Tiger Woods battles calls to retire after recent troubles at the US PGA.
Tiger Woods has promised to “fight until the end” following a disappointing performance at the 106th US PGA Championship, which prompted increased calls for the 15-time major winner to quit.
The 48-year-old, who won this major at the Valhalla venue in 2000, missed the cut on seven-over, with his performance in placing 133rd in a 156-man field that included 20 club players arguably best summed up by the two triple-bogey sevens he carded in three holes early in his second round.
Woods fell six shots short of qualifying for the weekend’s final two rounds, and after finishing last of those who made the cut at last month’s Masters, it was unavoidable that social media would be flooded with those pleading with Woods to call it quits.
Nick Bradley, who previously coached Justin Rose, Sir Nick Faldo, and Paul McGinley, agreed with Colin Moontgomerie’s conclusion after the Masters. “I just wish Tiger had gone after he waved on that Swilken Bridge in St Andrews a couple of years ago,” Montgomerie told TalkSport last month. “He’s continued going, and he believes he can do it, but it’s clear now, both physically and mentally, that he can’t. There is a right moment to depart and a wrong time, and I believe he is delaying it for a little too long.”
Bradley made a reference and connection to Muhammad Ali’s unwillingness to hang up his gloves in the early 1980s. “Ali was born in Kentucky and fought for another two years after he should have quit,” Bradley stated. Tiger Woods is in Kentucky. and must retire before his final bookend is recognized as the same as Ali’s. There is no shame in admitting that you have lost a step.
The main difference, of course, is that Ali was putting his health at risk by returning to the ring. Without a doubt, Woods’ body is ravaged from repeated back surgeries and the devastating injuries he sustained in a car accident three years ago, which nearly cost him his right leg. But he is barely risking his
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