Sally Jenkins...

[Larry Gude]

washingtonpost.com

Poor column.

But so far, Woods's comeback has been a relatively humdrum event. The player who appeared in the CA Championship at Doral yesterday was a less epic and explosive performer than we're used to, and he suffered from the same nagging problem any weekend golfer does, namely, the lip out. As commentator Johnny Miller said, he putted "like normal people." After an eight-month layoff to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, Woods missed dozens of putts and seemed frustrated by the slow pace of the whole affair. All of which was a reminder that the injury is a clear demarcation in his competitive life: He's now 33 years old and in the last third of his career, and while he surely has a lot of greatness left, the game may no longer come so easily.

For the first time in a decade, Woods will enter the Masters at Augusta National as something less than the clear-cut favorite. Though he'll certainly be on the short list of contenders, he has some rehab to do if he intends to win the first major championship of the season, judging by how he's performed in the past two weeks. He was beaten by Tim Clark in the second round of a match play tournament in Arizona, and at Doral he was all but out of contention by the weekend as eventual winner Phil Mickelson played as well as he ever has and finished at 19-under-par 269.

This is laughable. I'm not sure if Jenkins has never watched Tiger before (doubtful), didn't watch him this week (perhaps?) or simply was late for deadline and threw this tripe together. Or, worse, she may not know what the hell she is talking about.

Tiger was every bit as explosive as ever this past week including towering iron shots, hole outs from bunkers, getting home in two with an iron and having eagle putts the range of most people's birdie putts.

Tiger simply putted poorly, about the worst in the field for those who made the cut. Every single phase of a players game would be expected to take some time to come back after such an injury and the ONLY part of Tigers game that is a bit rusty is his putting.

Hell, his driving, always one of his less great parts of his game, looks scary good. He is ROCK solid on that knee and has, clearly, total confidence in the knee and the swing; His confidence is bad enough news for the field but I am talking 20 year old Tiger confidence; just effing RIP it.

Yeah, his short iron distance control isn't spot on. Call out the national guard! It'll probably be weeks before that comes around.

Yeah, his putting was off. For him. He's always had off weeks where he didn't hole every last thing he looked at. Could also be weeks before he's happy there. Oh, the horror.

What Jenkins sees as impatience of an older player past his prime is more like a caged lion...make that a Tiger, just chomping at the bit to start hunting and killing again.

However, all these sad notes for Tiger aside, his ball striking was superb and it got better every single day and he said so and it was obvious to anyone who was watching. He shot 11 under in a very competitive tournament where the winning played GREAT and was only 8 better than Woods in his 'twilight', where he feels like he got NOTHING out of his rounds, plural, in relation to his ball striking. Fact is, if Tiger made a few more putts on Sunday, he woulda been in contention. NOW.

So, give him a few weeks, Sal, OK? A little more time in competitive rounds where it all counts. A few more practice rounds. A few more hours on the greens. Keep this in mind; at the end of those few weeks lies April 6.

Not the clear cut favorite? 7th green jacket. May as well write it down now.

And it won't be close.


Oh, and by the way, write this down while you're at it;

Bethpage Black Woods
Turnberry Woods

The only one I'm not sure of is the PGA because of the course.

 

[Beta84]

I was pretty surprised that the putting was Tiger's only problem. You would think that's the one thing he could have practiced the most while he was injured, especially considering it was always one of the weakest (if not THE weakest) part of his game. I saw a comparison after 3 days that showed the number of putts comparing Woods and Mickelson...if Woods had as many putts as Mickelson he would have been tied or in the lead.

The article wasn't very good, but you know how these things go...they write dramatic stories like this to try captivating the reader, even if it's a load of BS. Is Tiger done for? Oh no!!! Either that or this idiot just looked at the final stats and threw together an article. I wouldn't count that out since you didn't need to watch last weekend's event whatsoever to piece that article together. They had a nice save on the quote from the commentator though.

 

[huntr1]

Bethpage Black Woods
Turnberry Woods

What's that mean for the non golfers amongst us?

 

[Larry Gude]

What's that mean for the non golfers amongst us?

Tiger has a habit of winning at 'big name' courses and tough courses and historic courses. He won at Bethpage, the only public course currently being used for US opens, in 2002, when it was REALLY long and REALLY tough. Turrnberry is a legendary course, host of an epic British Open battle between Watson and Nicklaus years ago and a dramatic win by Nick Price who beat Jesper Parnevick who went for birdie on 18 and made bogey when he only need par to tie Nick.

And, for bonus points, Tigers wife was a nanny to Jespers kids back in the day, Jesper introducing Tiger and she.

 

[Larry Gude]

I was pretty surprised that the putting was Tiger's only problem. You would think that's the one thing he could have practiced the most while he was injured, especially considering it was always one of the weakest (if not THE weakest) part of his game.

Oh, I beg to differ! Tigers putting has ALWAYS been a huge strength. He's the one who rams in 6 footers with authority when he's on, not hoping, KNOWING it's going in. Tigers 'weakness' such as they are, has been being wild off the t and short iron distance control.

The best putter of the given week pretty much always wins these days and, to me, given that every week is a different set of greens, different grass, slopes, speeds, local quirks, etc, I am totally not surprised his putting is 'off'.

In any event, the Masters, depending on the weather, is going to be as much Tigers as any other year. More so in my opinion!

 

[Beta84]

Oh, I beg to differ! Tigers putting has ALWAYS been a huge strength. He's the one who rams in 6 footers with authority when he's on, not hoping, KNOWING it's going in. Tigers 'weakness' such as they are, has been being wild off the t and short iron distance control.

The best putter of the given week pretty much always wins these days and, to me, given that every week is a different set of greens, different grass, slopes, speeds, local quirks, etc, I am totally not surprised his putting is 'off'.

In any event, the Masters, depending on the weather, is going to be as much Tigers as any other year. More so in my opinion!

I thought Tiger first started as all power and no finesse. He turned putting into a strength because of insane amounts of practice, but it seems like he let that go by the wayside while he was injured. He'll put in the time to get it back soon enough, probably by the Masters, and a pissed off Tiger will dominate.

 

[Larry Gude]

I thought Tiger first started as all power and no finesse. He turned putting into a strength because of insane amounts of practice, but it seems like he let that go by the wayside while he was injured. He'll put in the time to get it back soon enough, probably by the Masters, and a pissed off Tiger will dominate.

Nope. He was certainly a power player, however, his short game was always magic and he could putt lights out. It made up for much of the shortcomings he had needing to get up and down after wayward drives or poor distance control on his irons.

Magical putter.