Presidents Cup 2011: Tournament Proves Tiger Woods Will Dominate in 2012

Lost in the discussion of points won and points lost at the Presidents Cup has been an extremely encouraging performance from Tiger Woods. So encouraging in fact that it's time to start thinking about his potential 2012 dominance.

His tee-to-green game has been virtually unmatched by the other 23 players. He's shown his trademark club twirl off the tee more times over the past four days than any time in recent memory, and his short game continues to improve.

If not for some missed putts, more people would be talking about his comeback after a third-place finish last week. Even his missed putts have been close though, with several of them slipping out or just skirting by the hole. There was some improvement in his singles match against Aaron Baddeley.

In other words, he's close. Very close.

One way to see that is his body language. Since the infamous car crash incident, which is nearing its second anniversary, Woods has been robotic on the course. His only focus has been on changing his swing, and the only emotion he would show was a rare fist pump.

Since Thursday, Woods has been smiling and truly enjoying his time with the American team. He's having fun on the course again, which means the major changes are complete, and now, it's just about fine tuning his game.

And don't think he hasn't been taking a mental note of every person whose said something like, “he'll never dominate like he once did.”

That's just more fuel to Tiger's internal fire. Woods still believes he's the best in the world. He's said so in every interview since his personal life and golf game went into chaos. While most observers laughed it off, he's continued to work toward proving everybody wrong.

Woods sits four majors behind Jack Nicklaus for the most in history, and that remains his main goal. The biggest obstacle won't be his game, but rather his health. He needs to be 100 percent or pretty close to have his full arsenal of shots; any setbacks will be costly.

However, there isn't another golfer on Earth working harder than Woods to keep his body in optimal shape.

Don't worry about wins or losses, putting average or any other statistics right now. Golf is the one sport where the eye test is actually useful, and it's clear that Woods deserves a passing grade for his two-tournament trip to Australia.

Whether you are ready to believe it or not, vintage Tiger will make his return in 2012.