Quote:
Originally Posted by dagolfdoc
I'm neither a Tiger lover or hater - I respect what he has done in the game and for the game, but I do get a kick out of all the "he's sooo close" attention he gets. He's close? What about Phil - winning & losing the next week in a PO is close (not to mention the beat down he put on TW - that used to be the reverse)! Keegan Bradley - winning the last major played and losing in a PO - that is close. Bill Haas - Fed Ex cup & another win - that's close! Sned's, Kyle Stanley - those guys are "close." I don't believe Tiger is "close" to his old dominant ways because he has finished a few tournaments, but more guys who are playing great get a little overshadowed by the Tiger comeback train. Is Tiger close to winning again, probably, I think he can win on any given week. Is he close to a year like 2000-2001, I haven't seen anything to support that argument, yet. Do I like his swing now, yes, it looks great, but the question of will he dominate again is tough.
Sorry for the ramble - day off, trying to avoid doing laundry/chores.
Here is my argument for Tiger is "close". I think everyone here can agree that recently a huge gaping hole has revealed itself in his putting. He seems to think its a pretty easy fix, I'm a bit skeptical. However even with that universally recognized weakness he is still putting up solid results. PGA Tour.com will tell you Tiger is giving up 1.5 shots per round this year to the field and this current putting funk goes all the way back to the Australian Open last year. Yet despite that he has been in the mix every Sunday in his last 4 stroke play events.
Last 4 stroke play events-
T3, 1*, T3, T15
Average finish- 7th excluding Chevron
* will concede that Chevron isn't the most legit win/tournament but he still played very well vs a strong,small field.
Bill Haas, who everyone I'm sure will agree is playing all around good golf has this for his last 4 events.
1, T19, T4, T64
Average finish- 22
Phil played well the last 2 weeks but also mixed in a missed cut at his first event.
T2, 1, T26, Cut
Average finish- ERROR {cannot calculate CUT}
Stanley, obviously playing good to start the year.
T24, 1, T2, Cut
Average finish- ERROR {cannot calculate CUT}
Snedeker. Again everyone can reach the conclusion that he is playing well so far this year.
T17, T50, 1, T8
Average finish- 16
Keegan, same as everyone else. Conclusion thus this far this year is he is playing well.
T2, T15, T22, T13
Average finish- 13
So this is where I'm confused. All of these guys are considered to be playing better than Tiger to start the year, yet they all have a worse average finish compared to Tiger who everyone would lead you to believe is playing terrible. The only thing terrible about his game currently is putting(wedge play is also questionable). If Tiger wasn't just about DFL puttingwise in every event he's played recently things would be much different.
Put him in the middle of the putting stats and give him Kyle Stanley's basically 0 strokes gained putting and you can cut off 6 shots from all of Tiger's tournaments. That would be good for wins in Australia and Dubai.
Put him near the top, where he resided for so long and give him Phil the Thrills almost 1 stroke gained on the field per round and you can peel off 10 shots for Tiger at each tournament. That would be good for ALL wins.
That is why I think he's close. Tiger could possibly do what Mahan has done in the past 2 weeks. 1 week ago he feels clueless on the greens, the next week he is unstoppable on them. If Tiger gets a "click" like that... PARTY OVER.
Last edited by NxtWrldChamp; 02-27-2012 at 02:51 PM.