Tiger Woods’ future at the top level of professional golf is uncertain, with the 15-time major winner once again recovering from injury.
After undergoing back surgery in September, Woods pulled out of the Hero World Challenge in Albany. Woods is expected to play the PNC Championship before Christmas, but it remains unclear if the 48-year-old will tee it up alongside his son, Charlie.
Clearly, the game of golf is better off when Woods is playing and competing at the right end of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, the American’s mid-2000 form is a thing of the past and outspoken Golf Channel pundit Brandel Chamblee saw it coming nearly 11 years ago.
Brandel Chamblee Tiger Woods claim rings true
Back in 2013, Chamblee spoke about Woods‘ ability to bounce back from swing changes and still reach his previous elite level.
“Yes, I’ll give Sean Foley his due,” Chamblee said [Golf Digest]. “He teaches a very pretty, efficient golf swing, but it’s not imaginative, and it’s not versatile. I’m amazed at Tiger’s ability to incorporate three drastically different golf swings and bring them to some level of excellence. Nobody’s ever done that in golf. Ever. This guy’s changed his golf swing three, some people would say four times and each time he’s come back and been the No. 1 player.”
Chamblee, however, then claimed Tiger would never reach his mid-2000 level after 2013, a statement that was proven true.
“But he hasn’t done that yet with this swing,” Chamblee added.
“Tiger, doing what he’s doing now, will never get anywhere near as good as he was in 2005-6-7-8 or 9, and he won’t sniff getting as good as he was in 2000. I used to say, Tiger, half as good as he used to be, is still twice as good as anybody, but that, as it turns out, is wrong because I didn’t imagine somebody coming along as talented as Rory.”
When was Tiger Woods last world number-one
Many would assume Woods was near the top of the world rankings after his 2019 Masters victory at Augusta. However, that wasn’t the case.
The American was last world number one in May 2014 after he won five times during the 2013 season. The four years that followed were forgettable.
Woods’ next win followed at the Tour Championship in 2017/18 before his memorable return to glory happened at Augusta. The 15-time major winner would then match Sam Snead’s 82 PGA Tour wins at the ZOZO Championship in 2019.
Since Chamblee’s comments, Woods has failed to reach his former glory, and only time will tell whether the American will ever be competitive on a golf course once more.
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