I think he's swinging well enough to win again. Putting is always something that every player needs to win; he's not putting like he was, but probably still good enough to win. I think he needs to find that confidence that allowed him to avoid all those bogeys he should have made but didn't. You could look at Tiger's tee shots in a round and think " he must have shot at least a couple over", but he somehow shot a couple under.

He also needs to come into Sunday with at least a several shot lead. Tiger has never been a come-from-behind player. He'd play 2 great rounds and grind out a score and have the lead on Sunday and then would increase the lead or find a way to hold everyone off.

I think he can still win tournaments and majors, but it's hard to say if he actually will. I doubt he is playing just to get Top 10's and make money. I'm sure he would love to get a win so he could sneer at the journalists that said he couldn't. I'm sure he'd also love to hoist a trophy with his kids there.

    garyt1957 I do believe that winning 5 more majors is still his biggest desire, but I think he's really trying to get his life back on track and take the opportunity to repent and win back some respect. Perhaps it is just hopeful thinking on my part, but I believe his comeback is as much about trying to put his past behind him and get purpose for the life that is still ahead of him. I think he's trying to get his income rolling again and ease up the pressure on his kids and family that also suffer by association to his past. I don't think he'll be bitter if he doesn't win another major as long as he can establish a reputation as someone who overcame his failings with responsibility and perseverance.

      KCee Putting is always something that every player needs to win; he's not putting like he was

      PA-PLAYA It was his putting.

      He had to change his putting stance due to the back surgeries, he's said. Anyone that has changed their putting technique, in any way, knows how this plays out, short term. And he has also said he cannot practice as long as he should or needs, so perhaps this will be long term for him. He will never putt like he used to. It's been seen already.

      The amazing thing is how he has leapfrogged the guys that had been playing well, in the world standings.

            garyt1957 And if youy're going to say "He already has more money than he'll ever need" you just don't understand rich people.

            Well, his est. NET worth is 'only' $760M. Given the fact(rumor) he had to give Elin $500M, not so long ago, means he's not going to run dry. Good investments, I'd say.

            Elin's NET worth is only $200M! 🤔

                Par4QC Given the fact(rumor) he had to give Elin $500M
                Elin's NET worth is only $200M!

                That must have been some kind of shopping spree.
                LOL

                    Spuzz Damn women!😉

                    But, I've read where the settlement was only $100M. No one will ever know except for them and the atty's.

                        Par4QC Damn women!😉

                        Might as well take this completely off track. Just saw this joke on another forum.

                        My son wanted to know what it's like to be married. I told him to leave me alone and when he did, I asked him why he was ignoring me.

                          He will probably get to 19 Majors, if he stays healthy. The majors will be 14 on the "regular" tour and 5 on the Senior Tour. Some marketing weenie will come up with a term, like the Tiger Slam, for the accomplishment. If he could back off the driver swing just a tad he would probably score better. I finally realized that I am 72 not 52 anymore. Made a conscious decision to "keep it in play" instead of "how far can I hit the ball". Has resulted in waaay more fairways hit, more greens in regulation, less time in the woods and high rough and lower scores. If Tiger had followed that course of action, by my count his score at the Open would have 7 shots lower than what he ended with.

                            Par4QC I totally get that. I was fitted for a 32.5" putter 12 years ago and that seemed just right. I got fitted again < 2 years ago and now I have a 34" putter. A full swing never really seemed to bother my back, but stooping over a putt did.

                              raggmann54 Backing off to stay in play is a nice theory, what guys who have never had power will never understand is he IS laying off. He is off it to the point where he can still give it a rip and keep everything in sync. Any more backing off and it’s going to get really fudged up and too much probably results in those hips not getting out of the way in time.

                              The thing is the DRIVER isn’t really where he made the biggest mistakes, he screwed up trying to be too cute and too conservative. If he had played to win, instead of not to lose, I think he would have won. That said, that flop shot was the end of him playing to win, then he went on the defensive and pissed it away. Had that shot worked or had he just played the simple shot and gotten to just go putt the damn ball, he may well have won too.

