Tiger "is" back.

[RoverRick]

For more than a week on the Golf Channel we had to listen to how Tiger has not been able to comeback from his extramarital affairs, blah, blah, blah. We have heard it for two years, but specifically we heard Graeme McDowell haralded for beating Tiger in a playoff last year, "Tiger's only real chance to win a tournament in two years." (forget the back nine at Augusta two years in a row) They mention Tiger's injury in passing, still attributing his demise to his personal life.

This is not what I started out to say but I have been through a divorce. I got over the 12 years of marriage a lot quicker than I got over an ankle injury (14 months). Well, at least my golf game did. (could be two reasons for the divorce)

So back to the story, it is a sign that Tiger is forever gone, tanished, never to rival Jack Nicholaus again because Tiger lost to Graeme in a playoff, nevermind that even without a win he played better than most of the other pros.

So now we come to this year, and Tiger comes from behind and beats Zach Johnson with a birdie-birdie finish and what do these same pundits say, well, this was what amounts to his own invitational, and it was not a full field even.

Give me a break, not even Tiger Woods could have not thought as he walked up to the green on 18 about what would happen if he missed that putt from 6 feet. Or if Zach would have made it and he missed. Or even the 17 hole. There was as much pressure there or more than time I can remember. At least it was for me.

Tiger said it was no different from any other putt to win a tournament, but that is just what he told himself. It was different. And I think it is a sign he is back. That along with the rest of his play this month. What do you think?

[Moecat]

Since he historically has gauged his success in Majors - and as a result, the rest of has done so as well - let's see how well he does at Augusta in a few months.

[RookieBlue7]

I think that in a field of 18, at a course he loves, in his backyard hardly means he's back. He's played well lately, but look at his 3rd rounds as of late. He can't keep playing them over par, as that's traditionally moving day. We'll see what happens in a full field event with a little more pressure. I'm waiting to see him in person at Augusta, personally.

[GolfSpy Dave]

Did you see that he tweeted a link to LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out after winning yesterday?

 

Back or not, I enjoyed watching him play this week.

[lowballhitter]

In the immortal words of Mike Ditka "Hold your Pants!!!" The move isn't fluid and I'm not sold on the first move down - as evidenced by fat shots - my opinion. Hope he makes it back, but I wouldn't get really excited yet.

[RoverRick]

The question in my mind was not the swing, or the injury, or the affair, or the competition rolling over when he got close, (which I do not think happened)the question was does he still have the mental capacity at the end or does he have self doubt. There was no self doubt in those last two holes.

And likening it to a member guest as they did not the golf channel? Furyk, Stricker, Fowler, Watson, Johnson, Mahan, etc,,, Choi, that is a pretty strong field. It is not like they were bringing in rejects from Q School to play against him. This was 18 quality players. The least known name there was Woodland and oh, yeah, he and Kuchar, who was also there, won the world challenge last week.

It may not be a major but the pressure was still there. In my opinion.

[Matt Saternus]

If nothing else, I definitely hope that he's back.

 

I tend to agree with Rick, the most important thing is his confidence and his mentality. The swing might not be perfect yet, obviously he's had a couple poor third rounds, but I think that he needed to get the feel of winning again and now he's done that.

 

At a minimum, we would agree that the swing is better than it was 6-7 months ago, and he almost won the Masters then. I expect him to seriously contend at Augusta, if not win.

[Kanoito]

Agree! Welcome back Tiger!

Looking forward to 2012!

 

Don't really pay attention to the media... if he plays like s***, he gets bashed... if he plays well, but doesn't win, he gets bashed... now he wins with a field of 18 (all in the top 50) and still gets bashed!

 

Even if he grabs a couple of majors next year, they'll still find something to trash him for.

 

It's true, this tournament doesn't have the caliber of a major, but can't say it doesn't count as a win.

[Tha Living Legend]

Did you see that he tweeted a link to LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out after winning yesterday?

 

Back or not, I enjoyed watching him play this week.

 

It would have been cooler if he had tweeted a link to Roy Jones Jr. "Y'all Must Have Forgot" after winning.

[Maverickping]

I'd say TW is on his way back and I would hope he succeeds. Speaking only about his golfing accomplishments; a contending, in the mix TW makes the game a little more interesting for me.

 

A win is a win in my books; the reality of where TW is will set in come Major time.

