Tiger Woods in 2012
The last two years have not exactly been vintage Tiger so the questions has to be asked: what can we expect from Tiger Woods in 2012? Will Tiger put his past, his swing changes and his caddy problems behind him or has the veil been lifted and the Tiger lost his roar?
Unless Tiger can win before the end of the year 2011 will be the first year on the PGA Tour that he has failed to make $1m in prize money since 1996. In 2006 Tiger was only able to play in 6 events on the Tour but won four of them and picked up nearly $6m in winnings. This year he has made the cut in seven of his nine, failed to win (second year running) and finished an incredible 132nd in the FedEx Cup standings.
Woods resides in a lowly 58th in the world rankings and has struggled to control his game with his driving as erratic as most weekend golfers. He has only hit 52% of fairways in 2011 compared to the PGA Tour average of 61% and even his remarkable recovery game has not been able to cope. The crisp strikes are long forgotten, the fist pump has been relegated and the putts are not finding their mark.
Woods had so many strengths on and off the golf course that it is almost impossible to imagine he will not rise again. He almost single-handedly changed the face and physiology of golf. Where once Tiger ruled in the driving distance charts he is now at 71st on Tour. Tiger will need to rediscover the inner drive and more importantly the inner calm if he is to make these last two years a blip in his career.
Surely he has now reached the nadir and his first round in Australia, a serene 67 with seven birdies could be the start of something for the former World No.1. Australia has been kind to Tiger over the years and a win before the end of the season could set him nicely for his favorite major – The Masters at the beginning of the season next year.
Woods will never be able to regain the dominance he exhibited over ten almost faultless years but he will be able to rejoin the chasing pack that hunts Luke Donald in 2012.
