19th Hole
Can Tiger Woods win in 2025? Or beyond? (plus an interesting question)
Around the 10-minute mark of the latest episode of Not Another Golf Show, the guys dig into Tiger Woods’ health update at last week’s Hero World Challenge and news he plans to tee it up along with his son Charlie at the PNC Championship next week.
Here’s an excerpt of the conversation.
Ben: I’ll ask you, coming out of out of his Hero presser and his answers around his health. Did you expect him to be ready for this event or did you expect he’d be on the shelf for a bit longer here?
Gianni: I thought he’d play because he can just get in a cart for this… it’s not going to be taxing on the body at all. let’s be honest, nobody really cares about the result. It’s more about just teaming and having fun. So I’m not surprised he’s playing, but it’s very hard to be enthusiastic about Tiger’s 2025 when you listen to him speak about his body, about his health, how he’s not going to be able to play lead-up events into the majors. I know he hates the term “ceremonial golfer” but it’s hard to get away with not calling him that these days.
Ben: I mean, just looking at his age, irrespective of the toll the body has taken, which is singular, think, in golf, at least among top golfers. mean, the infographic of what has happened to each portion of his body and what he’s weathered, the number of surgeries, all of that is…It’s really staggering and you know, it’s easy to forget about some of it. But I mean, the age he’s at, for the most part, players don’t win anymore. I mean, he’s past the age of decline.
So you got father time going against you generally. then given everything he’s been through. And I think specifically, he has issues affecting his ability to walk and his endurance related to that and the ability to pain-free related to that. But you know, the back issues, I think just as much the way that continues to be a thing, you know, I mean, he was on the shelf for his prior back surgery, right? When the car accident happened, and then all the focus is on the leg, you know. But the back was still very much a thing at that point, and obviously, as evidenced by him having another surgery here, still is very much a thing. So, it’s super concerning in terms of just his ability to ever have the combination of feeling good enough to get the reps, to get the game sharp enough, and having four days in which he’s able to walk around with the level of comfort that it’s not adversely affecting his play.
Gianni: Yeah, I would just, and it is never going to happen, but I would just love to see him avail of the PGA Tour’s disability clause and just use a cart for a year and just see how he feels after that…because he’s just giving himself fits now…
Ben: I mean, it would be an interesting counterfactual. I agree, it won’t happen. But how would he play? Would he be able to contend if he just had to get out of the cart and hit shots? Would he be at a level where he was truly competitive? Greatest golfer of all time, in my opinion. An argument for the greatest iron player. And still even in these tournaments, he can hit the shots. At times, it’s there in a way. So, it would be interesting to see if taking that stress off the body and effectively just having to hop out and hit a shot, what he’d be able to shoot.
Gianni: Yeah, because he’ll probably play well next week and then everyone will get hyped up and they don’t realize he’s going to play once or twice before the Masters then. It’s just not enough preparation. He just can’t compete against these guys with that level of reps. His body is just not ready for it.
…and still we’re all going to tune in next week because it’s Tiger.
Ben: You grow up a fan, it’s kind of “hope springs eternal,” and he’s always had the reputation for and indeed has done the impossible, the improbable. So, you know, you still believe it on some level believe there could be another win or another major there. But the data, you know, if you’re making the case, it’s certainly much tougher than it has ever been before for him to win a major championship.
You can listen to the full episode below or wherever you get your podcasts.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
‘Why would anybody want to change that swing?’ – Brandel Chamblee says PGA Tour star was wrong to change his swing
‘The stupidest freaking thing I’ve ever heard’ – Billy Horschel slams Open idea suggested by Padraig Harrington
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Golfer proudly posts photo of ball mark on iron, receives immediate roasting
WITB Time Machine: Matthew Wolff’s winning WITB, 2019 3M Open
Oakmont Country Club bans Wyndham Clark over locker incident; Reveals specific conditions to earn reinstatement
Adam Scott puts Callaway blades in the bag at Wyndham Championship
Report: LIV star fires caddie and coach in shock shake up
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’
The championship formula: How 3 key stats separate winners from the field
Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
Ned
Dec 18, 2024 at 6:09 am
The question should be can he play?
Ted J
Dec 17, 2024 at 9:40 am
Nope. On his best day, just a ceremonial golfer.
Bob Jones
Dec 16, 2024 at 10:45 am
Everyone, it’s over. We loved him, we marveled at him, we appreciated what he did to grow the game. But it has to be over sometime, and that time is now.
Pingback: Morning 9: Patty T, Knapp win GTI | Q-School qualifiers – GolfWRX
Curtis
Dec 16, 2024 at 9:54 am
No he cant and wont ever again he’s broken from all the drugs in his body
Tyler Durden
Dec 14, 2024 at 2:41 pm
No.