Attitude

We like Woody Austin, or at least we want to. He's a gamer, got grit and can play. If we could watch him from a distance and not have to listen, we'd have him on our short list of very fine players. His interviews this week cleared some things up, at least in our mind.

He's got attitude, just like most who play the game. Trouble is, his is a "little" on the over-extended side and he's got it localized down to what looks like a single displacement now, but he still isn't listening to himself. The chip on his shoulder has grown, but he's right about one thing - the media love Tiger more than they like him.

In short, the message that comes through is filled with a rather transparent need to knock Tiger off the top rung and a growing resentment that he hasn't done it yet. Or maybe he's waiting for Tiger to step aside and let Woody ascend to the throne. Meanwhile, he's blaming the media and the galleries for their failure to notice and using his verbal "forthrightness" as an excuse, rather than a reason, for why that is.

He rightly sees some similarities between himself and Tiger and doesn't understand why the galleries willingly fuss over Tiger and need a challenge from him (Woody) to raise a cheer. It's all in attitude. It's in how a person carries himself. What Woody misses is that Tiger has no persistent chip and his (Woody's) keeps getting bigger and louder.

Some have chips that are tough and fleeting and others carry a single one like a piece of baggage everywhere they go. Woody doesn't understand why Tiger can slam a club and be called "competitive," while he (Woody) can show what he believes to be similar and be called a "loose cannon." It's all in the way the attitude is carried. Some call it "bearing." There is a mature version and one that has a lot of unfinished business.

It is true that perception can be fickle. It appears to us that sometime back, when Woody hit himself in the head with his own putter and broke it, the "loose cannon" myth got started and that kind of folklore tends to remain. We think it's quite likely that fed Woody's chip. Those things get heavy, so we hope that Woody can now start shifting the load a bit before the President's Cup. He also needs to put aside his "I'm 43 years old" bit and keep playing his game. He thinks it used to be better. We disagree. He's a better player (seems to us its the score that counts) than he used to be.

A lot of people didn't like Tiger's fist pumping at first, but it became clear that he didn't carry that everywhere he went. It was fast, short and gone - part of his natural style. Woody needs to see that dynamic, but it is hard to be "unique" when somebody with a better record that he admires and resents at the same time is standing there with all the trophies.

Woody is not likely to see this, but we'll hope for him that he loses the chip and puts it where others can't see it. It is time for him to get through this particular "sticking point" and finish his "business." We think he's a winner. Now if only he can see it, too. Winners are as winners do.