I am sitting here watching the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, although I already know who won. It wasn’t Tiger Woods. In fact, Tiger had a horrible Sunday. He shot a 3-over 75 in his quest to win for the first time in over a year. Tiger Woods is no longer intimidating on Sundays. It used to amazingly simple for Tiger to go into the final round of a tournament behind by one stroke and come out with a victory. The players ahead of him used to see his name near the top and choke it away on Sunday. Now the tables have turned, and Tiger Woods is the player shooting final round 75’s. He shot a 75 in the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines as well.
Sure, he is going through a swing change and that swing is probably not comfortable enough to hold up under pressure. But can Tiger Woods ever get his “mojo” back? It’s hard to say right now. When Tiger came out on TOUR at the age of 21, he struck fear in the guys that had been out there for so many years. And the first ten years of his career he played against those same players. Now, as he gets later in his 30’s, players who are now coming on TOUR now have been watching Tiger since they were 12 or 14, and they are not intimidated by him. The players who Tiger used to beat the crap out of are now playing limited schedules and getting close to Champions Tour age.
I think it’s going to be extremely hard for Tiger to dominate like he used to, especially after seeing him play the final rounds in Dubai and Torrey Pines. Hell, I am even inching closer to saying he will never match Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships. One thing I do know, is no matter how long Tiger Woods continues to struggle, he will always have the swing change to hide behind. Let’s just hope he gets it back, because The Masters is less than 8 weeks away.
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