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.