[finalist]

The emotion he let out after that clutch putt on 17 may just be the turning point. His very next swing was a bomb of a 3 or 2 iron "stinger" down 18 then another 2 clutch shots for the win.

 

Often times one can look back to a very specific point when things changed. Sure there has been loads of practice put in, but I think that putt on 17 could be the turning point for the "He's Back" campaign.

[Tyk]

As much as I hate to say it, I've missed Tiger on the course. He makes golf more fun to watch when he's playing well. I think the rounds in Australia and winning last week make it pretty obvious that he's finding his swing again. I personally would say he's about 85-90% and that is enough for him to be on the leaderboard every week. If he continues to improve and finds that 5% more he's looking for, that's going to be what puts him over the top and back to winning consistently.

 

The one thing that sucks about watching Tiger in a tournament is that they zero in on him a bit too much. I know he's the star and the story, but I get tired of hearing the announcers analyze every little thing and ever historical stat as if it actually has bearing on what is happening right then! Shut up and cut away to someone else for 10 seconds!

[apprenti23]

He beat 17 golfers... Wow some accomplishment

 

In my opinion, Tiger won't be "back" unless he nearly completes the grand slam. Tiger used to dominate. I don't care if he barely squeaks through and beats 17 golfers by one. He used to DOMINATE. Tiger is going to need to not only break Jack's record, but he needs to win the Master's and at least one more major this year before i even consider him "back." It's ludicrous that after he beats a hand full of pros you can think "he's back." This guy used to win 10+ tournaments a year and buy a ton of strokes! Tiger didn't just win guys, he DOMINATED.

[GolfSpy WD]

He beat 17 golfers... Wow some accomplishment

 

In fairness, that was a pretty strong field and there was a 5 point gap between 1st and 3rd.

 

I do agree with you though that he's not "back" until he's won more tourneys, but it sure was fun to watch Chevron. 2012 is hopefully going to be fun.

[GolfSpy Dave]

I just hope he is "back"

TV golf is just more interesting

Although he will put a wrench in fantasy golf this season if he is back to "could win every week" form

[RookieBlue7]

I'd like to amend my first statement. Tiger is flushing the ball more often now with this new swing than he was a few months ago. That being said, I still hope he starts hitting the stinger more and more now that he's brought it back. It's his control shot, and I'd argue that over the last 5 decades there's not been a better golfer out of the fairway than Tiger. He wants to hit the driver because everyone loves the longball. He's plenty long enough without it to still overpower any course out there. To me his driver play is still to erratic, and he'd do better playing for position. Tiger hitting fairways and greens dominates any field on the planet, IMO. He's also putting better lately and his feel is coming back. That's integral to his success cause he's the best clutch putter that's ever played the game. We saw that coming back down the stretch.

 

With that said this win gives him confidence. It doesn't prove he's back but it does a lot for his psyche. I have said for a fee months now, with him coming back into form, that he wins 6-8 tournaments next season and 2 of them will be majors.

[GolfSpy WD]

He's also putting better lately and his feel is coming back.

 

I think this and the stinger is the key. Tiger used to make more clutch putts than anyone.

[TWShoot67]

It still always comes down to the putter. When the putts fall Tiger wins and wins a bunch. The swing is getting better every single time out now. just the progression he's made in the last three tourneys and the Presidents Cup should be proof enough. 2012 is going to be a great year of golf to look forward too! GO TIGER!

[Shambles]

It still always comes down to the putter. When the putts fall Tiger wins and wins a bunch. The swing is getting better every single time out now. just the progression he's made in the last three tourneys and the Presidents Cup should be proof enough. 2012 is going to be a great year of golf to look forward too! GO TIGER!

 

It's always been the putter for just about every pro that has ever gone on the circuit. The loss of a club or two on the fairway was never necessarily fatal to winning chances, just made things a bit more difficult. The loss of the putter has always been utter disaster.

 

 

Shambles

[TWShoot67]

It's always been the putter for just about every pro that has ever gone on the circuit. The loss of a club or two on the fairway was never necessarily fatal to winning chances, just made things a bit more difficult. The loss of the putter has always been utter disaster.

