Tiger Woods: Why He Will Win a Major in 2012?

The new season is finally here, and the question everybody is asking, again, is if Tiger Woods is really back?

Who wouldn’t love to see Eldrick succeed the way he did from 1996 to 2009, before we all got to know his dirty little secret(s)?

Tiger finished third at his last official 2011 tournament, the Emirates Australian Open, before playing the Presidents Cup, which the U.S. team won and where he showed a glimpse of what his short game used to be and hoisted the Chevron World Challenge trophy.

Woods may never be the golfer he used to be, he’s not a youngster anymore, but at age 36, he still has a lot of years ahead of him, so don’t count him out just yet.

After his performance at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Woods proved that the good pace he showed at the end of last season was not just a stroke of luck; he’s actually getting consistency back.

He decided to take a couple of weeks off after the Chevron and went back to work “from the green back,” he said prior to the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

After four rounds of good golf in the desert, Tiger’s improvement is evident.

He shot two bogey-free rounds. On Thursday, he had two birdies and 16 pars; on Saturday, six birdies and 12 pars. Woods hadn’t done that since the 2008 Buick Invitational when he birdied seven holes of the second round and six of the third.

It was also in 2008 when Tiger won his last major—the U.S. Open after birding the 72nd hole and forcing an 18-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate.

It's true that he entered Abu Dhabi’s final round co-leading with Rory McIlroy, and it was Robert Rock who sealed the deal. Eldrick, however, managed to get into the Official World Golf Ranking’s Top 20, which he left for the first time in 14 years, last July.

All of this, plus Woods’ desire to post good results in major championships, can lead us to think that he will finally end the two-year-drought in the Grand Slam department.

During his pre-tournament interview, he was questioned about winning majors, to which he responded: “I’m looking forward to it.”

If Woods’ keeps it up, the Masters seems like a good fit for him, he’s always done better in that major than in the other three championships.

He has played every single Masters since 1995. The only time he missed the cut was in 1996—the first time he played it as a professional golfer.

He recovered fast, though, and a year later, he captured his first major victory at Augusta, and he did it in style. He set the widest winning margin (12 strokes) and the lowest winning score (18-under) records, which still stand.

Also in 1997, he became the youngest green jacket recipient.

Even in his worst moments, like in 2010, he went on to post a top-five finish, after tying for fourth.

In 2011, he played just two majors. He didn’t participate in the U.S. Open and The Open Championship due to injury. At the PGA Championship, he missed the cut. Once again, it was the Masters that gave him some sort of satisfaction after posting a tie-for-fourth-place finish.

Woods has won this event four times (1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005) and knows the field like the palm of his hand, so he can contend and wear the green jacket yet again.

What does he need to make it happen? Consistency throughout the four rounds. He was close at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship but couldn’t seal the deal, but it’s just a matter of time.

Regarding his game, he needs to control distance. After wrapping up the last round in the desert, Woods recognized that “a couple of my irons were going further than they are supposed to.  So something to look at, and something to try and figure out.”

But there’s no reason to panic, he still has three tournaments to get ready: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and WGC-Cadillac Championship. Those will also give him a chance to figure out distance and work on his swing a bit more.

Woods has what it takes to make it happen. The biggest rival he’s going to face is himself. Confidence will be a key factor, and if he feels comfortable at Augusta, it will be a very intense and interesting tournament, which by the way, will turn into media frenzy.

The Masters is, for sure, the perfect scenario to get his first official win in two years, but also the right moment to chase Jack Nicklaus’ record.

In the end, Woods is only four trophies away from the Golden Bear so the feat is still plausible. Let us watch.