                              I believe what Tiger needs is a GREAT caddy in his corner again, one that can say to him “ just get it on the green, make your par and let’s go to the next hole with the lead.” One that can say “don’t change it up now, hit that driver off the left edge and we can make a birdie here.” Instead, I have to believe he has a “yes” man right now. He’s doing all the navigating, the yardage’s, the thoughts, he has to hit 200 shots and think through all of them, it’s not the best strategy. He needs somebody to take the mental load off a bit and let him focus on execution. When/if he gets that, I think he’s going to be great again, if he doesn’t, I don’t know if he can ever get “it” back

                                Like I said in my opening post, lots of if's. Despite the positive side of the scenario I presented, there's also the other side of the coin. He's remained winless over the past half decade, and certainly - there are valid reasons for that. Yet the longer he goes without winning, the more difficult it only gets, the more wear and tear he puts on his back.

                                All that aside, he's gotta win something over the next year. Given the nature of the surgeries he's needed to even be able to walk upright again, let alone rehab his back to be able to play again - he probably knows his career is living on borrowed time. That's yet another dynamic of pressure that is very real.

                                I remember watching McGwire's chase to beat Roger Maris' record of 61 homers in the latter part of of the '98 season. The closer he got to the end of the regular season - the greater the pressure became on each at-bat, in each and every game left.

                                Tiger now faces a similar type of pressure as it relates to his comeback, albeit more health-related than anything else. Assuming he does get another 3-4 seasons out of his back, that's somewhere between 60-80 golf tournaments, 12-16 majors left (assuming he plans to play 20 tournaments/season).

                                Not a lot of time.

                                That's a lot of walking, a lot of uneven lies being played, a lot of golf swings, a lot of bending over to putt. And that's not including the practice sessions and practice rounds being played during those seasons as well.

                                Just some perspective.

                                I never thought Tiger would ever consider the Champions Tour beyond his PGA Tour days, because I didn't think his drive and motivation would be the same competing against guys older than him. And although the majors on the Champions Tour do add to the overall competitive resume, (and not trying to take anything away from guys like Langer and Hale Irwin, mind you, who both achieved much more in their senior playing days as it relates to overall wins and majors) I think we all agree that they're not ranked half as significant as the tournaments won, the majors won, on the young guys tour.

                                But now there's another reason I don't think we'll see him competing beyond 50. Given his history of back problems, I don't think I'm going out on much of a limb here in assuming that he'd rather be able to manage his pain and have some quality of life in retirement versus risking that in exchange for competing for purses half the value, or majors that basically have half the value of those he won on the regular tour.

                                I could be wrong, but I just don't see him looking beyond a playing career at 46-47 years of age, if he can somehow make it that long.

                                Just my opinion, of course.

                                PS - some great posts above that also add to the discussion. This was never meant to be a thread to slam Tiger or point out his past indiscretions. Just an honest question about where he is now mentally and physically and if there's anything he could do in the next several months to take you off the fence regarding him winning another major.

                                I'm pretty sure Woods will be one of the captain's picks for the Ryder Cup, providing he wants to play. Even if he doesn't gain much in the standings between now and then -- he's close enough. Mickelson will get chosen as well.

                                He'll play the Masters and the Open as long as he's physically capable. As far as the Champions Tour -- he'll play the majors and a few other tournaments a year, like Nicklaus did, to satisfy sponsors and keep his face out there. And if he has a rookie year like a lot of guys do, winning several times, maybe he'll make more effort. In many ways, I see Woods as following Nicklaus' path -- if he doesn't think he can win, he won't be out there much. While I see Mickelson as emulating Palmer -- playing as much as he can because he really likes to and still thinks he can catch lightning in a bottle.

                                RobertThomas I believe it is taking everything he has to project to others that he has changed. Is he good for golf- absolutely! But I do not have to like him.

                                Never said you have to like anything or anybody. But, it's quite charitable to notice that he's been making the effort.

                                  garyt1957 It doesn't fit his personality, imo.

                                  For the life of me... Can we give our sports celebrities a little wiggle room?! What makes one think they know any individual based upon their public persona and what the media and/or tabloids present? Objectively, is that really any accurate way to judge another? Who would want to be judged this way? I would not.

