FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
Tiger Woods said long ago he would give up golf when he felt he could play his best and still not win.
That includes his lifetime invitation to the Masters.
"Let me put it to you this way," Woods said at the recent World
Challenge. "I'm not going to beat Arnold's record. I'm not playing that
long, that's for sure."
Palmer set a record in 2004 by playing in his 50th consecutive
Masters. Woods won his first green jacket when he was 21, and with
reasonable health (a big assumption considering his injuries), he would
seem to be in the best position to break that record. Even with his
injuries, the Masters is the one major Woods has never missed.
But Tiger just doesn't appear the least bit interested in that kind of a record.
"For me, I always want to win," he said. "So if I can't win, why tee
it up? That's just my own personal belief. And I know what it takes to
prepare to win and what it takes to go out there and get the job done,
and there's going to become a point in time where I just can't do it
anymore.
"We all as athletes face that moment. I'm a ways from that
moment in my sport, but when that day happens, I'll make a decision and
that's it."
But for Woods or any golfer, it's tough to know when that day happens.
Palmer never won another US PGA Tour event after the Bob Hope Classic in
1973, though he remained competitive for many years. Several players
eligible for the Champions (Seniors) Tour are hesitant about moving on.
When is it time?
"In golf, you can still win golf tournaments in your 50s, and guys
have done it," Woods said. "Probably the more difficult thing is that
you can still finish top 10, top five, but you're probably just not
quite as efficient as you need to be to win golf tournaments. But you
can still be there."
Might he change his mind about the Masters as he gets older? It doesn't sound like it.
"Mellowing on that? No. I'll be on that first tee starting out the
event, I'm sure," he said with a smile and a dose of sarcasm. "So I
mean, you hit a good drive and you can't get to where you can see the
flag? I don't know why it's even fun."
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