with Butch and the same thing when I was working with Hank.

"During that period of time, my short game went down, and it's because I was working on my full game. Eventually I get to a point where the full game becomes very natural and I can repeat it day after day, and I can dedicate most of my time to my short game again."

More interesting, Woods endorsed the notion put forward by some that younger players will be turning pro earlier than they might have in the past

Ryan Ballengee covers that part of the presser:

Woods, whose agent Mark Steinberg also represents Cantlay, endorsed the approach of the 2011 U.S. Amateur runner-up.

"I think that gives you the best chance," he said. "You play the Masters. You get the U.S. Open. You get a couple majors under your belt. You get to play with your team in college, play your entire collegiate schedule. And now you've got a lot of tournaments under your belt, and then go ahead and turn pro and try and get your card."

You can watch the entire press conference here: