Tiger Woods' Chevron Win Was Just Another Step in the Right Direction

Tiger Woods won a “silly season” event.  

He made some crucial putts down the stretch and edged out Zach Johnson by a single stroke to capture his first title in more than two years.

Was it a step in the right direction?

Sure.

But let’s just take a deep breath and relax before we start handing Woods green jackets, Claret Juggs and Vardon Trophies.

To take a word directly out of Woods’ incredibly repetitive vocabulary, it’s a “process”, and Sunday’s win was just one more step forward in the process.    

Woods’ swing looked more rhythmic than mechanical last week, which is a positive sign. 

Woods’ short game was also extremely sharp, which is another positive sign.

And perhaps most importantly, Woods sunk those must-make putts during the most crucial moments of Sunday’s final round, which is something he has been unable to do since the 2009 JBWere Australian Masters.     

But what we also have to take into account is the fact that Woods was playing against an 18-man field which contained just nine of the top-20 players in the world.

Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Charl Schwartzel, Graeme McDowell and Adam Scott were all in South Africa taking part in the Nedbank Challenge, which Westwood won by a stroke.

Rory McIlory was in Hong Kong winning the UBS Hong Kong Open.

And many of those who did attend the Chevron World Challenge were not even in top form heading into the event.

Eleven of the 18 players, including Woods, had just made the trip home from the Presidents Cup in Australia. 

While Woods left Australia immediately following the Presidents Cup—which gave him a week-and-a-half of rest prior to the Chevron World Challenge—several players including Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day attended the Australia PGA Championship which concluded just four days prior to the start of the Chevron World Challenge.

Guys like Keegan Bradley, Martin Laird, Bo Van Pelt and Paul Casey hadn’t played a professional event in at least a month prior to the Chevron World Challenge.

Zach Johnson—whom Woods defeated by one stroke on Sunday afternoon—hadn’t played a professional event in nearly two months prior to the Chevron, and even admitted to his game being a bit rusty heading into the event.  

See what I’m getting at here?

Although there were some very good players in the field last week, this was by no means a major championship or even WGC-caliber field Woods was competing against.

If we are looking purely at Woods’ golf game, it was certainly better, but few knowledgeable golf fans would go as far as to proclaim that Woods is “back” based on his performance last week.  

Woods was still missing the fairway nearly every time he pulled his driver out of the bag.

He missed more five-footers in four rounds than he would have used to have missed in a season.

And on several occasions, particularly when the pressure began to mount on Sunday afternoon, Woods reverted back to his old swing habits and double-crossed several key approach shots.

Woods’ good outweighed his bad on Sunday afternoon, and when you’re talking about arguably one of the three greatest golfers to have ever lived, it’s no surprise that he was able to overcome his flaws and defeat a small 18-man field.

That being said, if Woods were competing against a full field of the top players at Augusta National, Firestone C.C., Doral, Quail Hollow C.C. or TPC Sawgrass, one could certainly speculate that Woods would have had a hard time cracking the top 10.  

Although many in the media are desperate for Woods’ return—heck, many golf writers’ jobs may in fact depend upon Woods’ return—and Tim Finchem is probably thinking that he’s finally seen the return of the Tour’s own personal TARP fund, let’s take this win by Woods at the Chevron World Challenge for what it was, just another step in the right direction.

Green Jackets, Claret Jugs and Vardon Trophies, although they may look more attainable for Woods now than they did 12 months ago, are still a ways down the road.  

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