"My Glutes are Shutting Off"

Tiger Woods' decline is so remarkable that your humble observer still has trouble processing his fall from golf's pinnacle. In 2009, before his infidelities and marital struggles became widely known, Tiger was the favorite to win every tournament he entered; there was no one close to challenging him as the world's best golfer.

Today at 39, an age when professional golfers' skills should still be near their peak, Tiger Woods could reasonably be expected to contend for championships. After all, in the past 50 years six golfers who were in their 40's have won major tournaments.

This week Tiger Woods missed the cut at the U.S. Open by a wide margin:

He finished 16 over par in two days at Chambers Bay....It was his highest 36-hole score above par at a major in his career. At the time he stepped off the course, he was tied for 154th place in a 156-man field.

His latest excuses are ripe for mockery [bold added]:

It's just my glutes are shutting off. Then they don't activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. So, I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but they never stayed activated.

Gluteal analysis by Golf Digest

What happened to Tiger isn't a tragedy in the modern meaning of the term because he retains many millions of dollars from his golf endorsements and wins, no one's died, and he's still famous in a mostly positive sense.

His persistence in the face of criticism and even pity is commendable. In fact expectations are so low that, if he can pull off a victory or two, his comeback will be lauded enthusiastically. I, for one, am hoping that he's got another run left. May his glutes activate more strongly than ever before.