Tiger Woods' Biggest Advantage of All Is in Jeopardy

Tiger Woods has nothing to prove.

He will eventually regain his top form and he will undoubtedly go on to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors and Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins.

There is no need to start panicking or asking ourselves whether or not Tiger Woods will ever be the same player he was prior to his 2008 knee surgery.

After all, between late 2002 and 2004, Woods did not win a major championship in ten opportunities and every fan, player and analyst were almost certain that Woods had either lost his game or the competition had risen to a point where he was no longer able to dominate the PGA Tour.

Oh, how wrong we all were.

That being said, this time is a little bit different.

First and foremost, back in 2002-2004, Woods’ struggles were due almost solely to a swing change he was in the process of undertaking.  Right now, Woods is certainly struggling with some swing changes he was forced to make in order to relieve some of the pressure on his surgically repaired left knee. 

But he is also recovering from a major knee surgery and more than eight months away from the game.

Woods’ return to the PGA Tour has actually been stronger than what we should have expected from a player who had not competed in more than eight months.

In the five stroke-play events he has attended since returning to the tour in February, Woods has four top-10 finishes and a win.  Not too shabby.

However, although he has yet to finish outside of the top-10 since his return, he has been nowhere near the same dominant player he was just prior to his knee surgery in June of 2008.

The fact that Woods has severely struggled with his game while still managing to win an event and finish within the top-10 in every stroke play tournament he’s attended, is a clear sign as to just how dominant Woods can be once his game finally returns to it’s top form.

But the way in which Woods has struggled from tee to green is certainly a cause for concern.

What’s at stake right now is not Woods’ legacy or even the thought that he may never be the same player again.

What’s at stake right now is his most important advantage of them all—his aura of invincibility.

Prior to the 2008 US Open, Woods was in the midst of one of the most dominant stretches of his career. Then, he went out and won the US Open at Torrey Pines while playing on one leg, which pretty much solidified the rest of the tour’s belief that this guy is unbeatable.

When Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which was just his third tournament back, most of the tour would have been thinking “oh boy, here we go again.”

But, Woods has not been able to build upon his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In fact, his game has gone in the other direction over the past month.

Woods was outplayed by Phil Mickelson and came up short for the sixth time in seven years at Augusta.

Two weeks ago, at the Quail Hollow Championship, Woods opened with a 65 and held the tournament lead after 18-holes.  Although Woods' average second and third round resulted in him loosing the tournament lead, he was still easily within striking distance on Sunday at Quail Hollow.

Two-under par on the back-nine at Quail Hollow would have forced a sudden death playoff with Sean O’Hair. Three-under-par would have given Woods his second win in just four events.

The Tiger Woods we have become so accustomed to seeing would have undoubtedly made a run at Sean O’Hair two weeks ago. But, Woods was unable to get anything going and had to scratch and claw his way around the back-nine just to shoot and even par round of 72.

Last week at the Players Championship, Woods was in the final pairing and once again in position to make a charge.

Woods began the round five-strokes behind the leader, Alex Cjeka. But, by the fourth hole, Cejka had completely collapsed and the Players Championship was up for grabs amongst a dozen or so players who were within just a few strokes of the lead.

Henrik Stenson went out and blistered TPC Sawgrass with a final round score of 66, while Woods spent his day in the trees, sand traps and water en-route to a final round 73 and an eighth place finish.

Once again, you would have to believe that the Tiger Woods of old would have gone out and snatched the Players Championship with both hands on Sunday afternoon.

With each duck-hook off the tee, pushed wedged, missed ten-foot putt and tournament that goes by without seeing the Tiger Woods of old, the more each and every player on tour begins to truly believe that he can take down the mighty Tiger Woods.

A highly talented player is difficult enough to beat. But, a highly talented player who now has the confidence and genuine belief that he can beat you is that much more difficult to defeat.

And that’s what’s at stake for Woods right now.

The confidence that the rest of the field is building with each additional un-tigerlike shot, will make it that much more difficult for Woods to defeat these guys once his game is back to its form.

One of Woods’ biggest weapons on the course is not his driver nor his putter, but his aura of invincibility.

Woods enters a final-round pairing on Sunday knowing that there was no way he can lose, while his playing partners are just hoping to play well enough to take home that second place prize money. This is one of the main reasons why Woods has never lost a major championship while holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead.

Woods needs to win again, and not because he is in desperate need of adding to his 66 PGA Tour wins.

He needs to win again, and often, in order to get back his mental edge and eliminate any sense of vulnerability other players might be seeing in his game right now.

The competition is nipping at his heels and there are many highly talented young players who are gaining more and more confidence with each wayward shot Woods hits.

Woods is under the gun right now because he is beginning to loose his biggest and most important advantage of them all—his aura of invincibility.