5 Predictions for the Rest of Tiger Woods' 2011 Season

After Tiger’s first round the speculation begins. So many questions are left to be answered about his performance for the next three days. Can he hold it together for a full tournament?

Who’s his new caddy going to be?

How long will his return last before the FedEx Cup ends it?

There are certainly a lot of question marks in Tiger Woods’ future. Let’s try to answer some of them.

Tiger Will Finish Top 25 This Weekend

It’s hard to expect Tiger to go out and win after two years without it. At this point, Tiger’s goal has to be to last all four rounds and look for a T-15 or better. 

However the reality may not be so sweet. 

There’s a good chance Tiger could finish in the top 10 this week if his putting heats up. However it’s his first tournament back so a top 25 seems to be the most realistic finish.

One thing’s for sure though. He won’t finish as bad as last year’s 78th. There are only 77 guys playing (thanks to Golf Channel for pointing that out last night).

Tiger Will Finish Inside the Top 10 at the PGA Championship

Tiger proved at Augusta that the majors are the tournaments where he comes to play. He knows the course pretty well which is always going to play into his hand.

Plus Tiger will have four full rounds of tournament conditions in him since there isn’t a cut for this week’s WGC Bridgestone.

You have to acknowledge Tiger’s tendency to show up at majors and succeed and that’s exactly what this is.

Not a declaration that the king is back or that his game is returned. That at majors he shows up to win and looking at the stats shows he gets close about 90 percent of the time.

Tiger Will Not Play Past the Second Week of the FedEx Cup

Unfortunately the playoff system seems to cut short Tiger’s return.

With the clear lack of points he will suffer from unless he wins Tiger has no shot of making it much past the first week let alone the second.

However, for some reason I have faith Tiger can find a way to make it to week two of the FedEx Cup, where his points will run out and we will be forced to watch Tiger shake hands and leave for the first time in a long time.

Expanded Schedule Globally

With the absence of events after Tiger’s somewhat imminent exit from the FedEx Cup the position he is left in is clear. Either make it through or find more events.

That’s where the global nature of golf comes in.

Tiger can not only find events to play in globally he will get paid just to show up.

If Tiger doesn’t expand his schedule globally the only reason would be that he made it through to the last few weeks of the FedEx Cup.

Tiger Will Win

It’s hard to say exactly when he will do so but by the end of this year the winless drought will end.

My money’s on the Australian Masters because of his win there. It’s an experience thing that Tiger thrives on.

Regardless of when it happens expect for Tiger Woods to have his name etched on one, and only one trophy for the 2011 season.