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Are we seeing the return of Tiger circa 2000?

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:54:00 GMT

Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

When choosing a Tiger Woods vintage, 2000, as they might say in Johnny Miller's Napa Valley neighborhood, was a very good year, incomparable, even. But what about vintage Tiger Woods?

Miller uncorked the possibility that that is where Tiger's game is headed. "He could be moving back into that 2000 year form for the first time," Miller said Saturday on the NBC telecast of the Players Championship.

On Sunday, Woods lent credence to the notion, by winning for the fourth time this year and third time in his last four starts. By way of comparison, Woods had three victories through mid-May of 2000, though he would go on to win six more times that year, including the remaining three major championships. It's a steep curve.

Still, it's an interesting observation, one that Miller based on the versatility that has returned to Woods' game. "I like what Tiger's doing," he said. "He's standing a little closer to it, a little more up the line and down the line, not swinging over to the left. Now he can hit the cut when he wants, he's got a straight ball on the normal shot, and he can play the draw."

The draw, the final piece for a shotmaker who prefers shaping the ball, was there on command late on Sunday afternoon. Clinging to a one-stroke lead, his tee shot on the 18th hole followed the route of the fairway, right to left. Then with the pin tucked in the front left corner of the green, he took a 9-iron and hit another draw to 18 feet above the hole. Game, set and unmatched.

"That's what he has over the field right now," Miller said. "He can hit the cut or the draw. All systems are go right now."

Maybe, but the caution flag remains out. The design of the TPC Sawgrass diminishes the need for the driver, which remains Woods' arch-enemy. He was ranked 154th in driving accuracy entering the Players Championship, and even on courses that call for the club more often, he tends to resist it.

Related: How Tiger's swing has changed

Then there was that tee shot at the 14th hole while holding a two-stroke lead. It was straight off a muny, a pop-up hook that splashed down in the middle of a hazard. "I'm sorry, but I don't think Tiger 2000 hits that tee shot," fellow PGA Tour player Bob Estes wrote on Twitter.

Woods likely would concur. "On the 14th tee, that was the worst shot I could possibly hit," he said. Misfiring to that extent, while guarding a final-round lead, has never been part of his playbook.

It likely was an aberration. He still won by two and to do so in the Players might be disconcerting to the competition than his four victories. The Players has never been a gimme for Woods, the way other tour courses have been (eight professional victories at Torrey Pines, eight at Bay Hill). He had won it only once before, a dozen years ago.

Even more disconcerting might have been his succinct post-tournament assessment of his game.

"I'm getting better," he said simply.

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Media: 'Tiger has lost his game. And his mind'

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:21:00 GMT

(Photo by Getty Images)

How does one explain the inexplicable, the unraveling of the lone active candidate for the title of greatest player ever? This was the task with which the CBS' broadcast crew had to deal on Friday on ESPN's telecdast of the second round of the Masters.

Nick Faldo summed it up succinctly after Tiger Woods fanned his tee shot at the par-3 16th hole, then tossed his club to the ground and kicked it.

"I think we can officially say now that Tiger has lost his game," Faldo said. "And his mind."

"And his temper," Verne Lundquist said.

"He hasn't got a clue how to put the clubface on the ball right now," Faldo said.

More Tiger Troubles

The word that came to mind when Woods shoved a four-foot birdie putt well right of the eighth hole was conspicuously absent on the telecast.

Golf Channel's Mark Lye, meanwhile, expressed it in written form on Twitter. "Yippee," he wrote. "I'm not happy...just describing Tiger's stroke."

Nick Faldo and Peter Oosterhuis did dissect it in this exchange:

Faldo: "Hello, hello."

Oosterhuis: "That was nasty, wasn't it?"

Faldo: "That was a block."

Oosterhuis: "Rhythm was not good, not smooth."

Woods faced another four-footer at nine, this one for par.

"This putt is straight forward. Inside right. Nice and solid, simple as that. Easy read," Faldo said.

"Tiger's always had that amazing ability, as I would describe it, to hit the reset button and forget everything else in the past...But you alway wonder if in the last couple of years there's a few scars with some of the putts he's seen missed."

Then he missed again, this time by pulling the putt.

"Like so," Faldo said.

Duval among a failing group of tour veterans

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:07:00 GMT

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- It has not been a good week for a group of PGA Tour veterans and tournament winners at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA West.

Three former major champions -- David Duval, Rich Beem, Lee Janzen and Shaun Micheel -- are not going to earn PGA Tour exemptions for 2012. Duval is T70, Beem T115 and Micheel T109 early in final-round play. A fourth major winner, Lee Janzen, is T43 and still contending for one of the 25 tour cards available.

Another group -- Scott McCarron, Carlos Franco and Robert Gamez, all PGA Tour winners -- also will fail to earn playing priveleges next year. McCarron, now a resident of La Quinta, is T143, Franco T134, and Gamez T127.

A threesome of former tour winners are in position to return to the PGA Tour -- Vaughn Taylor (T9) and Bob Estes and Jeff Maggert (both T23).

-- John Strege

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