Memorial Tournament 2012: Tiger Woods Will Use Victory as a Springboard in 2012

Sometimes you can tell when a golfer's victory will be looked back on as a turning point of his season. Tiger Woods' victory at the 2012 Memorial Tournament will certainly be looked back on as one of those stepping stones that helped him turn the year around.

Woods benefited from a choke job by Spencer Levin, but got no help from Rory Sabbatini as the South African did all he could to keep himself at the top of the leaderboard.

Tiger would have none of that, as he finished the tournament at nine-under.

With the victory at Muirfield Village, Woods moved into a second place tie with Jack Nicklaus for most career PGA Tour wins with 73. This was his fifth career victory at the Memorial Tournament, and it will definitely be looked back on as the most important.

He was two back with four to play but saw the turning point of the weekend come about at hole 16 when he sank a miraculous chip-in from the rough for a birdie.

This win is so important because of the events that are near on the schedule.

The St. Jude Classic is scheduled to begin on June 7, and while every event is important, we don't yet know if Tiger will be playing that tournament.

Even if he chooses to participate, it is nowhere near as important of an event as the tournament that is set to begin on June 14—the U.S. Open.

With the U.S. Open up next for Tiger, he'll be looking to avoid the same fate that befell him when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational back in March, then lost the Masters that immediately followed.

Based on the performance he put on today, he should be able to play among the leaders in San Francisco, Calif.

This is a huge win for Woods. He has gotten back to his winning ways in 2012 after going winless in 2010 and 2011.

It was obvious that we saw a different Tiger today than what we have seen since the events that transpired outside of his Florida mansion in November 2009. He hit the ball extremely well and hit most of his greens in regulation.

The scariest part of his comeback victory is that he hardly putted as well as he should have. If he had knocked down the makeable putts he was missing, we would have seen a blowout at Muirfield Village.

With the U.S. Open looming, Woods is now in as good a position as anyone to finish atop the leaderboard at the Olympic Club after his thrilling win.

He'll also benefit from the unsuccessful weekend of other top-tier golfers. Phil Mickelson withdrew after an abysmal first round, while Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson failed to make the cut.

Tiger was radiating confidence in his post round interview, and we know he doesn't give himself false praise when he doesn't completely deserve it.

It shouldn't come as a surprise if he uses momentum from this weekend to resort to his past ways and go on a tear over the course of 2012's remaining tournaments.