Tiger Woods: 5 Reasons Why He Will Dominate Kiawah Island

The last major of the season is upon us and for Tiger Woods in 2012, it really is “Glory’s Last Shot.”

The PGA Championship next week will be played at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina. While the 1991 Ryder Cup was played there, the Pete Dye design has yet to host a stroke play tournament for the regulars on the PGA Tour.

For Woods, this has been a very successful season. He has won three times already this year—at Bay Hill at Arnold Palmer’s tournament, at Muirfield Village at The Memorial in Jack Nicklaus’ backyard in Dublin, Ohio and his own tournament the AT&T National at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland.

The point leader in the FedEx Cup, Woods measures his own success for a season by the number of majors he has won. That number is at zero, and therefore it has not been a successful season.

While Woods has not had the best of success at the other famous Dye design—TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players—there are a few reasons why he could just run the table this time and regain all the glory his detractors still say he lacks.

It Is a Links Course

The Ocean Course is almost identical in design to what you would find at any British Open Championship course.

It is on top of sand dunes on the Atlantic with very few trees. The bunkers, while not as severe as the Open Championship, are of the pot bunker variety and the greens have very subtle slopes that will confuse the best of putters with reading breaks and speed.

As an exposed course, wind will play a big factor here as well. Keeping the ball in the fairway is a must to stay out of the wispy rough and the same keeping-the-ball-low skills needed in the United Kingdom are in play here.

Woods has three of those Open Championship trophies already in his possession and came very close a few weeks ago at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to winning his fourth.

While he has never played the Ocean Course competitively as a professional, he has a love of links golf and will be very comfortable with what he sees here.

It Is a Power Course

While the last two majors were played on courses that barely topped out at 7000 yards, Kiawah Island will play to a whopping 7676 yards for the PGA Championship.

If Tiger can get comfortable with using his driver and three-wood off the tees here, then he will be at a better advantage over the Luke Donald and Webb Simpson-type players who took full advantage of their precision and iron-play to win on Tour this year.

While not as long as he has been in the past, Woods can fully air out the ball when he needs too, as well as get his iron shots on the fairway when the course requires a precision shot over a power one.

Like other good links courses, the ball will roll a bit on the hilly and bumpy terrain, giving him a few extra yards for his approaches to well-protected greens.

There Are Four Par-Five Holes

Also unlike the last two majors that played to par-70s, the PGA Championship will be a customary par-72 with four par-fives to target each day.

While two of those are truly three-shot holes, the other two are reachable in two if the fairway can be found.

Woods has always been the master of scoring on a par-five and could bank a few shots with good play.

One thing Tiger has always done extremely well is hold onto a lead. It remains to be seen whether the current generation of Tour stars are as intimidated by him as the players were at his zenith 10 years ago, but if he goes into the weekend with a three or four shot lead then that intimidation factor he used so much to his advantage could finally be back.

He Is Putting Well Again

These greens will not be as fiery as they are at the U.S. Open and The Masters. They might even be around the same speed as they were at the Open Championship if the wind blows as expected.

When he is on his game, there just simply has never been a big-money putter like Tiger. He can adjust his speeds and reads so well on the fly, and should also have the advantage of knowing how the wind and slopes mix to make putts.

Even if he misses the green, he can be quite creative with his short-game around the greens. He should be able more often than not to scramble for par and just may sink a chip shot or two.

The PGA of America is not embarrassed if the field can produce a decent score, so while par is always a very good score at any hole in a major, there will be holes where birdies can be had.

Tiger’s putter can give him a shot a day, enough to win.

He Is Just Due

When Woods won at Bay Hill, he still seemed angry at his game. When he won at Muirfield Village, it was more of a vintage Tiger performance of executing his game plan and creating chances when he needed too.

Also this year, Woods has played better in each successive major. He had two great rounds at Olympic Club at the U.S. Open and just one really bad hole at the Open Championship.

With Kiawah nearly a clone of its overseas cousins, the setup of the course just seems to fit where his game is currently at.

He plays well at hot Southern courses, winning at both Southern Hills in Tulsa and Valhalla in Louisville for two of his four PGA Championships. He has a sterling record on links courses, as his three Open Championships demonstrate.

Now if he just can put together four days of good golf and show everyone that he is back and on the prowl for next season.

He has to hit fairways and greens, but the PGA is usually the easiest of the four majors to win as shooting just even par is not usually required to win. He has progressed this year from being so frustrated at Augusta, to losing his temper, to being in the next-to-last group at the Open Championship.

For Tiger, he would love to take Glory’s Last Shot this year