Tiger Woods: Watch for 73 and Even More Critiquing at Wells Fargo

Tiger Woods tees it up this week for the first time since what even he would agree was a less than stellar performance at The Masters. 

He’s at Quail Hollow, host for the Wells Fargo Championship, which, though relatively new, has given us many outstanding champions in the past, including Woods himself in 2007. 

After Woods performance at Augusta many people are now wondering what will Tiger do next, never mind what will Phil do next.  We can kind of guess what Phil will do next. 

He will hit some great shots and he will hit some goofy ones.  

Woods is now officially almost a man of mystery.  He was practically robotic for 15 years but has made some really unexpected choices recently.   

Uncharacteristically, he turned his coach Sean Foley loose on the media.

Foley told Sirius/XM PGA Tour Network's Matt Adams (h/t golfweek.com) that critics should leave Woods alone.  What’s even more amazing about this is that supposedly one reason Butch Harmon was  “fired” was that he talked to the media too much.

“It has just gotten to the point where the tearing down of Tiger as a person and a golfer has become just too much. I think it is just out of hand,” Foley said two weeks ago.

Talk about a great way to draw a big fat monster bulls-eye on someone.  

If there wasn’t enough back seat swing analysis before, Foley’s comments should elicit a brand, shiny, new round of them, depending on how Woods performs at Wells Fargo. 

If he plays like he did at Bay Hill, questions will disappear.  If he plays like he did at The Masters, there will be more back-seat coaching.

What Foley did was like asking "Entertainment Tonight" or "TMZ" or "Inside Edition" or the "National Enquirer" to stop following Angelina Jolie.  Not going to happen.  

Now a conspiracy theorist might suggest that all this is smoke and mirrors to divert attention from the Hank Haney book, "The Big Miss."

Then he became almost man of mystery part two.  After the Foley interview, Woods decided he wasn’t going to participate in Wells Fargo pre-tournament media Q&A’s. 

So not only has Woods sent his instructor out begging people to be nice, he’s stiff-armed the people he wants a favor from.  Is anyone on Team Woods’ planet actually thinking about this strategy?

It might seem hard at the time, but you show up, you give the answers to a smaller group of reporters on Tuesday than any other day, and you go on.  It’s over.  Anybody else asks and it’s, “We covered that Tuesday, next question.”

Instead, he created more controversy by hand-picking fans' questions to answer online. 

So, either this is a genius strategy to make sure he stays front and center and in the headlines, or it’s some of the worst PR planning ever.  Don’t know which.

Regarding the Haney book—news flash: 

After what everyone learned about Tiger Woods two years ago, no matter what is in "The Big Miss," it’s nothing. 

Woods should just forget about it, the book.  Woods’ only recourse is to write a book of his own, but everyone knows that’s not going to happen.  At least not now.

Meanwhile, the real story this week and every week that Tiger Woods tees it up until he wins again has been forgotten. 

The real story is 73. 

One more victory for Woods ties him with Jack Nicklaus in total PGA Tour titles. 

If no one asks him about it this week, then those on site have lost historic perspective.

He will get asked next week.

Eventually the reporters and columnists will remember it’s not about a book, it’s about the Woods assault on golf history.  It’s about 19, the number of majors that passes Jack Nicklaus, unless you add US Amateurs and The Players. 

It’s about 73, which, no matter what you count, is the Nicklaus total.  And then 74, the number that breaks Nicklaus’ victory record.  Nicklaus has become more than the Golden Bear. He’s the Golden Yardstick. 

After that, the only thing standing in Woods’ way in terms of annihilating the golf record book is Sam Snead’s victory total of 82, which used to be 84 until the PGA Tour subtracted two for reasons never explained.

One year they were victories and the next year they weren’t. The only US player with more titles is Kathy Whitworth who won 88.  

[When you start counting international victories, things get messy, what with Roberto De Vicenzo winning more than 230 tournaments (131 of them on the Argentine Tour and 62 others in South America).]

So the real thing to watch this week is whether or not Tiger Woods ties Jack Nicklaus with 73 victories. 

It’s the same thing to watch until he does it, which he surely will.  When Woods was asked what it would mean to win at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill, he said, “As far as what it would mean, it would mean No. 72.” 

Nobody gave it a thought.  But Woods knew it was just one back of 73, the number that ties Nicklaus.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.