7 Reasons Tiger Woods Will Win Multiple Times in 2015 on the PGA Tour
Let's stop with ridiculous proclamations about the demise of Tiger Woods' golf game. The 39-year-old indicated with his T17 finish at Augusta National that he is not yet ready to go quietly into that good night. His preparation prior to the tournament said as much about this fact as his play on course.
Statistically speaking, it's probable that Woods will win more than once this year. In his most recent season with reasonably good health, 2013, Woods won five times.
Platitude alert: Anything is possible. However, there are some very good reasons why TW is likely to tally at least two victories this season.
Here they are.
He Plays to His Strengths
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Tiger Woods plays to his strengths. To put it another way, he rarely tees it up at courses he hasn't played well or won at (outside of majors).
Consider some of the tournaments Woods is likely to play this season (at courses he's played in the past):
- The Players Championship: Won: 2013, 2001
- Wells Fargo Championship: Won: 2007
- The Memorial Tournament: Won: 2012, 2009
- The Open Championship (St. Andrews): Won: 2005, 2000
- Quicken Loans National: Won: 2012, 2009
- WGC-Bridgestone Invitational: Won: 2013, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005
- Deutsche Bank Championship: Won: 2006
This isn't the complete list of Woods' play at these courses, but it suggests an important fact: While Tiger primarily plays non-majors to build toward golf's four most significant events, he returns to the same venues year after year.
He's likely to play at least six courses this year he's won at least once at in the past. It's difficult not to feel good about the prospect of him winning at least two of the events above.
He's Rededicated Himself
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After withdrawing from the Farmers Insurance Open at the beginning of February, Tiger Woods took a two-month break from competitive golf to ready his game for the Masters.
The decision was an interesting and unprecedented one in Tiger's career. Aside from the period after the death of his father and in the wake of his infidelity scandal, Woods hasn't taken a significant period of time off to work on his game when not dealing with health issues.
While the totally NSFW nature of Woods' short game earlier this season necessitated some time refining a new motion, the former world No. 1 easily could have entered a few tournaments in the past few months. However, he elected to work intensely at his home practice facility and the Bear's Club.
In Woods' words, he "worked his a-- off."
He's (as) Healthy (as He's Going to Be)
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If we assume that Tiger Woods' back issues are behind him (ha!) and that he was healed from his 2014 back surgery when the 2015 season began, he's in as good of physical condition as he has been at any point since 2009.
Again, this assumes the "glute activation" issues of the Farmers Insurance Open and the wrist issue from Sunday at the Masters have no lingering ill effects.
If so, from a physical standpoint, he should be able to play as much as and perform similarly to the way he has over the past six seasons. In three of those seasons, Woods won more than two events, and in the other three, he either played fewer than 10 events due to injury or was working through swing changes.
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Jordan Spieth's Masters Win Poked the Tiger
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Interviewed about Jordan Spieth's Masters triumph and the 21-year-old tying his 1997 mark of 18 under, Tiger Woods didn't seem to think the achievements were equal.
For The Win's Chris Chase quoted Woods on the Spiethian triumph and offered his own translation and adding his own emphasis.
"With the length of the golf course, I didn't think that people would be getting that low, but they kept it soft all week. And that's something that the older guys in the clubhouse and in the Champions Locker Room were all talking about, that we haven't seen it that soft. It wasn't springy until today.
Translation: This wasn't even close to what I did in 1997.
"
Really, the achievements aren't close. Consider the scoring average to par at Augusta National in 1997: plus-2.307 strokes. And the field average to par in the 2015 Masters: plus-0.536. If you're scoring at home, that means Augusta was 1.77 strokes easier per round for Spieth than Woods. That's a big difference.
The notoriously competitive and occasionally petty Woods would have been angry that Spieth tied his record and ushered in a "new era" anyway. But since he clearly feels Spieth's achievement is inferior and is widely being presented as equal, he's assuredly angry.
Expect him to channel that anger into Ws.
He's Worked Through His Short Game Issues
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The biggest worry for fans of El Tigre entering the Masters was that their man would chunk, skull and duff his way around the course's tricky greens, inviting catastrophe worse than his 82 at the Phoenix Open earlier this year.
From the sand and the greenside rough, from the tightly mown slopes surrounding Augusta's greens and on the 30-yard wedge shots that demand precision, Woods was pretty good all week.
The golfer's assessment of his short game at Augusta (per Brian Wacker of PGATour.com)? "It's my strength again. That's why I've busted my butt. That's why I took time off. That's why I hit thousands and thousands of shots to make sure that it's back to being my strength."
He's Bombing It, and Swing Changes Are Starting to Take Hold
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An overlooked element of Tiger Woods' return to golf in 2015: his increased swing speed and driving distance.
Woods made several comments last year about needing to get his explosiveness back. "I've done the proper rehab. I've gotten stronger. I've gotten more explosive. I've gotten faster," Woods said at the Hero World Challenge in December, according to Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard.
Part of the goal of his work with Chris Como seems to be freeing up his swing a bit more and implementing elements from his early career swing (when he was the longest hitter on tour). According to PGATour.com, Woods is averaging 309 yards off the tee this season and swinging his driver nearly 120 mph. For comparison, in 2013, when he won five times, Woods averaged 293.2 yards off the tee and 118.3 mph club head speed.
While driving distance isn't everything, hitting the ball an extra 25 yards off the tee certainly makes the rest of the game much easier.
Why Wouldn't He?
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Ultimately, if you don't think Tiger Woods will win golf tournaments this year, it's likely for one of the following reasons. See the explanation for why the apparent "issues" don't hold water.
He's injured: Tiger's health is as good as it has been in recent years.
He's making swing changes: The pre-Masters work has him in a good place with his modified swing.
He's over the hill/isn't good enough anymore: At 39, with the way he works out and assuming no significant injuries, Woods has at least five years of good golf left in him.
He doesn't really care anymore: His dedicated preparation for the Masters disproves this.
He isn't practicing: See above.
He has a short game mental block/the yips: Clearly, Woods has worked through his short game issues and isn't afflicted with the yips.
Thus you can bet on it: Tiger Woods will record at least two victories this year.
All stats via PGATour.com
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