Tiger Woods said Friday in a lengthy blog post that he's still not hitting full shots as he recovers from back fusion surgery, so he's having to get his golf fix in other ways.
One is next week's Presidents Cup team event, where he'll assist U.S. captain Steve Stricker against the Internationals.
"I am fired up for the Presidents Cup next week. It will be great to be around the guys and try to help our (U.S.) team any way I can to win. I had a blast doing it last year at the Ryder Cup and we have another great captain in Steve Stricker. We tried to keep the band together with Jim Furyk, Davis Love III and myself, and added Fred Couples, to maintain consistency and unity.
"We have a young team and quite a few first-timers. But they’re solid guys and have played well all year. My biggest responsibility is to do whatever the captain asks me to do."
Call it Tiger's ongoing evolution, from mental-game monster who dominated the PGA Tour out of sheer intimidation to subservient assistant coach with a balky back apparently accepting elder-statesman status.
The blog post — all 1,500 words of it — shows a Tiger more open about, well, most everything, including recent hurricanes, U.S. Open tennis ("how about Rafael Nadal?"), the total eclipse and the 2-0 Raiders.
Given that, at 41, he says he still isn't hitting the golf ball any farther than 60 yards, it's about time he let the world see a side of him away from the course.
