Tiger Woods: Why He WON'T Win at Pebble Beach, but Will Finish Top 10

Tiger Woods is coming off of a great start to the 2012 season, finishing two strokes behind winner Robert Rock at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship last week.

Tied for the lead after 54 holes, Woods was poised to start the year off with a win.  Instead, he struggled to find the fairways and the greens in the final round, posting an even-par 72.

The Tiger of old would have found ways to make putts and salvage birdies instead of settling for pars.

Heading in to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the concern for Woods isn't a lack of experience playing or knowledge of the course.  It is his inability to find the fairway, and Pebble Beach's fairways are far more narrow than those at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. 

Unless Tiger REALLY works out the kinks with his driver--and 3-wood for that matter-- he is going to have a difficult time scoring low at Pebble Beach.

With all of that negativity towards the former number one golfer in the world out of my system, I still have hope that he can turn his career around. 

He has won at Pebble Beach in the past (remember his record-setting victory at the 2000 U.S. Open where he won by a 15-stroke margin?), so he knows the course.

He also has appears to have "that look" again. 

Remember that look?  The one of drive and determination that gave him a psychological edge over his opponents?

Given his history at Pebble Beach, his performance at the HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club (the good and the bad), and the apparent return of his determination, I think he'll card a very decent score and finish in the top ten.