An ESPN opinion piece mentioned a few reasons why Tiger Woods may have had an easier time winning his first tournament in two years, the Chevron World Challenge, but I'm not totally buying into it.
The reasons?
1. Tiger Woods didn't have to beat very many players.
Does it really matter how many golfers are in the field? I will concede that more players increase the chances that more than one will shine but Golfers are supposed play against par. Whether there are eighteen or seventy-five golfers, if you're playing well for four straight days, you have a chance to win.Many of the golfers in this event are already winners and/or have played well this season. They also know that Tiger Woods had won on this golf course on four previous occasions.
Every golfer in the field was itching to win against Tiger Woods on Sunday in order to add it to their resume.
2. ESPN claims that the field of eighteen golfers (some of the finest players of the 2011 season) were not as engaged because this was not an official PGA Tour event.
Do golfers enter into an event with the prospect of not playing their best or not wanting to win? I understand that there may be a different mindset between a major tournament and all other events during the year but putting together four terrific rounds of golf takes much physical effort and mental concentration: Woods was playing on point this week.
3. Joe LaCava, Tiger Woods' caddie, was quoted in the article as agreeing with the above statements, "He knows it's not 144 guys. He knows it's not the Masters."
4. The former number-one golfer in the world was highly motivated since this event was to help the Tiger Woods Foundation. I'm not sure that more motivation stems from the fact that he's helping his charity or because he went into the event wanting to win it.
Tiger Woods said, "I'm not playing for you guys or anything like that. Just playing to get the 'W'."
To add to the above ESPN list, since this win makes number five for Tiger on the same course, I'm unsure as to why Sherwood Country Club was not added as a reason why Woods won! As Bob Harig stated, "that first victory in more than two years had to come somewhere."
When Tiger was asked how this end-of-season win compared to his other victories, a Cheshire cat smile erupted (actually, the smile could not be undone after his win), "It feels great. … I know it's been a while, but also for some reason, it feels like it hasn't."
Watching Woods I noticed that his drives were errant and he did not play his "A" game but he also got out of sticky situations with aplomb, confidently putting his ball back into play and getting back into scoring position. Tiger Woods "of old" actually peeked out from a winless two years during the final two holes where he sealed the deal but there have been shimmers of hope for some time, especially since his stretch of tourrnaments in Australia.
The only problem I see with the Woods' "progression" is that Tiger will not be playing another formal round of golf until the beginning of 2012 which leaves much time for changing the swing and overthinking; before the final round, the announcers even noticed that he was fidgeting with his putting grip, a sign that Tiger Woods still has far to go to regain the confidence of two years ago.
Although Chevron has decided to part company with this unofficial PGA Tour event, now that Tiger Woods is on the comeback trail, I'm sure a new sponsor will not be hard to find.
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