An intelligent wounded Tiger in front of the press

Everybody knows that Tiger Woods is having trouble scoring on the golf course after his great win in Bay Hill.

After a disappointing Masters and a failure to make the cut, last week, in North Carolina, it seems like Tiger is still struggling with his swing changes, by the looks of his two over par 74 in the opening round of this week´s Players Championship.

But, one round of golf is only one round of golf.

And I think Tiger said all the right things during his press conference yesterday evening in Ponte Vedra:

Here goes a part of it:

Q. Looked like you had some trouble with some of the finesse parts of the game, maybe wedges where you have to take a little something off, chip shots and getting the ball to the hole. Has that been a little slower to kind of come along, or is that just hit and miss, depending?

TIGER WOODS: Just one of those days today. Just today.

Q. How was your warm-up?

TIGER WOODS: I hit it good. I hit it really good.

Q. It seems that bridge between coming from the range to the first tee -- what's going on there?
TIGER WOODS:

It's golf.

Q. How do you deal with it?

TIGER WOODS: Just be patient with it. Just keep plugging along. You know, obviously in the last few months, I've put together some good rounds; won a couple tournaments.

So it's there, I just need to continue doing it.

When a golfer is struggling, or has a bad day, it´s key to "re frame" the situation in the most positive way possible.

And that´s exactly what Tiger did extremely well by saying:

1. On the question about his short game, Tiger dismisses that anything is wrong by saying "Just one of those days today" and then stresses, "Just today".

2. On the question about going from the practice range to the tee, Tiger answers very positively re framing his poor play with a reference to "It´s golf", that one just has to be patient, that one has to persevere ("Just keep plugging along") and a reminder to the press (and to himself) that he has, indeed, won twice in the last six months.

Like everybody, I´m not exactly sure how far along Tiger is on automating his swing, or on controlling his anger on the course.

But from the Mental Management side, his remarks yesterday evening were impeccable.