Tiger is nearly there with his A game

Tiger Woods will win a PGA event very soon, possibly as soon as this week at Bay Hill. He is oh so close to his A game, and the only thing holding him back are his nerves. He was just slightly off his game on Sunday, which is understandable, since he hasn't been in the hunt in five years. But, he still played remarkably well. Consider that his playing partner, Brandt Snedeker, shot 78 in the final around, overnight leaser Corey Conners shot 77, and even Justin Rose struggled to a 72. Tiger shot 70, and that was mainly because he kept leaving himself long birdie putts. But, he even managed to hole one of those (a 44 footer) when the pressure was on! I was most impressed with Tiger's ability to hit shots from left to right and right to left ON COMMAND. After the round, he admitted that he's playing golf by feel again, and not mechanically. That was ever so evident with his short game. Remember when he had those epic short game struggles the last couple of years? And, how he would work on his "release" on his short shots to help with the full swing changes he was making under Sean Foley? None of that ever made any sense. Tiger's short game and putting are spot on right now. The next step is the driver. Many people are considering him to be a favorite at Augusta now. But, Tiger hasn't won there since 2013 for one key reason...the driver. While Augusta has wide fairways that are hard to miss, it is still critical to hit it in the proper position off the tee. Approaching those greens from the proper angle is critical to scoring at Augusta. Driving it off the tee is nowhere near as easy as it may look to the viewer. Success off the teen requires a player to be able to shape his tee shots from left to right AND right to left. Tiger's inability to do that consistently well since his last victory in 2005 is why he has not won since. That first tee shot has absolutely killed him, and it has set the tone for many of his rounds. I suspect this year will be a little different. I expect him to drive it much better. The key will be how well his 42 year old nerves hold up on those greens. So far, his putting has been excellent. But, let's face it, Innisbruck is not Augusta. At the same time, there is a history of older winners at Augusta...Jack Nicklaus at 46, Ben Crenshaw at 43, Gary Player at 42 and Mark O'Meara at 41. It's been quite a while since one of the old timers won at Augusta. But, with Phil Mickelson's win last week, and Tiger's 2nd place finish this week, perhaps 2018 will be the year of the old timer at The Masters.