Tiger Woods Honda Classic: Woods Is Not Ready To Make Final-Round Surge

As Tiger Woods attempts to regain some sort of a competitive fire on moving day at the Honda Classic with an under-par round, his overall game is still a good ways off and it will prevent him from making a legitimate surge up the leaderboard in the final round.

Something is off with Woods. He knows it, we know it, but I am not sure the public can really put a finger on exactly what is wrong with his game.

It could be the putter, which failed him all day on Sunday at Pebble Beach and again at the first round of the Honda Classic. It could also be a mix of everything his game contains, as we have seen over the last two rounds in Florida.

However, there is a spark that still remains and we tend to see it appear many times in Woods' round. It is getting it to happen when it counts that seems to be the problem for Woods these days.

It starts with the putter—which has become a notable problem for Woods—with the 34 putts on Thursday's opening round, possibly preventing him from making a final-round run at Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach. The core of Woods' problems starts there and it is a good reason why he will not be making that final-round surge tomorrow. The flat stick is clearly not right.

The next problem with Woods' game right now is the one or two blow-up holes. His blow-up holes are a little less hostile than the average player and yet the state of his game can simply not afford to take one these days. His game is not reliable enough.

Even in this Honda Classic, we have seen several tremendous drives down the middle of the fairway followed by an irksome hook or blocked shot off the green for Woods.

When Woods needs to perform, it is simply not happening, which is a sign his game is far from regaining form, no matter how everything seems to be clicking on any given hole. He has yet to keep his game tip-top for an entire tournament.

His opposition includes several players who are, though. A handful of players are having no problem keeping consistent with great scores this week at the Honda Classic. Why not Woods?

His entire game is not what it used to be. More time is needed for Woods to regain that consistency of playing every round to his liking. The Masters seems like the perfect time and place to regain just that.