Tiger Woods Returns to Stroke Play for the PGA Tour
The PGA Tour has regained its sparkling star, but will his brilliance dull during his first stroke play since over 8 months ago?
Tiger Woods returned to the PGA Tour toward the end of February to compete at the Accenture Match Play. Though he lost in the second round to South Africa’s Tim Clark, it was the first time Woods had competed after an eight-month hiatus following ACL surgery in his left knee. In a recent news conference, Tiger was confident about his knee, stating that, “from a physical standpoint, it was better than I thought it would be.”
Tiger is now confronting his next challenge of the PGA Tour at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral Resort and Spa today. So What Are His Chances this week at the Doral’s “Blue Monster?”
All the PGA Tour buzz is focused around how Sergio Garcia will become the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer if he wins and Tiger Woods finishes 27th or above. Other veterans like Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els will also be jostling for position with Tiger on the course. Perhaps he with the best chance against Tiger is aspiring young gun Rory McIlroy who has shot up from 180th to 16th in the World Ranking; or perhaps Geoff Ogilvy, who is known to be fiercely competitive and was able to beat Tiger a year ago in Doral. Finally there is Anthony Kim, who is coming into the competition ranking 11th in the world.
What we can say is that Tiger’s confidence is clearly not shaken; his knee feels good, he’s in great physical condition and he’s clearly itching to play. Considering Tiger has never finished worse than 10th in a PGA Tour event at Doral, we’re putting our money on him finishing better than 27th. I mean come on, it’s Tiger we’re talking about here!
