Date: June 15, 2015
Author: Rob Grant

Aussie’s unique plan to cure Tiger’s woes

<image="1" align="left" />

Tiger Woods last week plummeted to 181 in the world, shooting an 85 in the final round of the Memorial Tournament – but Australia's former British Open champion, Ian Baker-Finch, has an unusual plan to get the ex-No.1 back on track.

Baker-Finch says Woods should play golf alone every day for a month to find his swing.

"Tiger has issues with his swing," Baker-Finch said. "He keeps blaming his putting, but it’s not his putting, it is his swing, and he needs to sort that out,” Baker-Finch, now a commentator for CBS television, told Reuters.

Rather than belting balls ad nauseum on the range, he says the American needs practice rounds on his own.

“Tiger should shoot a score every day until his next tournament, not hit perfect shots on the range with Sean and TrackMan (a radar device players use to assess their swings),” said Baker-Finch.

“Just go play golf and enjoy getting it in the hole in the lowest number possible. I think that’s what he used to do when younger.”

Baker-Finch identifies with Woods' woes, having veered disastrously off track following swing changes after his 1991 British Open win at Royal Birkdale.

“I think he needs to go away and play golf every day for a month by himself and figure it out, because it’s obviously not working, whatever he’s trying to do.

“He doesn’t look in sync to me. His swing and his body aren’t matching up.”

Baker-Finch says it is hard to be confident and perform at a high level when you are thinking ‘boy, what am I doing wrong?’

“It’s obvious something is not right. He might go win…by 10 shots again and two or three others on courses where he feels comfortable, but there was a time a decade or so ago when he was top-three every time he played.”

Baker-Finch said Woods is not the same player he was 10 years ago but believes "he’s still capable of being number one in the world."

Another former Open champion, Tony Jacklin, has a more radical solution. The Briton believes Woods needs to take an entire year off gold but agrees with Baker-Finch that the work needs to be done only in private.

Ahead of the US Open at Chambers Bay this week, 1969 Open champ Jacklin said: "Tiger is not comfortable in his own skin and almost needs a year off to get away from it all.

"He has experienced some injuries in recent times and his confidence is gone.

"The other thing is that he was the one who reset the bar for all these guys.

"He is responsible for them playing for eight, nine or 10 million dollars a week.  It was him who virtually did it single-handed but he is under incredible pressure all the time.

"He's firmly under the microscope with the media and it is a tough one for him to work through.

"I think he should disappear for a year, work on his game and then come back.

"If it doesn't work, I wonder what the future is going to bring for him, I really do."

Meanwhile, Australian Matt Jones tied for third as Argentinian Fabian Gomez won his first US PGA Tour title with an impressive four shot victory over England's Greg Owens at the FedEx St Jude Classic at the TPC Southwind in Memphis.

Victorian Cameron Percy followed up his recent 10th place finish with another good week when 18th.

And Australian veteran Peter Fowler has clinched his second European senior event in as many weeks.Fowler continued his incredible recent form by claiming the ISPA Handa PGA Seniors Championship in England.

He went into the final round with a four-shot lead and eventually won by three.

Fowler triumphed at last week’s Acorn Jersey Open.