Tiger Woods Eliminated from Match Play Championship

After handily defeating Brandon Jacobs 3 and 2 yesterday in his first round in more than eight months, Tiger Woods displayed a more human side this afternoon.

Woods got off to another strong start and went one-up on South African Tim Clarke after a birdie at the par-five second; from which point on he displayed the first signs of some rust on his game.

Woods was extremely accurate off the tee for most of the day and had an average day around the greens.

What cost Tiger today was a combination of poor iron play and lights-out play from Tim Clarke.

Hitting virtually all of his approach shots off the pristine fairways at Dove Mountain, Woods rarely landed the ball close enough to give himself legitimate birdie opportunities. 

Clarke, on the other hand, played beautifully from tee to green and gave himself several excellent birdie opportunities, which he more than capitalized on.

On the 14th hole, Woods jolted our minds back to Torrey Pines for just a moment and made most watching believe that he was about to go on yet another one of his miraculous match-play tears.

After hitting his approach shot into the bunker on the short side of the hole, Woods’ bunker shot landed softly and rolled into the hole decreasing his deficit to two with four holes left to play.

But, despite his chip in out of the sand on the 14th, Woods was unable to swing the momentum his way.

Woods hit his drive out of bounds on the 15th, resulting in a bogey despite his second tee shot rolling to within 20 feet on the short par-4.

Clarke birdied the 15th and then sent Woods home with another birdie on the 16th. 

Although Woods’ game did appear to be a little rusty today, we have to give credit where credit is due.

Clarke played outstanding golf all afternoon and was six-under-par through 16 holes. 

Despite suffering an early exit, Woods’ return could still be viewed in a positive light.

First and foremost, Woods appeared to be completely pain free.  In a rare sight on the golf course, more eyes were glued on Woods’ face rather than on his ball flight, examining whether or not there was even an inkling of a grimace on his face, which there was not.

Woods was also extremely accurate off the tee, which has always been something he has struggled with in the past.

Although he was reluctant to give a definitive date for his next appearance, Woods will most likely play again at the World Golf-CA Championship at Doral. 

Woods will surely spend the next few weeks with coach Hank Haney making some minor tweaks to his swing.

Even though we tend to expect Woods to win every tournament he enters, even after an eight-month layoff, it just doesn’t happen that way.

All in all, Woods’ game probably appeared even less rusty than would have been expected from a player who has not played competitively in more than 260 days. 

Woods’ game appears to be very close to where it was before he went down with his knee injury, thus giving us no reason to believe that he will have anything less than a typical Tiger Woods season.