I think this has been his comeback demise all along - trying to rise the old TW from the ashes instead of creating the new TW. He still has LOADS of game. He exhibited chipping and putting prowess in flashes all 4 days. His iron play looked very solid when he was playing for control. It's all there - in body and mind, if he can wrestle those demons.
Tiger ! Tiger ! Tiger !
Exactly !
With what he has, he can still win a major. He will never return to the dominance he once possess. Win a few here and there and add a couple of majors on the way....... I don't know if that will excite him by just winning a few tournaments if he could not dominate the Tour like he used to.
Guy's, he had one good round, one mediocre round and two hack fests. He still can't hit it anywhere near straight off the tee on a consistent basis. I only watched a bit today but the fan boy announcing was pitiful.
All you had to see was his drive on the last hole where he hit a three wood under a bush. Tour pros who can't it a three wood straight off a tee have the same expectation of success as dogs who chase cars.
He may or may not get better but right now his game is not capable of winning anything in a field of top level players. To top level players today he is just another journeyman player who may have a decent tournament every now.
ronsc1985 I am sure Greg Norman and others felt the same way about Jack in Augusta in '86. I agree he certainly needs to improve, to be any kind of a real threat. Maybe he won't be what he was, but his was is better than ANY player playing today, and don't think Spieth, Johnson, Day and McIlroy don't know that. I am not expecting him to win a major, but I will not say he can't.
He played better than I thought he would.
There were spots here and there that he can obviously look back and build on. Through 4 rounds, Woody had 24 holes of birdie or better, whereas Dustin Johnson (finished 6th) had 22 holes of birdie or better (including two eagles).
Wedge play around the greens looked good. Putting wasn't awful. You don't make 24 birdies through 4 rounds without making some putts. Iron play looked reasonably decent. Off the tee? Same deal as always. When he's not dealing with wind - he can manage. When it gets windy - he struggles to keep it in play.
Overall, probably more good than bad. The bad was really bad, but the good was really good, too.
The biggest question is did his back hold up okay, or is he icing it this evening? He showed no signs of being in pain, from what I watched of the tournament anyway. But if he can't get out of his 110% swing aggression off the tee, that pain-free existence will likely only be temporary.
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How do you know what anyone thinks or was thinking 20 years ago. Do you also do communication sessions with the dead while wearing a turban and gazing into a crystal ball?
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Day 3: Tiger very happy then not so much. Spuzz indifferent.
Day 4: Tiger shits bed. Spuzz stays in his with wife.
Looks like Spuzz has no more f*cks left to give.
Well he did have the most birdies for the week....
BUT he also had the most doubles too!
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He tested the water temperature with a limited field of top players on the world.
We'll see what happens next season.
He has a great chance of winning next year if his health holds up.
This week reminded my of that old flick, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Woods supposedly lost 10 pounds due to illness and hopes to put that back on soon. He was 10 under on the front nine and six over on the back. Loss of concentration or just not tournament strong enough? Most of his strokes over par on the back were on the last three holes.
he only hit 55% of fairways on a quite forgiving course
of the 17 man field 16 were worse on the back nine that the front for the week. Most had significant differentials too. Only Patrick Reid played better on the front vs back , -5 on back, -3 on front
it was mostly due to the wind and when the swing is off a bit as we know the wind will wreak havoc
If nothing else, Woods' return generates a ton of discussion, and I suppose that's good for the game.
If you look at the big picture, more people are talking about golf this week than they were a month ago.
Indeed.
Look at how crazy of his odds to win the 2017 Master ! Astonishing,
For context, it’s not like Woods’ odds were that low to begin with. His opening odds in August, before he’d even announced a return date, were 60/1. And they were 40/1 before the Hero World Challenge.
2017 Masters
J Day 8/1
J Spieth 8/1
R McIlroy 9/1
D Johnson 10/1
H Matsuyama 15/1
B Watson 20/1
A Scott 20/1
T Woods 20/1
H Stenson 25/1
http://golfweek.com/2016/12/05/tiger-woods-has-odds-better-than-stenson-to-win-2017-masters/
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The most positive thing he can take from this week is that he jumped higher in world ranking than anyone else. In the whole world! Clear up around 620 or so, a 250 point rise. gawddam, what a golfer.
He did play rather well, overall, for not being competitive for 16 months. Don't know what he was thinking yesterday, trying to keep up with Louis off the tee. Looks healthy though, even though he was doing the "Freddie" squat a lot, while marking his ball.
I do notice there are a lot of bad backs out there, esp. among the top golfers; TW is not the only one, and right now he seems the one with the least problems in that area.
He led the field in birdies, yet he finishes 14th out of 17 golfers.....I find that interesting.....obviously lots of others cost him.....hard to fathom leading the field in birdies and finishing 14 shots out of the lead.
I think it was mostly poor drives that were unplayable, hazard, or punch outs that led to the doubles....willing to bet he led the field in doubles+
Agree with brsmirh, his swing looked great. Reminded me if the old Tiger/Butch days.