Dave Pazzaglia
Tomorrow will mark the 1st round of the Masters tournament and the 1st major Tiger Woods will be playing in since before his knee injury. With his first three starts of the season all showing some positives; driving the ball great at Tucson, having a solid iron game at Doral, and winning Bay Hill with a great short game it's hard to argue that Tiger isn't the favorite going into his first major back since injury. With four career wins at Augusta (1997,2001,2002,2005), Woods will look to make it five although he has only won one in his last six attempts at the green jacket.
With Tiger healed, hungry and obviously beginning to peak again the rest of the field will have to bring everything they have to compete for the jacket. The only part of Tiger’s illustratious career missing is his bid for the Grand Slam, winning all four majors in one year. Tiger has won four in a row before just not at the right time. Augusta is the first of four major championships of the year and I can assure you due to his competitive nature and excitement to be back that he has his eye on doing it this year, but it all begins with this weekend.
You never know what to expect from Phil Mickelson but he could cause Tiger some trouble if he can find his stroke this weekend where he has won two Masters Championships in the last five seasons. He is one of only two players too own two PGA Tour victories this season along with Geoff Ogilvy. Other contenders besides these two should be Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, Henrik Stenson, and Tim Clark.
Woods stated, “The preparation, the feeling I have right now, it feels the same.” Tiger will tee off Thursday at 1:52 with Stewart Cink and Jeev Milkha Singh. The last Grand Slam event Tiger played in was all the way back in June where he beat out Rocco Mediate in a playoff hole. Don’t be surprised if Tiger get his 15th major title this week and starts his bid to win all four titles this year. Tune in this weekend for what should be one heck of a return.
Brett M. Rhyne
ReplyDeleteTiger, Tiger, burning bright,
How's your right knee feel tonight?
After his performance this weekend, is it time yet to ask if Tiger's finished? What do you think Dave, our resident golf expert?
Dave Pazzaglia
ReplyDeleteAlthough it appeared that the number one and two players in the world that of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were going to make an improbable come back; they just feel short on Sunday at Augusta. After Tiger had made an eagle on the par 5 eighth hole and began to crank it up midway through the back nine as Mickelson set a course record on the front nine it seemed the two were going to match each other all the way back up the leader board with one being the eventual winner. Although Tiger seemed to be fighting the course he was still playing good enough to give himself a chance to win a strong characteristic of the old Tiger.
Tiger stated, "I fought my swing all day and was just kind of Band-Aiding it around. And [I] almost won the tournament with a Band-Aid swing today." With this being said this was Tiger’s first major since his return from knee injury and only his fourth tournament play with one victory already under his belt at Bay Hill. Over the weekend and especially on Sunday it seemed more mental than physical with Tiger fighting his swing all day, showing signs of frustration. At the moment Tiger obviously does not have the stuff that he was playing with before but without questions it is there and it’s only a matter of time before he’s back to 100% pulling off victories like he almost did on Sunday with a round that was not nearly up to his caliber.
So in response to your question there is no way Tiger is finished. Tiger showed at moments over the weekend that he can physically strike the ball like he once had with a healthy knee. Although he was inconsistent he still almost pulled it off. It just seemed towards the end of the tournament he was mentally drained from the weekend and physically just nearly not back to where he was when he was playing year round. Within a couple more tournaments of play this will come back in no time. It’s only a matter of time before Tiger rekindles his whole game and with his competitive nature there is no way he is near finished. We will continue to see him atop the leader board and expect many victories whether on the PGA tour events or during the major tournaments with Tiger Woods at the top.