This sport called "golf" is known by many as "deceptively simple, yet endlessly complicated". The two men pictured above, Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia, have been known for making it look just like the first part of that quote. But as of right now, both are living on the end of the last part of that saying. Both of these golf superstars had a lost 2010 season that will both force them to play excellent golf to achieve their once elite forms.
Just 2 years ago, they were the top 2 players in the world, with Tiger ranked 1 and Sergio right behind him ranked 2nd, respectively. Now where are they? Well, by the end of this week Tiger is going to fall out of the top 10 for the first time since April 6, 1997 when he was ranked No. 13 heading into The Masters (according to ESPN). Sergio isn't doing any better. Garcia has fallen to a woeful 73rd in the world, and is in danger of missing a major championship for the first time since 1999. However, he is playing in this week's PGA Tour event, so he still has a chance to improve on his ranking.
Both had extremely subpar 2010 seasons. Let's start with Mr. Woods. Post-scandal Tiger has not been anywhere near the same since that fateful incident. He's not only gone through a divorce, but he's suffered multiple injuries and a massive swing change. All of this culminated in a 0-win year in 2010 with scarce top-tens. This season hasn't been much better, with only 2 top-10s and a shocking first-day bounce at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Champoinship. Also, last weeks WD at THE PLAYERS Championship doesn't help his cause, and keeps the critics alive and well. And with his ranking plummeting week after week, it will be interesting to see how this season is remembered for Tiger, as the months go by without a win and the questions of him being able to get back to form continue to rise.
Little video about Tiger, courtesy of ESPN:
Now, onto Mr. Garcia. The Spaniard had a horrendous 2010 season, with only one top ten, which came in his first start of that season. In fact, his game got away from him so bad that he decided to give himself a 2 month break after the PGA Championship to get his head back on straight. And although he has a relatively OK start to this season (3 top 15 finishes), the break dropped his world ranking to the low 80s, with it being currently No. 73. But, he is still danger of missing the U.S. Open at Congressional in June, with him needing to either crack the top 50 in the OWGR or reach the top 10 in the PGA Tour money list with 2 more weeks to go. If he doesn't, his consecutive streak of 49 majors played will come to an end, and that's something that he's not trying to think about. All he's been trying to do is go out everyday and play as well as he can, and let the chips fall where they may
Video about Sergio, again courtesy of ESPN:
Overall, both golfers have fallen off immensely with their golf skills, and are desperately trying to regain it back. Like I said before, it was only in 2009 when these two superstars were on the top of the golf world at 1 and 2, just as many golf analysts predicted many years back when they were young phenoms. They still both have the talent to reach great heights again, but only time will tell to see if these golfers can regain what they've lost. And if they do play well again, the golf world will happily greet them back, as this game is always more interesting when you see "Woods" or "Garcia" on the first page of the leaderboard.
photo courtesy: www.theage.com
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