Assistant President's Cup captain and basketball legend Michael Jordan has offered his insight into Tiger Wood's upcoming return.
“The biggest thing is that I’ve always – and I’m pretty sure Tiger has, too – used sport as a therapeutic tool,” he said. “Once you’re inside the lines, you can focus on what your jobs are and what you’re doing on the court, or for him the course.
“The problem for him was that he wasn’t physically capable of getting inside those lines and doing those things. I think he’s been somewhat fragile mentally and physically.
“When I went through those issues, once I got on to the basketball court that became a therapeutic thing for me where I was able to forget all those other things. Once I finished playing basketball, I came out with a better understanding of the decisions I had to make.”
The hardest part for Tiger is that golf is much more mentally difficult than basketball. With basketball, you can use your emotions and anger to take over the game in a physical way. With golf, it is all mental, which is why it's the hardest sport to be great at consistently.
Most golfers know that if you allow any negative outside thoughts into your head when trying to play, you are screwed. For Tiger, he has to blank out the car crash, affairs, divorce, rehab, losing sponsors, media criticism, and overall haters in combination with trying to get healthy and groove a new swing. It's going to be a challenge, but if there is any golfer with enough mental capability, it would be Woods.
