Firestone To Show State of Tiger Woods' Game

If Tiger Woods does not have a good showing this week at Firestone CC, a course that he has practically owned since 1999, then people will start asking if Tiger Woods can come back.

Ever.

I’m not asking that mind you.  But guaranteed, that question will come up.

Woods has won seven times at WGC-Bridgestone Firestone, and he didn’t play in 2008 or it probably would have been eight.

Woods is so good at Firestone South that he blew away the low record score of 269 shot by Jose Maria Olazabal by ten shots in 2000.

He carded a 259.

That’s 259 at Firestone South, where for years the record was 276, by Lanny Wadkins.

There was a plaque commemorating it.  It may be gone now.  Paved over by new history in the making.

When Woods shot the 259, he won by 11 strokes.  And this is on a par 70 course with only two par fives, one of them often not reachable.

Woods so owns the place, he won in the dark in 2000. He won a seven hole playoff with Jim Furyk, with Furyk holing out from a bunker to keep the playoff going. He won leading, and also from behind, as he did last year. He’s an amazing 109 under par for the rounds he’s played at Firestone since 1999.

It’s as though the entire golf course is working for him and against everybody else. He’s won every event there since 2005, except the year he didn’t play.

“Coming here each and every year, I've always liked it,” Woods said about Firestone. “I played here as an amateur and liked it then and got to play here from '97 until today. You know, it's just—even the golf course has changed a little bit, just length and certainty locations and a couple bunkerings here and there, but it's the same golf course you pretty much see when The Big Three ( Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player) played. It's pretty good to see that.”

Now Woods comes to one of his favorite victory spots, winless for the season.

He kept the new golf ball that debuted at the AT&T National.  And he went back to the trust putter that won him 14 majors so far.

But the ball change was made because he was not leading the distance race anymore.

“l was probably, I believe, the second longest on tour when I first came out,” Woods said. “J.D. (John Daly) was one and I was two, for a number of years.”

During that time, the ball of choice on the PGA Tour was balata, and the professionals used the hardest balls of any golfers.

“Apples to apples, give me the same golf ball as the other players, I can still move it,” Woods assured the media at Firestone this week. “ Everyone is going to a harder golf ball, I haven't. I decided to shape shots, but I was losing too much distance. More guys are hitting par fives in two with irons than I was.”

He cited J.B. Holmes hitting driver, 9-iron last week on a 600-yard, par five.

“A 600-yard, par five, guys can hit irons there. It's not out of their realm now,” he added.  “But for me to do that, I have to have the same type of level of golf ball.”

In 2009, he finished 21st in distance. He is now 16th, according to his numbers, but is not on the official PGA Tour stats list. (Perhaps he does not have enough rounds for it to be an official stat yet.)

Woods currently uses a Nike One Tour with a star symbol between the two words. He started using it at the AT&T National.

In addition to finding himself shorter in distance than the competition, his putter has failed him. He did end the three day experiment at the British Open with a different putter.

“I know all the numbers show that the Method Putter does roll the ball better, ” he explained.

Then he added it was hard to argue with something that had brought him major success.

The Scotty Cameron may have been in the closet for three days, but it’s back now.

“My speed has been off all year,” Woods said about that aspect of his game.

 “I've three-putted quite a few times, which I don't do normally. Just had to go back to basics and practice a little bit more. I haven't worked on my putting probably as much as I should have, probably the last couple years actually, so had to go back to that.”

New golf ball, old putter.

New life.

Too much time off. The combination has not been a good one for improved scoring in the world of Tiger Woods.

Today, he posted a 74 with six bogeys and two birdies.

That's ten shots off the lead set by Bubba Watson.

Phil Mickelson is two back.

It’s not the way Woods wanted to start the tournament.