Only Tiger Woods really knows how close - or far - he is from being competitive in professional golf.
USA TODAY Sports reported that the ever-optimistic Woods once again talked about simply cleaning up his golf game and looking forward to contending at this week's Quicken Loans National in Gainesville, Va.
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The former No. 1 player in the world who now checks in at No. 266 is saying that there's not a lot of difference between No. 1 and No. 266.
"It's frustrating not to be able to win golf tournaments," he told reporters in advance of the PGA event. "I'm not really there in contention very often and so that part is frustrating. But I know how close it feels and I know that I just need a couple shots here and there and it turns the tide," Woods said. "People don't really realize how close it has been between a person who is winning and a person missing the cut. It's not as big a gap as people might think. ... Obviously I've got to clean up my rounds, convert the opportunities that I have and I just haven't done it and hopefully I can do it this week."
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Wood said he went on vacation to the Bahamas with his kids after missing the cut at the British Open - marking the first time in his career that he missed back-to-back cuts at major events, the US Open being the other - and found, as he is fond of saying, that he is close.
"When I geared back up, I started doing some testing and found a couple little things but it wasn't anything major, which was nice. It was just some of my swings just weren't quite right and I worked on a few things and feel pretty good now," Woods said. " ... Things are starting to come together. Again, I'm sticking with it, sticking with the process and just trying to make progress each and every day."
USA TODAY Sports' For the Win reported that Woods talked about constantly playing soccer with his children.
"All I do these days is play soccer with my kids," Woods said. "That's all I do, run, run, run around playing soccer."
He added that he doesn't let them beat him, but his comments again conjure speculation that part of his struggles are due to the fact that he just isn't practicing as much as he used to before he became a father.
For the Win included a comment he said in the spring about his passion for spending time with his children during the press conference.
"I want to spend as much time as I can with my kids," he said. "I have split custody, so when I'm at home, I want to be home with them, take them to a soccer game or to school or to activities, whatever it is. I'm their dad."
Only Woods knows how much that is affecting his game or whether his game is taking a back seat to his kids.
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