There has been plenty of excitement about Tiger Woods since he made his comeback appearance at the Hero World Challenge earlier this month, and the majority of those taking part at the PNC Father/Son Challenge noticed.
One notable exception, however, was Jack Nicklaus.
Nicklaus Has Other Fish to Fry
Nicklaus was in the middle of throwing a charity event that weekend, and did not manage to see too much of Woods’ performance.
When he was quizzed about whether or not he was interested in watching Woods blaze up the comeback trail, too, his succinct reply was not at all!
To be fair though, he doesn’t have time for much, and it has less to do with Woods than how busy his day to day life is.
Between running his business and meeting the demands of his growing commitments to various charities, golf simply isn’t the priority it once was.
While he does keep his fingers on the pulse of the game, and enjoys hanging out with players at his once-a-year Memorial Tournament, or his Bears Club in Jupiter, Florida, time is short.
This kind of limited free time is exactly what makes the game to offer so valuable -we are all so much busier than we realise that there is room for very little in the way of relaxation!
Nicklaus Does Wish Him Well, However
Nicklaus added that of course he wished Woods well, but stated once again that he was not particularly interested in watching him play.
He said that he didn’t watch much golf at all anymore, and, that even though the television set was usually on, he didn’t really pay much attention to it.
He later said that he felt that Woods was good for the game, and had been for a long time now, and that the little that Nicklaus did manage to catch of Woods’ game was encouraging.
He stated that Woods seemed to be hitting the ball pretty well, and seemed to be pain-free, and enjoying himself.
Nicklaus said that he had not seen enough of his swing, only catching him walking by the TV set and hitting a shot or two, but that what he did see was good, although it looked like the swing of someone who didn’t want to injure their back.
Other Players Made a Point to Have a Look
Other players acknowledged that they had made a point to have a look at what the 14-time Major winner would be able to do in his first competitive rounds in what has been over 300 dyas. Lee Trevino said that he looked good, resembling his old self a little more, and that he seemed ready.
Tom Lehman added that he had been very interested in watching Woods play, and stated that there was a great amount of potential for Woods at this stage of his career, in terms of there being great possibilities for him going forward if he managed to stay healthy.