Michael Jordan has a word of advice for Tiger Woods before the WGC Bridgestone Invitational
Tiger Woods return at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational is churning up a heated debate among golf critics and many have rendered his decision to return to professional golf, a tad bit early. The 35-year-old Woods has won the event for a staggering seven
times and is returning to the course after a pause of 11 weeks after his withdrawal from the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Michael Jordan, the legendary National Basketball Association (NBA) player, who is an avid fan of the sport, has instead, commended Woods’ decision to return to mainstream sport. Jordan, who happens to be the Assistant Captain at the Presidents Cup
this year, has had a long association with Woods where both have remained friends for several years.
Jordan spoke about his holistic approach towards basketball and reminisced about his vows in his personal life and how he overtook them in the court, referring the sport as a “therapeutic rehab”.
“The biggest thing is that I’ve always – and I’m pretty sure Tiger has, too – used sport as a therapeutic tool,” he said. “Once you’re inside the lines, you can focus on what your jobs are and what you’re doing on the court, or for him the course.”
Although, Jordan’s statement is open to plausible arguments, it does not come as a surprise that he has conveniently ignored the notion that Woods’ lingering vows have much to do with physical injuries rather than the psychological ones.
Having missed two of the major events of the year, the 14-major-winner has not yet fully recovered from his left knee injury and an Achilles strain in both legs. Regardless of these injuries which have kept the player off-course, Jordan is confident
Woods will be making a robust comeback in near future.
“I think he’s waiting to explode again,” said Jordan, “A wounded dog has a tough time trying to keep winning battles. And because the battle was a lot tougher than I thought even Tiger realised a while ago, he needs to heal before he gets back into
these battles again.”
WGC Bridgestone Invitational is one of the events on the PGA Tour which does not have a halfway cut and many of the critics have reasoned it to be the primary factor which has caused him to consider a comeback before the last major of the year.
Jordan may have sufficient reasoning to coin sports turf as a “therapeutic rehab”, but it does not go without saying that basketball and golf require completely different states of mind. The amount of concentration required in golf is
considerably higher than what actually is required in Basketball.
Woods’ performance last year on the event was one his worst, where he was not able to break par in any of the four rounds through the weekend. He will also be coming in with the handicap of a new caddie on his bag.
Woods recently fired his 12-year-long caddie Steve Williams last week, making him one of the latest victims on the long list of compatriots and associates who were fired in the course of two years.
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