Faldo: Tiger has lost aura
Nick Faldo reckons the chances of Tiger Woods rediscovering his best form again are no better than "50 percent".
Last Updated: 29/09/11 2:12pm
Nick Faldo reckons the chances of Tiger Woods rediscovering his best form again are no better than "50 percent".
Woods has failed to win an event since the now infamous sex scandal erupted around him in November 2009 while the last of his 14 majors came at the 2008 US Open.
And now six-time major winner Faldo wonders if Tiger can hit the heights that made him the game's dominant force for well over a decade.
"To win and win a major and comeback and dominate again - you can't say it's impossible, but it's an uphill battle," said Faldo, speaking to reporters in Singapore while at the Asian Amateur Championship (AAC).
"He's fighting a lot of things," said Faldo, citing Woods' knee injury, his golf swing and overall loss in confidence.
"His concentration is broken."
Aura
Faldo reckons Tiger's lost aura of invincibility has helped the emergence of a crop of young players who now feel they have nothing to be scared of.
"These youngsters have now gotten very comfortable that Tiger is not around... they now concentrate totally on their own game," said Faldo.
"In the past, Tiger had such an aura, had such a presence that (rivals) used some energy consciously or sub-consciously thinking about him or seeing his name on the leaderboard.
"Now, they're doing their own thing... Tiger has not got the aura that he had before."
Woods has fallen to 50th in the latest world rankings and failed to make the recent FedEx Cup play-offs for the first time in his career after a miserable and injury-hit season on the PGA Tour.
After being given a Presidents Cup wildcard pick, he now hopes to rediscover some form ahead of the match with the Internationals in Australia when he tees it up in next week's Frys.com Open.
Woods will have a new caddie on his bag for his return from a two-month layoff after announcing that he'd hired Dustin Johnson's former looper Joe LaCava.
"I'm looking forward to playing next week at the Frys," Woods told reporters in Las Vegas on Tuesday. "Things are definitely shaping up quickly."
