Tiger Woods: Hot Start in 2013 Will Lead to Fifth Green Jacket

It may have been a long road, but it looks like Tiger Woods is finally back and ready to win another green jacket at the Masters.

The last time Woods won a major was in 2008.  He struggled to stay focused the past few seasons with so many distractions.  However, that appears to all be in the past after the hot start to 2013.

It’s been a very hot start in 2013 for Tiger.  In just three months, he’s been able to win the Farmers Insurance Open, WGC-Cadillac Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational.  All of this success gave Woods the No. 1 world ranking for the first time since 2010.

In just three months, Tiger has been able to win as many tournaments as he did last year.  In fact, he’s already won as many as he won the past three years, since he wasn’t able to get a single win in 2010 or 2011.

All of the recent success should translate into another Masters win this year.  He’s clearly shown that he is back to his old form, and he’s ready to end the drought of major wins.

It’s been a pretty solid run in the past few seasons at the Masters for Tiger.  Even though he hasn’t won a green jacket since 2005, he has placed sixth or better every year since except in 2012, when he finished tied for 40th.  Ignoring the outlier, Tiger’s average finish since his last win is between third and fourth.

The Masters is the major where Tiger arguably has had the most success.  He’s won four majors there, tied with the PGA Championship for the most major wins in his career.  He also won his first major there, winning by a very impressive eight strokes.

Everyone else used to be at an immediate disadvantage when Tiger was in the field.  While the pure dominance of his prime years might not be back, he has certainly been playing well enough to be a very intimidating golfer.  The No. 1 ranking doesn’t mean much to Tiger, as he’s only focused on getting to 20 major wins in his career.  He only needs six more and could get that down to five after bringing home another green jacket.

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