Tiger Woods' Short Game Should Have Rest of PGA Terrified

Tiger Woods is ready to stalk his way back to the top of the PGA ranks. It's been a long process. He's had to overcome injuries, a rebuilt swing and a broken putting game to reach this point, but he is finally there. 

He has looked solid early in his two tournaments in 2012, and his dynamic five-under par third round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am erased any lingering doubt that he might not be able to return to dominance. 

That became clear as he put together the final piece of his recaptured game in place, and that is his short game. 

The Return of Touch

Tiger has struggled mightily to get his touch back. He has been shaky with his putter, and uncharacteristically erratic with with his chips. 

That is no longer a concern. Through three rounds of this tournament, he is averaging just 1.7 putts per round. That is an especially solid number considering he is hitting just under 80 percent of his greens in regulation. 

As a point of comparison, these numbers are on par with Tiger's stats from 2000 when he won three majors. That year he averaged 1.7 putts per green and hit 75.2 percent of greens in regulation. 

He is also saving himself with solid chips on the few greens he is not hitting. He has just five bogeys for the three rounds. 

While these greens are playing slower than they would for a US Open, there are very few flat greens, and putting and chipping on these beasts is no easy task. 

The Rest of His Game

That video does an excellent job of breaking down his swing changes. Tiger is now more concentrated on staying over the ball and limiting his lateral movement. This is going to allow him to be a more consistent ball striker. And he almost has that swing completely dialed in. 

He started to groove this at the end of last season, and has continued the process this year. 

He has never been the most accurate driver, and now he is consistently striking the ball at level that will lead him to championships. 

For this tournament he is hitting 73.2 percent of his fairways with a average distance of 294.6 yards. 

Lets compare this to 2000 again. He had a driving accuracy of 71.2 percent with a driving distance of 298 yards. Looking at these numbers it is clear that Tiger has his groove back. 

The confidence is there on the tee and the green. Tiger can feel it, and it shows in his game. He exploded for six birdies in eight holes in Saturday's third round, and those are the kind of stretches that are going to once again become much more the rule than the exception.