UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- It was another Tiger Tuesday at the U.S. Open. Majors or minors, Tuesdays are the day Tiger Woods almost always does his pre-tournament media session. Nobody during the past 20 years has done more of these things than Woods.
A Tiger Tuesday used to be about Sundays. Woods owned Sundays. He owned the majors. He owned golf. But now he rents.
"Sometimes you have to make a shift, and I did," said Woods, referring to what is now the fourth swing change of his career. "And short-term suffering for long-term gain. I've done this before when I've made changes in the past. I've struggled through it. I've come out on the good side."
Nobody in that interview room -- with the exception of Woods himself -- truly thinks he is going to leave Chambers Bay with his fourth U.S. Open trophy and his 15th major victory. And why would you? His swing is ground under repair. He hasn't won a major since 2008 or a tournament since 2013. And the most recent time he played tournament golf, Woods shot his worst 18-hole score as a professional (85), his worst 72-hole total (302) and he finished in last place by 6 strokes.
And yet, when someone asked him Tuesday why he still believes he can win this week, Woods didn't hesitate.
"I've got three of these," he said.
These. Three U.S. Open championships. As if the memory of those majors won in 2008, 2002 and 2000 translates to 2015.
This is the way Woods thinks. This is the way he has to think. What, you're expecting him to say, "Bubba Watson's visor has a better chance of winning the Open than me." Or, "I'll be lucky to make the cut." Or, "I hope I break 90."
Like it or not, your reality isn't Woods' reality. You see the meltdown at Memorial, where he played like a guy who might not win the B-flight of his member-member. Woods sees a guy getting ready to take the training wheels off his new swing -- but first he has to fall off the bike.
"Obviously I've got to do it in front of the world, and sometimes it's tough," he said. "I've got to suck it up and do it."
There seems to be no in-between when it comes to Woods. He alienates. He polarizes. He confounds. Or he inspires. He persists. He stays true to his own golf beliefs. Choose your side.
The tone of the emails and tweets I receive about Woods ranges from supportive, to respectfully critical, to racist and reprehensible. Everyone has an opinion.
It is more than fair to question if Woods ever will win another major. It is valid to ask about the wisdom of another swing change. And it is perfectly legitimate to wonder why he doesn't follow the advice of the legend he chases: Jack Nicklaus, who has all but pleaded with Woods to quit caroming from one swing doctor to the next and, well, heal thyself.
What I don't understand is how anyone could question his determination.
Woods doesn't practice as much at age 39 as he did at 29. He has acknowledged that much. He has two children and it's only human nature that something gives in the golf equation.
And perhaps the 17th-place finish two months ago at the Masters wasn't the corner-turner he thought it would be. It was progress, but then came Memorial and the carnage.
He sits at 195th in the world rankings. If he plays poorly this week, he would almost certainly tumble into the 200s. These are numbers that simply can't be ignored.
But you also can't ignore the effort, however uneven or embarrassing it is.
"Well, I wouldn't have made the changes if I wasn't devoted to the game of golf and winning golf tournaments," he said. "I want to be out here. I want to play. I want to compete. And I want to win."
Exactly. You don't suffer the humiliation of an 85 and a last-place finish (Woods played as a single in the final round of the Memorial) unless you're committed to your game and swing change. You don't become a human piñata for the fun of it.
Woods believes he can win this U.S. Open. He believed he could win the Masters. That's how he's hardwired. His recent results and his swing in transition suggest a different outcome -- and it doesn't include a trophy presentation.
Jason Day, who played a practice nine with Woods on Monday, is like the rest of us. He wonders when or if Woods can be, well, Woods again.
"We're just waiting for him to come back and win those tournaments like it was nothing -- hunt people down ... like he was playing a Wednesday tournament at a country club," Day said. "But will we see it? I'm not sure.
"You're climbing Mount Everest and he's fallen off it a couple of times and climbed back up there again. Once people understand how hard it is to climb Mount Everest, it's hard to do it again."
The rise and fall of Woods has been well documented. Now we find out if there will be one more ascent.
