As Tiger Woods seeks to end a six-year major drought at this week’s British Open at Hoylake, Australia’s former champion Ian Baker-Finch has some unusual advice for him.
Woods, whose last grand slam victory was the 2008 US Open, has struggled with swing and putting problems before returning recently from a long injury lay-off due to a back issue.
The former world No.1, who tied for sixth behind winner Phil Mickelson at the British Open last year after injuring his elbow, hurt his back at the Honda Classic last February.
He came back only to miss the cut at the recent Quicken Loans National and travels to Britain under a cloud although he maintains his fitness is good.
Before his latest injury, Baker-Finch, winner of the 1991 Open, said Woods should play golf alone every day for a month to find his swing.
“Tiger has issues with his swing," Baker-Finch, now a CBS commentator, told Reuters. "He keeps blaming his putting, but it’s not his putting, it is his swing, and he needs to sort that out.”
Watching him play at the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic, Baker-Finch said that whatever the American and his coach Sean Foley were practising, it was not working.
According to Baker-Finch, Woods should swap the practice range for the course, and play in solitutude.
“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’s swing fell to pieces after he won the British Open at Royal Birkdale as he tried harder and harder to perfect it, only to see his drives consistently shoot out of bounds. He eventually quit competition.
“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 said. “He doesn’t look in sync to me. His swing and his body aren’t matching up.”
The Queenslander said it was 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 Bay Hill 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, despite his five wins on tour last season, was not the same player he was 10 years ago.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s still capable of being number one in the world for another five years, but it’s not the same Tiger we saw from 1999 to 2007.”
He said it was more likely new No.1 Adam Scott would hang on to his position for some time.
“Adam possesses a magical swing and a natural ability and flair and he’s quite possibly the best driver in the game,” Baker-Finch said. “He has no flaws."
He said Scott’s biggest threat could come from Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, but he said he remained "still in a little bit of a search."
"I don’t think he’s on top of his game yet, even though he’s coming back."
McIlroy finished 2013 on a high note by beating Scott at the Australian Open, but has yet to consistently recapture the brilliant form that had him at number one less than a year ago.
“I like what Rory is doing,” Baker-Finch continued. “I think he’s just got to get his confidence back. I don’t see anything he needs to fix.”
McIlroy has not won this year but has produced a series of top 10 finishes and tied for eighth at the Masters.
Meanwhile, Queensland’s Adam Crawford has finished joint runner-up in the Utah Championship on the Web.Com Tour.
Crawford finished 17 under the card but could not catch American winner Andres Gonzales who won at 21 under par.
By: Robert Grant