3By MONTE DUTTON
Maybe it’s the weight of all that pressure for all those years. Or an inability or unwillingness to cope with the ravages of time and injury.
Tiger Woods looks unhappy. His expression seems set in a perpetual scowl. It’s tough to become accustomed to a view from the summit and have to settle for a lesser vista.
I never took guitar lessons, but it seems to me the first song most who did learned was:
Down in the valley / The valley so long / Hang your head over / Hear the wind blow.
In grade school, I remember a friend forcing me to hear him play it over and over.
Maybe that’s what Woods has been forced to experience but at his own hands.
Now, when the announcers say Woods is “chasing history” at the Masters, they’re talking about making the cut.
Woods shouldn’t feel so all alone. He spent a long time all alone. All alone at the top. Now his value is grounded in what he’s already done and where he’s already been. He’s an Oscar winner relegated to dinner theater in Poughkeepsie.
His mastery has grown sporadic. He’s not as good as he once was, but occasionally he’s as good once as he ever was.
Golf is a game, even at the top, to which most can relate. In Woods’ prime, I played golf as badly as I did every other sport. I was once a whiz at golf. Carpet golf.
I gave up golf because I took up guitar. Naturally, I now play it badly, but about 20 years ago, I could take my clubs or my guitar on a plane but not broke. Now the weight of my clubs is heavier from the dust caked on them in the garage.
Every now and then, I see the bag sitting there and think, maybe I could go to a driving range.
Nah. I can’t play golf in the living room. I can play guitar there and take a break from cranking out sports. Fix a cup of coffee, play a few Charley Pride tunes, and I’m good to go.
Maybe Woods needs a hobby. Maybe that’s what he’s got.
Meanwhile, back among the mortals …
Furman softball is on the comeback trail at home against Samford for three Southern Conference games.
The series consists of a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Paladins, who are 10-5 at home this season, have a solid pitching staff led by Emme Buzhardt (1-3, 2.95 ERA), Lauralee Scott (7-4, 3.28) and Sierra Tufts (8-6, 3.39).
Samford (12-25, 5-4) swept a three-game series from preseason league favorite UNC Greensboro last weekend in Birmingham, Ala., and have won five of their last six SoCon games.
Furman leads the all-time series versus Samford, 37-31, but the Bulldogs have won each of the last four series between the schools and 10 of the last 14 meetings.
Women’s tennis concludes the regular season Saturday at East Tennessee
State in a battle between the SoCon’s two unbeaten teams.
First serve is set for 11 a.m. at Dave Mullins Tennis Complex in Johnson City, Tenn.
The winner of the match will claim the league’s regular season championship and will earn the top seed for next week’s SoCon Championships.
The seven-time defending regular-season champion Paladins are riding a 57-match league regular-season winning streak, which dates back to April 18, 2015.
Furman (10-11, 6-0) dropped a 4-0 decision to 46th-ranked Charlotte on Sunday.
Junior Grace Thomas and freshman Macy Hitchocok are a perfect 6-0 in league matches, while freshman Maeve Thornton is 5-1. Junior Marissa Pennings is 4-1, and junior Sara Snyder holds a 3-1 record at No. 1.
ETSU (13-7, 6-0) beat Samford, on Sunday. Last weekend the Bucs also fell to Charlotte, 4-3.
Furman leads the all-time series, 37-2. The Paladins defeated the Bucs, 4-3, in Greenville in last year’s regular-season finale, but ETSU beat Furman, 4-0, in the championship match of the 2023 SoCon tournament.
The Furman track and field teams compete at the Electric City Invitational at Anderson University on Saturday.
The Paladins are to compete in the men’s 400 meters, mile, and 4×100 relay, while the women run ithe 200, 800, mile, and 5,000.
Senior Nicole Matysik ranks 28th on the East performance list with a time of 10:39.91 in the 3,000 Steeplechase, while sophomore Luke Taylor is 44th at 29:09.57 in the 10,000.
Lacrosse begins a two-game Big South Conference road trip Saturday afternoon when it travels to Rock Hill, S.C., for a 1 p.m. match against the Winthrop Eagles.
The Paladins (5-8, 3-1 Big South) dropped their first conference game of the season Wednesday with a 17-11 defeat to Mercer at Paladin Stadium.
Winthrop (1-11, 1-4), picked eighth in the Big South preseason poll,is under the direction of third-year head coach Kara Concheck.
Furman and Winthrop are meeting for the sixth time in program history with the Paladins owning a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series. Furman defeated the Eagles, 21-4, last season at Paladin Stadium.
The Paladins play their final road game of the season on Wednesday, April 17, traveling to Farmville, Va., to face Longwood at 6 p.m.
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