Slump? More Like a Snow Job

From the looks of things, it’s going to be all downhill from here for Tiger Woods.

Sure, he has slumped all the way to No. 2 in the rankings, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stow his clubs in the garage, go hang out on his yacht or join the celebrity poker tour any time soon.

Instead, Woods showed how his life really has changed by how he spent some of his time off. He went to Utah and learned to ski. His assessment of the experience was brief, yet precise.

“Cold.”

He went twice, both times with his wife of three months, Elin, who is an accomplished skier. Woods, who had never been on skis in his life, said that after his second trip, he was nearly as fast as she was.

Never mind that he could be risking injury, especially considering that he had surgery in 2002 to correct a knee problem. Yes, it is difficult to drive the ball properly if you’re leaning on a crutch, but that’s not the point.

There are two lessons we should take away from Tiger’s turn on the slopes.

He is extremely competitive.

He has a life.

Cool.

Woods could have chosen an alternate plan instead of skiing during his limited time off before starting the golf grind of a new year, especially if you consider he didn’t exactly overpower a lot of guys in 2004.

He could have spent hours out there on the range, beating balls until his hands became callused. He could have studied videotape of how he played in 2000, when he won nine times, including the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. He could have changed caddies, coaches or clubs.

He didn’t do any of that.

He went skiing.

Somebody is probably going to say that he shouldn’t have done that. There will be critics who believe that he would have been better served if he had stayed home and worked on his swing. He should have taken his real job a little bit more seriously. A skiing vacation is further proof that he’s not serious enough and that he’s softer than gnarly powder, dude.

That’s one opinion. Another is that Woods is going to be 30 this year, he has been playing golf at the highest level since he won his third consecutive U.S. Amateur in 1996 and he’s newly married to a former Swedish bikini model, so he deserves a slight break of non-golf fun.

Besides, the indications are that Woods isn’t nearly as decrepit on the golf course as rumors would have it.

When he tees it up this morning at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, Woods will be working on a streak of 12 consecutive rounds in the 60s.

He is also working on a streak of 134 cuts made, a PGA Tour record.

And he’s obviously comfortable with the way he’s hitting the ball. At the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, Woods led the field in average driving distance at 298.5 yards, unloading with his Nike Ignite, model 460cc driver.

His problem on Maui was that he couldn’t get any putts to drop, which is unusual for Woods, who was the second-best putter on the PGA Tour last year, behind Stewart Cink.

When Woods has it going on the greens, you get the feeling he could knock the ball into the hole with ja ski pole, and we know now that Tiger has a few of those around.

Chances are, it’s going to be only a matter of time before Woods starts feeling comfortable on the greens.

There is actually a real chance of a major breakout by Woods this year. He said he was beginning to trust his swing. Plus, the competition is certain to pique his interest, what with the top players in the world at the top of their games and with the majors in such high-octane venues as St. Andrews, Pinehurst and Baltusrol, not to mention Augusta National.

It’s true that Woods hasn’t won any of the last 10 majors, dating to the 2002 U.S. Open, but then he didn’t ski during any of the previous off-seasons.