Monday, October 10, 2016

Golf Channel Quotes: Tiger Woods Withdraws from Safeway Open

(Golf Central Report) - Monday, Oct. 10, 2016

Notah Begay – “This came as a bit of surprise to me…everything that we had discussed all through last week’s Ryder Cup and spending a great deal of time that entire week together was leading to him getting out there to see where his game was at.”

Begay – “The Hurricane didn’t help and he had some concerns about the sharpness of his game…After talking to him this morning, he just didn’t feel like his game is where he wanted it to be competitive. And so he is going to defer for a couple more months and come back hopefully in the near future.”

Begay – “It’s not body-related. He is playing today down at Pebble Beach and plans to continue his progression with certain aspects of his game. I just think it might be the in-between shots…as we all know it is not just a succession of full shots that are required on the PGA TOUR. You have to have the feel shots, the in-between shots. Just not having had enough time to get the reps in prior to would be my guess based upon my conversations with Tiger.”

Johnny Miller – “It is a huge impact on our tournament, the Safeway Open. Obviously I wish Tiger the best. Everybody was so excited in the golf world and here in Northern California…I know there is a lot of pressure on Tiger after 14 months in being away from professional golf. The expectation and nervous level has got to be almost like when he played in his first L.A. Open when he was a kid. It is hard being Tiger Woods. It really is. Especially if he can’t back it up with semblance of the old Tiger Woods. And everybody expects him to come back and play like he did in the year 2000. That is just not going to happen. He has got to break the ice sometime. I hope he picks the right spot. He has promised us if he can, he will be back next year in the fall. I wish him the best. It’s not easy…There is so much pressure when you can’t deliver like you used to. But you’ve got to go back in there and go back to basics and try to make cuts and try to get the joy of the game back again. It is 10 times harder for him being Tiger Woods. But then again, when much is given, much is expected. I hope that he can find a little joy in the game again and feel good about teeing it up.”

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