                                  Example: Perhaps you think you know me, from FGI, Golfdope, GolfBuzz? You don't. There is one member here who is a real life friend. He's knows I'm only half the asshole I am on the internet. Ask my adult children who know me longer and better. They'll tell you I'm only 25% the asshole I am on here (and that in most of those cases, they deserved it.) LOL

                                  No, I'm not comparing myself to Tiger. (I'm more accurate off the tee.) I'm just referring to the fact that I don't know Tiger's personality.

                                      professor He's knows I'm only half the asshole I am on the internet.

                                      Why are we getting twice the asshole? LOL.

                                      I agree with your point in general. Everyone looks bad under a microscope, and we're encouraged to look through it specifically when the bad stuff is happening. Tiger's home wrecking ways ARE pretty damning, and it's fair for people to hold him accountable for all of that. It's a level of badness far beyond not shaking somebody's hand.

                                      Back to the main point, why are you admittedly double asshole (your words, I don't necessarily agree!) on the internet? Why is anyone?

                                          professor Uh, because it's a discussion forum and what we do here is give opinions. Which is why I put in the "imo" at the end. I have opinions about all sorts of things. If you don't like it, don't read them. Am I right, who knows?

                                            5 days later

                                            Well.... a weekend meltdown at a course where he's won on 8 prior occasions... played +6 over the weekend, level par for the tournament, finishing well back at T31st. He was only a handful of shots back of the lead heading into the weekend, and in reasonable position to make a run, especially on a course where he's enjoyed a lot of success over the years. Struggled with all aspects of his game on Saturday and Sunday. When he's hitting less than half the fairways off the tee and hitting half the greens in regulation... and the short-game and putting aren't able to clean up the scrappy play like it had the two days prior to the weekend - it's nowhere near good enough to contend with the players in the field who are playing well, regardless of whether it's the guy ranked 124th in the FedEx Cup standings or the guy ranked 1st, whether it's a course he's won on 8 times throughout his career or a course he's playing for the first time. Some might argue that he threw caution to the wind because he was trying to win Sunday, but he was so far out of the picture that it really didn't matter. He played poorly on Sunday, admittedly, and made no excuses.

                                            It causes me to appreciate what @Par4QC said in the third post of the thread when he opined, And that makes him just as good as the next guy; not the Tiger of 10 yrs. ago......the next guy. Quite capable of winning any tournament. Same as......the next guy. Not sure why everyone keeps expecting to see 'that guy' from 10 yrs. ago. Gone. 10 yrs. ago.(I think😉)

                                            Very astute observation by one of our very own.

                                            And then to see what can happen when one of the best players in the world who's won 3x this season, won 9 events total including a major since joining the tour back in 2014, kicks his game to a higher level? It really does put into perspective how difficult the challenge is for Tiger to get back into the winner's circle, even if he's healthy and playing well. Justin Thomas tapped into a higher gear on Sunday and cruised to victory without much stress. I don't think Tiger has that "higher gear" anymore. Or if he still does - we've yet to see it materialize. Maybe it's a bit too early to put any stock in that, or him for that matter. Like I said - he's gotta win something.

                                            Time will tell.

                                            Firestone's a good test of golf, a throwback to traditional tee-lined courses with tight driving angles. Given where the event has fallen there on schedule over the years also leads to scruffy lies and heavy rough. Sad to see it leave there for TPC Southwind in Memphis starting next season. Not that TPC isn't a worthy replacement venue, but that Firestone demanded a very high degree of decision making and course management. I'll miss seeing these guys play this course.

                                              professor For the life of me... Can we give our sports celebrities a little wiggle room?! What makes one think they know any individual based upon their public persona and what the media and/or tabloids present?

                                              Does the same logic apply to Bryson?

                                                PA-PLAYA Glad FedEx is spending money on the tour and very glad they'll be bringing an elite field to Memphis. But Memphis in August is very often an uncomfortable place to be outdoors. Bad enough to journey back from the UK links and cool weather to a parkland course with tree lined fairways and rough next to the greens like Firestone, but now the same type of course (I think TPC is a fabulous course) in the hotbox of Memphis in August? Ought to be fun watching the contract reps try to pick out shirt and pants combinations that look good when soaked with sweat.