2013 PGA Championship: Last-Minute Predictions for Tiger Woods at Oak Hill

He was at the top of the group of potential favorites for this week’s PGA Championship going into last week’s Bridgestone Invitational.

But when Tiger Woods blew away the field in Akron, Ohio, all eyes—and a lot of wagering money—was channeled toward the No. 1 player in the official World Golf Rankings.

Here are some last-minute predictions for Woods, who, like the rest of the field, will be making their final pre-tourney tuneups Wednesday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

All stats via PGATour.com.

Woods Will Putt Well

When Tiger Woods was winning majors at a prodigious rate, he putted lights out.

However, he hasn’t done that since, oh, maybe June of 2008 at Torrey Pines.

Remember when he was automatic from 10 feet? Woods has become anything but that, but watch him on these Donald Ross greens.

He commented before the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club about how the greens there were “spotty.” I’m thinking he was trying to play some mind games with himself.

He putted well at Firestone and then got a pseudo-lesson from Steve Stricker during a practice round on Monday.

The Weekend Woes Will End

"Dire" might be the best way to describe the numbers that Tiger Woods has compiled since his last major victory.

He’s been in contention several times since then with nine top-six finishes, to be specific.

The other side of that, however, is in his last six majors, Woods has sparkled in the first two rounds at a cumulative 11-under par, but has gone a combined 23-over in the final two rounds. Overall, how about 24-over par in his last 20 weekend rounds?

There are plenty more numbers, but you get the idea.

They won’t matter this weekend, however, as Woods will put the hammer down at Oak Hill.

He’ll Keep It in the Short Grass

When the PGA Championship was held at Oak Hill in 2003, Tiger Woods was all over the place, finding fairways just 46.43 percent of the time.

While his percentage of 62.7 this year is significantly better, it’s a bit misleading. Woods has gotten away from hitting his driver as much as he used to. Instead, he has become deadly again with his three-wood off the tee.

But last week at Firestone, he was hitting drivers a lot and finding the fairways 57.1 percent of the time while averaging 302 yards off the tee.

That’s a bad thing for the rest of the field this week.

Finishing the Deal

This is one of those quirky stats that flies a bit below the radar: Over the last four years, Tiger Woods has won an event prior to a major eight times.

He hasn’t once, however, won the subsequent major.

And it wasn’t like was playing badly. Woods had reignited the passion of his fans who thought he was “back” for the umpteenth time since his personal issues of 2009.

For his career, Woods has won 20 times before a major and won the following major just four times.

Woods Will Put Proper Punctuation to End of Season

With five wins in 2003 and six wins in 2009, Tiger Woods had great seasons, but didn’t win a major either year.

Those were the only two times that had occurred on the PGA Tour in the past 30 years.

So, here’s Woods again, having rung up five wins for the 10th time in his career, but still without a major title in 2013.

It says here that he wants no part of that hat trick, providing just another reason he’ll win at Oak Hill Country Club.

He believes he's had a great season, even without a major thus far, and said so at Tuesday's press conference. Rex Hoggard of Golfchannel.com writes that Woods still needs to finish off his year by winning the PGA Championship in order to truly make it a memorable season for him.

Woods and Mickelson Will Both Be Motivated

Ryan Lavner of Golfchannel.com noted that Phil Mickelson said Tiger Woods has become a motivator for him at his press conference on Tuesday at the PGA Championship.

Mickelson said that he hopes both of them play their best this week and that a Sunday showdown between them would be very much welcomed.

I can’t imagine those words will be anything but great motivation for Woods, who’d like nothing better than to win his 15th major at Mickelson's expense.

The possibility exists we could see the top two players in the world playing some great golf at Oak Hill.

The PGA Drought Will End

It’s hard to imagine that Tiger Woods has gone seven straight PGA Championships without a victory.

He hasn’t had his hands on the Wanamaker Trophy since that sun-baked afternoon at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa in 2007.

Oak Hill Country Club is a similar layout to the Firestone Country Club course in Akron that Woods has devoured eight times. Long and tree-lined with a number of long par-fours, Oak Hill could be perfect for Woods this weekend.

Welcome to the Winner's Circle, Charlie

The images of Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie, were heartwarming last Sunday after Woods' victory at Firestone.

They'll even be more heartwarming after dad wins a major this week.

Charlie hasn't been in the public eye much, but all of that will start to change if Tiger's hot streak continues. These will be a couple of weekends that the young man will remember forever.