 

 

Shambles

Shambles this is true the putter is the deal breaker for almost every pro. But there is a difference when Tiger has his mojo compared to your average journeyman PGA pro getting hot. The difference lies in the amount of wins Tiger can produce in a season vs. the rest of the PGA players .Tiger's total wins compared to any of his contemporaries is not even close. The only other player that had a similar putting stat with making X amount of three footers in a row is the new #1 player in the world, Luke Donald. Now Luke had this tremendous putting streak but tell me how many wins does Luke have in his career and how many has Tiger have? It's laughable to compare those to as equals, there's really no equal to tiger when he is on his game. It's a proven fact. All I was trying to say is whats been proven over Tigers career, when his putter is on there is no one who can play with him. Now maybe that he's had around 6 surgeries and all this turmoil in his life over the last two seasons its given others a chance to dethrone the once greatest golfer of recent times. I'm just excited for the 2012 golf season as a Tiger fan and a golf fan. Because I want Tiger to be as healthy as he possibly can and play the best he possibly can so he can have some great battles with the young guns that are about to be the next great players on the PGA tour. It sure will be great TV to see all players at there best in 2012.

[Shambles]

I do not disagree. I just thought it obvious. There have been many golf careers lost on the putting.

 

BTW :

 

Merry Christmas and have a Safe and Happy New Year. May the coming year grant you greater prosperity but most important, greater happiness. However, more prosperity is always welcome.

 

 

 

Shambles

[RoverRick]

Well, it is time to revive this thread. Tomorrow, we find out if he is back or not or not yet. I am watching a new show on Golf Channel, and shockingly they did not staff this show with Tiger bashers. 30 minutes in and they have not brought up the extra stuff. But they did spend a significant amount of time analysing his new swing. That is the point of the show. I was surprised that Tiger has changed to the same type of swing that I have been woriking on. I say surprised because I did not copy him. But would have if Sean Fowley came to my course. And he will for a "small nominal fee". However, he changed from a great swing and I changed because I sucked. He is doing much better. But these guys raved about how good Tiger looked. They said he appeared so relaxed with the new swing. But we will see tomorrow.

[RoverRick]

I have been eating a little crow the last few weeks, after Abu Dhabi, and the AT&T National Pro Am. It is not bad especially since Phil won, and Romo played well.

 

I thought I would revive this thread again an have my say. SO the question was is Tiger Back. The answer is no. I will have to see if I can change the title of this thread. By adding the word NOT to the end.

 

I believe that Tiger is guilty of some of the same things that I have found myself doing. Here is the example. The other day I was playing with my regular group playing the regular game. We play a quota system. I walked off the 15th green with my quota. Par out and I win going away. 6 points over my quota. All I really needed was three bogies but I decided I was going to birdie the next hole, one that I do that often, and kill everyone's dreams of winning. After a perfect drive I over cooked my approach and flew the green into the water. Double bogey. Trying to make up for that double, I hit the next tee shot in the water for another double bogey. Now I really did need a birdie to win. I made bogey and lost the match by one stroke. I turned a 78 into an 83.

 

Tiger has said in press conferences what he thought he was going to have to go out and shoot. When he does not do that on the first couple of holes he starts to press, and subsequently adds undo pressure to an already pressure situation.

 

I think Tiger will come back, and he will win a lot more tournaments, but the name of this thread should be "Tiger "is" back, NOT"

[Moecat]

+5 for The Masters, tied for 40th.

 

Considering that his success is defined - both by others and by himself - on how he does at majors, he's still got a ways to go.

[JMiller]

Look until Tiger can get his swing to the point in a major that it feels natural then he really isn't 100% back.

 

He hit his irons TERRIBLE at the Masters how many weak block iron shots did we see him hit right. Take 16 for example in round 2 where he kicked his club after dropping it in disgust. He completely melted down in round 2 and didn't really do much to being it back in round 3 or 4 for that matter. I won't really get into the whole thing about tantrums on the golf course, I am not really here to judge anyone on tour about their attitude after bad shots or good ones.

 

Tiger obviously under the pressure of major championships doesn't have the swing completely reliable that him and Foley are working on currently, Jack Nicklaus has shanked tee shots like Peter Hanson on the same hole over the years. Bad shots will happen just have to keep grinding on it.

 

One of my favorite stories I have heard was about Ben Hogan in a tournament at Hyde Park Golf Club. He took a 2 on the par 6th hole in one round then the very next day took an 11, his expression never changed either day from what his playing partner said.