Tiger Woods may not be quite ready to call it quits, but the PGA Tour has officially recognized that the former world No. 1 won’t be reliving his glory days any time soon.
Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour demotion just the latest sign of the ex-No. 1’s plummeting popularity
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With Woods’ career in free fall for the past two years as youngsters like Jason Day and Jordan Spieth soared to the pinnacle of the game, the folks in Ponte Vedra finally dropped the fading superstar from the top spot on their website’s “PGA Tour Players” page.
Now, in the leadoff spot where Woods reigned supreme long after his game and health knocked him out of the starting lineup, there’s an odd “Tour Eligibility Ranking” section, framed by Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Spieth and Woods.
(‘Before and after’ via Lanny H Golf)
Woods said last week he could be off the circuit for 12 months as he recovers from a second back procedure. It was a disclosure that had some observers wondering if Woods, who will turn 40 in December, will ever return to competition.
“I’ll start my rehab soon,” he said at the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup exhibition he was scheduled to play with Matt Kuchar before his September surgery knocked him out of action again. “It’s a long and tedious rehab. Last time, it took me a very long time to come back. Some players on tour they’ve had it done and and it’s taken for them to be pain-free over a year.”
It would follow that Woods’ announcement — combined with his injury- and chipping yips-riddled record of six missed cuts and three withdrawals in 23 tour events since his last win in Aug. 2013, and his current 351st position in the world rankings — was the news commissioner Tim Finchem was waiting for before bumping his erstwhile star attraction from top billing.
In fact, though, golf enthusiasts dictated the new look, which includes the obvious exclusion of world No. 1 Jason Day from the company of the other notables.
“Those five players are five of the more popular searches we have for our players,” a tour spokesperson told SB Nation in an e-mail on Tuesday. “I don’t necessarily know if those rotate or change but certainly no knock on Jason Day.”
So, mystery surrounding Woods’ demotion and the cast of characters with whom he shares the stage solved. Spieth and McIlroy are no-brainers, the other two not so much.
Mickelson did Finchem proud in the tour-operated Presidents Cup and was able to scrape together three top-10 finishes in 2015, including a T2 at the Masters, to go with three missed cuts in 19 events. Fowler won twice last year and earned five additional top-10s.
But neither player was a major victor in 2015, captured four other tournaments (including four in a six-tourney span), or currently owns the world’s top berth.
That guy would be Day, who is glaringly missing from the grouping and certainly deserves the half-page box that Woods occupied for so long. Apparently, though, the 27-year-old Aussie is just not a fan fave.
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SB Nation video archives: Urban golfing with a U.S. Open champ (2012)
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