Tiger Woods Players Championship: Star Must Make Cut to Ensure U.S. Open Success

After winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in March, it appeared as though Tiger Woods was back on track and ready to contend in majors once again. Since that victory though, Tiger has struggled mightily and is in danger of missing the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship this week.

Since Woods missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship last week and finished a mere 40th at The Masters, it's clear that he has fallen back into old habits as of late. With the U.S. Open about a month away, Tiger's game must round into form or else he risks being a non-factor in yet another big tournament.

Woods is already well behind the leaders after the first round at THE PLAYERS since he shot a two-over 74. With that in mind, it probably isn't realistic to expect Tiger to completely turn things around and get into the mix to win, but he simply needs something positive to happen. After missing the cut in his last tourney, making it and doing some good things over the weekend would be huge for him.

It seems crazy to be talking about small victories when it comes to Woods, but that is the point that he has reached. Woods has won 99 times as a professional and has won 14 majors. Just a couple years ago he seemed like a sure bet to pass Jack Nicklaus for the most major wins in golf history. Since then, he has stalled in a big way as news of his infidelity came to the forefront and he has been ravaged by injuries as well.

There is no doubt that Woods has to build up some sort of momentum over the next month, and it starts at THE PLAYERS Championship. While it may not technically be a major tournament, THE PLAYERS is quite important and has been dubbed the fifth major by many. Missing the cut would be awful for Tiger's confidence and I have to believe that it would weigh on him moving forward.

Woods still has a little bit of time to round into form, but missing two cuts in a row is something that is tough to bounce back from. Normally I would say that Tiger can simply turn it on whenever he wants, but his struggles are much closer to a trend than a fluke at this point, so he needs to nip this in the bud and prove why he's the greatest golfer who has ever lived.

As nice as it is to see younger talent excelling in big tournaments, the sport of golf is so much better when Woods is contending on the big stage. Even if he isn't necessarily winning the tournaments, most golf fans want to see him within a couple strokes of the lead on Sunday at the very least. He hasn't been in that position at a major in quite some time though, and I do believe that it hurts the sport.

Perhaps if Woods misses the cut this week he will be able to put it behind him, but his issues seem to be related to his mental state right now, so it's tough to imagine him moving on and not thinking about it. Woods still has all the physical tools to get the job done, but it seems like he simply lacks a winning state of mind.

He probably isn't going to win THE PLAYERS Championship, but bouncing back in the second round, making the cut, and having a solid weekend could be almost as good as a win in the long run and in his conquest of another major title.