Tiger Woods Players Championship 2012: Old Tiger Will Never Resurface Again

Fans and golf experts alike keep waiting for Tiger Woods to finally click and return to the player who captured 14 major championship wins by the time he was 33. But I've got news for everyone: The old Tiger is never coming back.

This week at the Players Championship, Woods almost missed his second straight cut—something he hadn't done in his entire career. A four-birdie stretch saved him and moved him on to the weekend. The four-under 68 snapped a stretch of nine straight rounds in which he didn't break 70.

Woods is currently ranked No. 7 in the world, but he's clearly not the same guy who won those 14 majors. Forget the mental strain of the past few years and the myriad injuries he has suffered, the real reason for Tiger's decline is simple: age.

He turned 36 in December and isn't the same guy he was in his mid-to-late 20s. His body isn't going to rebound the way it used to, and he simply doesn't have the same ability he once possessed. I'm not saying Woods can't ever win another major, but we'll certainly never see the dominant performer he once was. 

I doubt Woods will continue to be a middle-of-the-pack golfer for the rest of his career. I do think he will figure something out and find some consistency. But I have a hard time believing that he will ever again approach being the kind of player he was before his personal life began to fall apart late in 2009. 

Since that time, Woods has been all over the place mentally. But even when he straightens his head out, he still won't get back to being the dominant player everyone used to take for granted. At his age, Tiger just simply doesn't possess the physical tools it takes to own the PGA like he used to.