Tiger Woods: Hallowed Event Will Bring Nothing but Misery for Golf Legend

The spectacular week known as the Masters is rapidly approaching.

Actually, better make that Tiger Woods is rapidly approaching.

After a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, the former World No. 1 has become the man most likely to win another coveted green jacket by beating the field at the Masters.

The media circus is already in full steam about whether Tiger can take out his fifth green jacket and reinstate his position as the world's greatest golfer.

I mean, after all, he's playing well, he's hitting well and most importantly, he's winning again.

Yet whilst it might seem then completely logical to point to the golfing legend as the most likely name to be perched atop the leaderboard come the end of the week, in reality, it simply won't happen.

Tiger Woods will not win the Masters in 2012.

Winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational does not make Woods the man most likely to succeed this weekend, nor does it mean that he has suddenly brought back the Tiger of years gone by.

He may be playing well and hitting it well, but the level of consistency needed to win the hallowed event simply isn't there yet, in 2012, for the golfing legend.

Consistency is needed to win any golf tournament and the bigger the tournament, the higher the level of consistency needed.

You can play as well as anyone for three and a half rounds of the tournament and still walk away with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Don't believe me? Rory McIlroy's (one of the best young golfers in the world) final round capitulation last year will surely go down in the history books as one of the greatest fourth-round collapses ever.

For Tiger, the consistency simply isn't there yet.

His form may appear strong with a win and a second place in his last five tournaments, but the reality is that these are also his only top-10 finishes of the year, so far. If you watched his final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am earlier in the year, the steady and regular play simply isn't there for Woods.

The consistency simply isn't there and neither is the accuracy.

A quick look at his season so far gives many a vote of confidence—ranked 7th in greens in regulation percentage (71.85 percent) and 18th in driving accuracy percentage (67.94 percent)—but looking closer, these numbers aren't as strong as they appear.

On a course where approaching the green is critical, Tiger's numbers aren't actually a vote of confidence, but rather, a serious cause for concern, as he is well off pace across the PGA Tour.

Greens in regulation approaching from:	Ranking:
75 to 100 yards	172nd — 66.67 percent
100 to 125 yards	102nd — 75.00 percent
125 to 150 yards	58th — 73.81 percent
150 to 175 yards	43rd — 68.63 percent
Overall: Less than 75 yards	101st — 88.89 percent
Overall: Less than 100 yards	117th — 85.71 percent
Overall: Less than 125 yards	133rd — 81.43 percent

Whilst Tiger's total greens in regulation may appear strong, in reality, it is significantly behind throughout mid-level approaches in 2012.

We may see Woods play some superb golf then on par-five holes, but on anything less, the former world No. 1 could have plenty of miserable moments in the tournament.

We must also not gloss over Tiger's putting throughout 2012, which was always one of his strong suits when he was playing his best golf.

Across the year, Woods' putting average has him ranked 67th on the PGA tour and over half a point behind players like McIlroy, who is currently averaging around the 1.70 mark for the year.

Until Tiger can bring back the consistency, accuracy and finishing needed to win the Masters, he simply cannot be considered the favorite to win the green jacket in 2012.

His game is improving from the depths it sank to, granted, but simply put, it isn't all the way back yet.

The four-time US Masters winner will play at the Masters as he has done all year—solid, but inconsistent, and definitely not strong enough to take home his fifth green jacket.

Exactly who will find themselves in green at the end of the week still remains to be seen, but for one Tiger at least, the hallowed event of the Masters is bound to bring nothing but misery for the once-unbeatable golfing legend.

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