Woods has actually always been a huge supporter of the World Golf Championship events, seldom skipping them when healthy, save for a few Match Play misses out on over the years. Woods has some work to do this week to get ready for the PGA, which will be played at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, a venue where he has had success. That is practically how every round of golf on trip is played, with possibly a time or two when Woods sits on his bag while play has actually slowed down.
Toss in the lack of action for Woods because he played the Genesis Invitational– and he has played simply one of the past 11 occasions.
Heres the problem Woods deals with: The first playoff occasion, the Northern Trust at TPC-Boston, is simply 2 weeks after the PGA. That occasion has a 36-hole cut. Its unlikely he would play three straight weeks in the playoffs, so does he remain the Northern Trust and wait for the top 70 at the BMW? He might put himself in a position where he is too far behind and in need of a big finish if so.
So does he instead go to Boston with hopes of remaining Chicago? Or does he consider playing both and taking his chances on a 3rd straight week in Atlanta if he makes it?
Tough decisions. The rescheduled U.S. Open is simply two weeks after the Tour Championship. Woods needs to play, but he does not desire to play too much.
Woods is certainly not concerned about that now. A big week in San Francisco looms.
Offered the lack of competition preparation, it does not state much for Tiger Woods confidence in his own body that he is not in Memphis, Tennessee, this week in advance of next weeks PGA Championship.
Sure, there are other compelling descriptions to avoid the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, chief among them the truth that he has actually never seen the TPC Southwind course.
Include the sweltering heat, excellent opportunities for thunderstorms (and hold-ups) and the extreme temperature level distinction between Memphis and San Francisco the following week for the PGA Championship, and there are plenty of great reasons to relax this week, work on the video game at house, and be completely all set for the postponed first major of 2020.
As Woods said on Friday in announcing that he would be skipping the WGC, he is “doing what I think is best to get ready for the PGA Championship and upcoming FedEx Cup playoffs.”.
Fair enough. Woods knows much better than anyone how his body is responding nowadays, and the parts of his video game that requirement work.
But it is however informing that he is not contending, especially when you consider he has just 4 competition rounds to his name given that February– and a lot of competitive rust still revealing.
Woods has actually always been a huge supporter of the World Golf Championship events, seldom skipping them when healthy, conserve for a couple of Match Play misses out on throughout the years. Woods has said lot of times he appreciates the PGA Tours efforts in protecting these big-money events. And he has actually won 18 of them.
Eight of those came at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he dominated the Firestone Country Club course. And 8 times he played that tournament the week prior to the PGA Championship– the just major as a pro in which has actually played the week prior– so there was precedent for him to do so.
And yet, he took a pass, regardless of a few of the defects in his game and the lack of preparation.
Its easy to second-guess now, but perhaps among the earlier occasions (RBC Heritage or Travelers?) in the PGA Tours reboot from the coronavirus pandemic would have made good sense, particularly offered the possibility of skipping the WGC.
Successive events is always going to be dicey for Woods, however given his rather lackluster efficiency at the Memorial, where he twice shot 76 and connected for 40th, it might have been understood.
Obviously, the second-round 76 was due in large part to back tightness that was apparent. Woods could not conceal his discomfort, and the shot patterns– he missed 7 tee shots to the right in the second round– together with a number of awkward or one-handed swings were hints.
Woods has some work to do this week to get ready for the PGA, which will be played at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, a place where he has actually had success. Woods won the 2005 WGC-American Express Invitational there in 2005 in a playoff over John Daly. And at the 2009 Presidents Cup, he went 5-0.
But those events were a very long time back.
” I competed and played once again,” he said after the final round at the Memorial. Difficult, hard conditions to start out my first week back.
That sounds terrific if it followed his very first event of the year in January, with a sluggish accumulation to the Masters.
But Tiger has some ground to cover today, and here are a few things to keep in mind.
The huge picture.
Woods is inspected like no other and typically judged by his own lofty requirements and expectations. With a bit of viewpoint, his revealing at the Memorial was decent, if not great, but far from horrible. He returned at Muirfield Village on the most hard setup to date of the revised schedule, on a course that played like a significant champion over the weekend. That was no simple venture back into golf.
Perhaps most remarkable: Woods was connected for sixth in strokes gained method to the green and connected for 18th in greens in guideline with 62.5%. The guy can still strike his irons with the very best of them. That is always crucial in a significant championship.
Swing speed.
Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesAnecdotally and statistically, Woods swing speed was less than it has actually been, which is both great and bad. Its good because he is no longer swinging so strongly. There were lots of long tee shots, well over 300 yards, and on the weekend specifically, the swing looked smooth.
Since he was being cautious, the lack of speed could be by style or. Provided all the time away for Woods, it was a bit unexpected to see some of those numbers decrease. In 2018, Woods averaged 178 mph ball speed; it was mainly under 170 at the Memorial and his average bring was less than 280 lawns.
However its not always a negative, unless other parts of his video game are not excellent. Woods was a mediocre 42nd in strokes gained off the tee, suggesting he was giving up ground to the field. His driving precision was 55%, which is so-so however requires to be better, specifically considering that numerous of the misses were with clubs besides the driver.
Wedge play.
Thats the secret to par-5 scoring, and Woods was simply 1 under for the week at Muirfield Village. He also hit just 75% of the greens from 100 to 125 backyards.
Putting.
This needs to improve, and Tiger stated so himself. “I didnt feel comfortable playing break, “Woods stated. “Ive been in Florida playing Bermuda [greens] and seeing very little break. Come out here and playing 10, 12 feet of break was a bit different and something Im going to need to get utilized to.”.
Its not like Tiger has actually been playing a bunch of courses at house. He likewise missed out on numerous brief ones.
The good news for Woods is Harding Park does not have the traditional California poa annua greens that in some cases offer him fits. Woods plays on Bermuda at home, but those are usually up to tour-level speeds.
It would make sense for Woods to get to Harding Park early, perhaps this weekend, to get to work on discovering those greens.
Walking.
Cliff Welch/Icon SportswireIt almost sounds ridiculous, but a golfer has to find out how to stroll when he hasnt been playing tournament golf. Woods undoubtedly played a lot of golf at his home course, the Medalist in South Florida, but there is little proof that he did much walking. His caddie, Joe LaCava– who typically prods him to do this when he is around– was not summoned to Florida prior to Woods return. Most of the golf was done out of cart, and that makes good sense on some levels. Woods desires to work on his video game, and zipping around permits more time to get on the range and get in the gym.
There is still something to be said for going through the motions of striking a drive, walking to the ball, hitting an approach, walking to the green … and never sitting down. Think about it. That is essentially how every round of golf on trip is played, with possibly a time or 2 when Woods sits on his bag while play has decreased.
It takes getting utilized to that rhythm, and standing for extended periods of time and walking more than 5 miles in severe heat takes a toll– not to point out is trigger for a stiff back.
Harding Park is not an exhausting walk, and the temperatures wont climb much above the low 70s. However it is something to view.
Lack of competition golf.
Woods has seldom entered into a major champion with so little tournament preparation, with a couple of significant exceptions.
He will go to Harding Park having played simply among the previous eight weeks in the trips restart. That puts him well behind almost every other top gamer, conserve for Adam Scott, who has not played throughout the reboot. Toss in the absence of action for Woods given that he played the Genesis Invitational– and he has actually played just one of the previous 11 events.
In 2015, Woods took off 9 weeks due to breaking and back issues following a withdrawal from the Farmers Insurance Open. He began that year with a missed cut and after that the WD and didnt play once again up until the Masters, where he tied for 17th.
In 2011, Woods suffered Achilles and knee injuries at the Masters, withdrew after 9 holes of the Players Championship, then didnt play once again until the WGC-Bridgestone in August, the week prior to the PGA, where he missed the cut.
In 2010, Woods did not play at all up until the Masters in the aftermath of his personal concerns. That he managed to connect for fourth– he opened with a 68– and remained in contention on the last day was a remarkable accomplishment offered all that swirled around him at the time.
In 2008, Woods did not play between the Masters and U.S. Open, undergoing what was supposed to be a minor knee treatment but causing little fractures in the bone of his left leg and an eventual ACL replacement. He won the U.S. Open despite all those issues.
Bottom line, throughout his profession, Woods has had much more competition preparation entering into a major than he has now.
Looking ahead.
Woods referenced the FedEx Cup playoffs in his tweet revealing he would not play this week. If he is intent on getting to Atlanta for the Tour Championship, he has some work to do, and it will be interesting to see how he tries to handle it.
Following the 3M Open, Woods dropped to 45th in the FedEx Cup standings (and to 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking) and is likely to drop even more after missing the WGC today.
That suggests he could use an excellent week at the PGA Championship to move better to the leading 30, which will be required for him to make it to Atlanta.
Woods needs to play, but he does not desire to play too much.
