What's Wrong With Tiger Woods? Nothing!!

We, as a society have become accustomed to instant gratification.

Breaking news is constantly beamed out over the Internet and television networks 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  If something big is happening, we’ll know everything about it in a matter of minutes.

You can sit at your computer on Sunday night, and with the click of a mouse you can order anything from a book, a new refrigerator and even a car, and it will appear on your doorstep as you sip your coffee on Monday morning.

So, it should come as no surprise that there were many golf fans gravely concerned about Tiger Woods prior to last week’s Memorial Tournament simply because he had only won one event out of his first five events since returning to the PGA Tour in February.

We had to sit around and wait eight months to see Woods back on the golf course; you’ve got to be kidding us that he’s not going to come out firing and win every tournament he plays in…right?

That’s what golf fans want, and in this day and age, people get steamed when they don’t get exactly what they want, exactly when they want it.

But, sorry to say, folks, that’s just not the way it works in golf.

Golf has never been and will never be a game of perfection.

Throughout the course of his career, Woods' total winning percentage is around 30 percent and his winning percentage in majors is around 27 percent.  

Not to state the obvious, but that means that on average, Woods does not win seven out of every 10 tournaments he plays in and at least seven out of every 10 major championships he plays in.

What?? That can’t be right! Woods is supposed to win every time he tees up the ball,  isn’t he? And he’s definitely supposed to win every major championship, right?

Sorry, but no.

A 30 percent career winning percentage may sound unimpressive to the casual golf fan.  But, just to put that into perspective—through this same point in his career, Jack Nicklaus’ total winning percentage was around 16 percent.

That means that Woods has been nearly twice as dominant as a player who can still be considered the greatest golfer of all time, until unequivocally proven otherwise.

So, to ask “what’s wrong with Tiger Woods?” after five tournaments where he had a win and four top-10 finishes is, well, just impatient.

Woods is not superman. Sure, he might be the best golfer on the face of the planet, but not even Tiger Woods can be expected to come back from reconstructive knee surgery and more than eight months away from the game and pick up right where he left off before the injury.

That being said, he has more or less picked up right where he left off.

In six stroke-play events Woods now has two wins and four top-10 finishes.

That’s a 33 percent winning percentage and exactly the type of performance he has been putting forth his entire career.

So why is there so much scrutiny surrounding Tiger Woods now?  And why were there so many who actually believed that Woods was on some kind of ultimate decline?

Well, it’s simple.

Tiger Woods’ return to professional golf was one of the most anticipated returns in the history of sports.  That means that many people who don’t follow golf very closely were tuning in to see how Woods’ return would play out. 

When he didn’t win every event he played in, those casual golf fans immediately began thinking that something was very wrong with Tiger Woods . 

Many even brought up the question of whether or not he would ever be the same player again.

Was the “what’s wrong with Tiger Woods?” question reverberating around the sports world when he went five straight tournaments without a win in 2007?

No, because he didn’t have the same level of scrutiny surrounding his every move during the middle of the 2007 season.

Back in 2007, it was not a big deal if Woods went five tournaments without a win.

Sure, people may comment on how Woods hasn’t won in a little while, but it was not even remotely close to the profound level of concern surrounding Woods this season because he had only won one out of his first five events since his return.

Leading up to last week’s Memorial Tournament, the big question on everyone's mind was, “what’s wrong with Tiger Woods’ driver?”.

Woods certainly did not driven the ball well at the Quail Hollow Championship or The Players Championship, that’s for sure.  But, believe it or not, even prior to The Memorial, Woods’ driving accuracy in 2009 was actually better than it was in both 2007 and 2008.

In 2007, Woods ranked 152nd in fairways hit off the tee.  In 2008 he ranked 169th. 

Prior to The Memorial Tournament, Woods ranked 145th in driving accuracy.

What’s wrong with Tiger Woods driver?

Well, nothing at all. In fact, he has been more accurate off the tee since his return than during his great stretch between late 2007 and 2008.

Was anyone breaking down every inch of Woods’ driver with a microscope back in 2007 and 2008?

Nope.

Sure, Woods was unable to mount any kind of a late Sunday afternoon charge at Quail Hollow and TPC Sawgrass. 

But, Woods has only come from behind to win 20 times in the 267 tournaments he’s played in during his career.

That means that he’s only been able to successfully mount a Sunday afternoon charge in eight percent of of the tournaments he’s played in.

Woods is certainly able to come from several strokes back to win here and there, but it doesn’t happen nearly as often as you may think. 

There is, however, one thing about Tiger Woods’ return that we haven’t seen too much of in the past—that being the incredible display of ball striking he put on en-route to his win at The Memorial Tournament this past Sunday.

Woods hit 49 out of 56 fairways last week, which was his best driving week since the 1998 Masters.

On Sunday, Woods hit every single fairway, which was the first time he had done so in more than five years.  

When the heat was on down the stretch, Woods birdied the 17th and 18th holes to edge out Jim Furyk by a stroke and capture his fourth Memorial title.

Woods doesn’t get it done all the time.  No one in golf does, ever has or ever will.  But, bottom line—when the heat is on, Woods gets the job done more often than anyone else in the game, which is why he is the number one player in the world.

Woods may not win the US Open at Bethpage in two weeks and he may go three, four, five events or more without another win.

In fact, statistically speaking, the only thing that is highly probable is that he’ll win three out of his next ten events and two or three out of his next ten majors.

For the casual golf fan, that doesn’t sound too remarkable.

But, that’s golf, and Woods' ability to win three out of every ten tournaments and nearly three out of every ten majors he plays in makes him arguably the most dominant player the game has ever seen.

So far, Woods' 2009 season has been no different to any other.  It’s just business as usual for the world’s number one.