Golf World Should Not Overreact to Tiger Woods' Play at Players Championship

Tiger Woods' performances spur more reaction than any athlete in the world, but the golf community must remember, the TPC is not a snapshot of the rest of his career.

It's just another tournament, in fact, it's a tournament and course he has genuinely struggled with—even when times, and his play were good.

Many people will lump his slow start at TPC Sawgrass with his recent struggles at the Masters and the Wells Fargo Championship last week, but I don't think they are related.

Woods has never been Tiger-esque in this tournament. In 14 career starts, he has one win and four top-10 finishes. That isn't too bad for most golfers, but if you're Tiger Woods, it causes conversations of impending doom.

When an athlete's performances cause as much reaction as Woods' does, there is bound to be overreaction. This is always the case with Woods—for the good and the bad.

Even I'm guilty of it.

Myself and others prematurely thrust him atop the favorites list to win the 2012 Masters after his tournament-winning performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

He had been playing pretty well throughout the year, but I ignored a finding I discovered while researching Tiger and other great golfers from the past. Despite the personal issues, Tiger is in a stage of his career where his game is transitioning from a young man to an older man.

It happens to most every golfer that has success as a young man. Jack Nicklaus went through a three-year drought without a major before winning the British Open in 1978. He was 38 then, and his last major before that came in 1975 when he was 35.

At 36, Tiger Woods is in the same space, so not surprisingly, he has gone four years without capturing a major. Throw in the fact that he has missed time due to injury and personal strife, and things fall more into perspective.

The TPC at Sawgrass is just another tournament. Even if Tiger rallies to win this tournament—which is not impossible, going into Saturday he's six shots back—it's all part of the process.

Tiger is extremely polarizing so we take notice when he performs. But we must keep this singular tournament in the proper perspective. He is best evaluated at the end of the golf season, as opposed to overreacted to after every round.

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