Tiger Woods laughs about critics who tell him he sucks and should retire

NORTON, Mass. -- Tiger Woods tries to pay no attention to his legion of critics but bits of uninvited input about what’s wrong with his game and how to fix it occasionally find their way to the former world No. 1, who chooses to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Just like a body part, everyone has an opinion,” Woods, laughing, quipped via video conference during Monday’s media day to promote next month’s Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston. “I’ve had a lot of people just say, basically, ‘hey, quit and retire, you suck.’”

Woods, whose foundation is the primary beneficiary of the Labor Day competition -- the second of four FedExCup playoff events -- is unlikely to start the tournament in which the top 100 in the FEC standings are eligible. Tiger, up slightly in the world rankings to No. 262 after his T18 finish at last week’s Quicken Loans National, is 85 slots out of contention for the DBC.

“Winning my fifth PGA would be nice,” he said about one potential way to qualify for the Deutsche Bank.

If he were to fall short at Whistling Straits in two weeks, Woods said he may play in the event immediately following the men’s fourth and final major of the season, the Wyndham Championship.

“A lot of it is dependent on what I do with the PGA and whether or not I have a chance to make the playoffs,” said Woods. “I need to obviously play well at the PGA to get myself to move up in points and then give myself an opportunity to get into the playoffs. Right now I’m so far off that I need to have a really high finish.”

Winning his 15th major after a seven-plus-year drought would be a tad more noteworthy than an appearance at the DBC, which he won in 2006. Woods, with his three cuts and just two top-20 finishes in nine starts in 2015, rued not making it into this week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, where he has won eight times. He nevertheless sounded upbeat about the long-term “process” of executing his latest swing changes under the watchful eye of consultant Chris Como.

“Hey, we can all be ‘Ranger Rick’ and hit golf good shots on the range, but to carry it to the golf course and a golf tournament is another story, and I’m finally able to start doing that now,” said Woods.

Though he joked about hitting some golf balls last Saturday in places where only “some kind of GPS beacon” could find them, Woods, who last lifted a trophy two years ago at Firestone, said he was “very close” to winning again.

Which is why -- despite what the naysayers believe -- Tiger is not yet ready to hang up his spikes.

“There will come a point in time where I will retire,” Woods said. “I’m not going to be out here forever. I’m not going to be one of those guys that plays at 70 years old and is one of those guys taking up a spot. If I still feel that I’m competitive and I can play at a high level and can win golf tournaments, yeah, I’ll stay out here.”

As for those who believe their pearls of wisdom are unique, Woods has really heard them all -- from “swing slower” to “just make more putts.” He said he has even received suggestions from would-be dietitians concerned about his nutritional intake.

“I’ve had people at restaurants say, ‘hey, all you need to do is just eat a little bit better and you’ll feel better, and that’ll make you play better,’” Tiger said. “I’m having fish and broccoli. How much better does it get than this?”

★★★

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