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Tiger Woods ready to show his stripes as Hideki Matsuyama establishes himself
Tiger Woods showed that he was a work in process after an injury ravaged 2015 and 2016 as he finished 15th in the World Challenge tournament in Bahamas.
At the height of his success, Tiger Woods would get angry for not converting a birdie chance; he would be angrier at giving away a bogey, and a double bogey was unthinkable in his books. More than his fans and followers, Tiger has always been very demanding of himself.
He has always expected the best from himself and any week he teed up in any corner of the world, he was playing to win --- nothing less.
So, when he finished 15th in a field of 18 at the 2016 World Challenge, that had been reduced further to 17 by the withdrawal of Justin Rose, Tiger was still pleasant and smiling. More than us, he knows that the new Tiger Woods is a work in process.
Talking of birdies and bogeys, Tiger made all the birdies and his total of 24 was better than even the ultimate winner, the 24-year-old Hideki Matsuyama, who had 22 besides two eagles. But the difference lay in the fact that the legendary Tiger also gave away eight bogeys and worse, he gave away six double bogeys.
In contrast, Matsuyama had just four bogeys and two doubles in four rounds and of them --- one bogey and one double came on the back nine of the final day of the World Challenge.
Now for the scores on par-5s --- Matsuyama was 15-under for the par-5s, while Tiger was only four-under for the par-5s. At his best, Tiger would tear up a course that had five par-5s. Not this time, simply because there was still some rust left from the 16-month lay-off. He has not clarified on what his schedule is going to look like for 2017, but be sure he will play even less than his 18-20 events that he used to at his best. His focus will be the Majors and events at courses he is comfortable with.
If he stays healthy, a few records are sure to follow but the one that will be watched closely is how he measures up at the Majors, beginning with Masters, which is surely his favourite, having won it four times.
As for Matsuyama, 2017 could well be his year, just as 2015 belonged to Jordan Spieth and 2016 was Dustin Johnson’s year. And Henrik Stenson seems to be playing his very best at 40. So, there will be no surprises if he adds to the first Major he won at the Troon this year.
All in all, an exciting time is ahead of us as the young brigade takes on the 40-plus that includes Tiger, Stenson and Phil Mickelson, who was not here this week at Albany.
