Things haven't seemed the same since he returned from surgery/rehab. Will he ever get back to his dominance of old?

I hope not

Tiger's 09 stats

EVENTS CUTS TOP 10 WINS AVG EARNINGS
5 5 3 1 69.3 $ 1,560,313

coming off of knee surgery I think he's doing all right.

Please tell me you're joking. The guy finishes in the top 5 basically every single week, after laying off for 8 months... and people think he has lost it now? I swear...

i wasn't implying that Tiger was no longer good/great...but, rather, wondering if he will get back to his dominant form.

"the rest" seem to be catching up with Tiger or maybe they just aren't intimidated by him as much now.

Tiger is normally completely dominant in final rounds, but today he was the only player in the top 10 not to shoot under par (he was even on the day). In the past, one of two things typically happened - 1) Tiger shoots par and everyone else falls off before they even get to the back 9 or 2) Tiger shoots out of this world low and nobody can keep up.

neither of those things happened today. Tiger was just okay and everyone else was simply better.

On one of the par 4s today, Tiger reached the green off his drive. he then proceeded to 3-put, only ending up with a par. this is just extremly un-Tigerlike.

Seems like we debated the same question several years ago. He's still got it.

Wait 2 months. He is the best. No one is close.

I don't mean to be rude, nothing personal, but you are so far off base here it's not even funny. Tiger is so far ahead of the rest of the field that he's finished in the top 10 in ALL 4 stroke play events since returning, and he hasn't even played well.

Once he shakes the rust off, yes, he will be just as dominant as ever. The gap has not closed at all.

I just don't get why people are so quick to say stuff like that about Tiger "losing it" or whatever.

Based on the fact that he had a torn ACL and a stress fracture and didn't play for 8 months, I'd say the fact that he's been this successful right away on his comeback is one of the most underappreciated stories of the year. What he's doing is amazing. Once the putts start falling again, he'll be back to being every bit as dominant as he was, if not more.

The problem is, he was so dominant, he would do stuff like win 10 out of 18 starts, and then when he only wins 5 out of 18, which is still so insanely good that it should be illegal, people think he has lost something. People need to keep in mind that Tiger is the best ever yet he still has a career winning percentage of somewhere around 25%.

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you are so far off base here it's not even funny

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how is it "so far off base" to say that he hasn't been his dominant self as of late? what an overdramatic statement.

have you watched him play recently? he is making mistakes that i would expect "the rest" to make. he is falling to pieces at the end of rounds. there is nothing wrong with suggesting that his best simply hasn't been there lately.

Yes, I've been watching.

Well I will tell ya one thing...I am pretty sure I couldn't beat him

While I disagree with the OP, it is a little concerning that his putting still isn't back. In theory, he should've been back putting well before he was back hitting the ball, and one would think that the putting would come back before the "driving the green on a par 4" type of stuff.

But I'm confident it will all be back by season's end.

That being said, I think that it's posssible that the gap has narrowed slightly. Not because Tiger's not going to be as good, but I think everyone else is learning from him (with weight training and the like) and is getting better. I still think that if healthy, he'll win no fewer than 10 events and 2 majors next season.

Agree with Watty

I'm with Watty also...I wouldn't call shooting par falling apart...he just had one spectacular round and several decent ones this weekend...it got him a top five finish...I wouldn't say he's falling apart until he starts missing cuts, finishing out of the top 10/20...I understand your point about the intimidation factor but he likely is still rounding into form too...he took an enormous amount of time off and is still right there with the rest of the world on their best day when he's not necessarily having his best one

Wait...Let me check....Yep, he's got it

Today's final pairing:
1. Alex Cejka -11
T2. Tiger Woods -6

Both are now T8 through 14. Tiger, the guy who used to be untouchable in the final round is not showing that recently.

I still have my doubts about his return to dominant glory...

1. He's still recovering from the leg issues as far as his driving distance (he mentioned so last week)...I'm sure he's still a little 'rusty' as well (Wouldn't we all like to be that rusty?)

2. He still finished in the top 10...How many of the guys in the top 10 have pretty much been in the top 10 in every tournament they've played all year long? Dominance isn't always taking the top spot...it's being on the leaderboard and having that chance to win week after week after week...No one else can do that.

He needs to lose about 10 lbs of muscle.

Like someone else mentioned, Tiger played absolutely awful (by his standards), yet he finished in the top 10. By the way, this is the toughest course on tour for Tiger. He has never played well at Sawgrass except for the one victory in '01. Since then, this is his first top 10 at that event. So he played better this week at that course than he has since 2001.

He's got some bad little habits that have snuck into his swing. He's dropping his head and shoulders and he's getting caught a little too far inside. The combination makes for an inside out swing and the inability to get the club face square, thus the "spinners" he's hitting right.

He'll go home for a couple weeks, work with Hank, and get those things cleaned up without any problem. That'll add a lot of confidence to his game that he's really missing right now. He's in a little bit of a downward spiral right now, but he's still good enough to go Top 10 in any tournament on tour (even in a funk).

The putter is cold. Everybody goes through it. The lack of confidence is hurting him there too. He's questioning his reads. Give him 2 weeks of holing 500 10-footers per day and he'll be back in the groove.

Sawgrass has always been tough for Tiger and the course was playing a tough. A little too tough I think, but I think that was due to an over reaction by the course from the low scores on the first couple days. A major like Sawgrass doesn't want to see any winner in double digits, and when guys start looking like they may go -20, groundskeepers are going to start really making things tough.

I thought the most shocking thing about the week was how well the "middle of the pack" guys did in comparison to the big names. Just goes to show that when you take driver out of the hands of a lot of these big hitters, it really makes them mortal.

He shot okay in the final round yesterday

I was wondering if this thread would resurface.

After that shot on 18, it looks like old tiger is back!

Nice calls by Kramer - props.

Funny thread.

Funny threads are a tradition.

After his disastrous 2 rounds and missed cut at the British, here's an article that debates whether or not his reign is over...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=4347027

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I'm not concerned about Eldrick, but others are. Then again, I picked him to win at Turnberry even after he missed the cut.

What once were whispers have slowly mushroomed into doubts, criticisms and questions about Woods' future major win total. You don't hear as much breathless talk about how Tiger could win 30 of them during his career. Instead, it's more like, "You think he'll still pass Jack Nicklaus' 18?"

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It will be interesting to see how he plays at the PGA Championship in August.

This thread is ridiculous.

Read this article and see how he's been after missing a cut...

http://fromtherough.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/tiger-woods-should-consider-missing-the-cut-more-often/

[This message has been edited by Prior22 (edited 7/22/2009 2:22p).]

The guy is 33...33!!! Get off the cliff people! He's in a minor 3 tourney rut in majors...SO WHAT...he's won at least that many other tourneys this year! Who else has?

Only time will tell, and this entire year is tough to judge since he didn't play or practice for so long last year. Either way, he'll still be good enough to break Jack's record. There was a time when I thought Tiger could very well win 30 majors. At this point, I think he'll still break Jack's record comfortably but maybe not a crazy shattering - perhaps toppign out in the low 20's.

The main thing I'm curious about is how much his knee, and protecting that knee, is impacting his swing now and how much impact it will have as he gets older. I know he's played with pain in that knee for most of his career and it didn't stop him from winning, but he's also heading into the years when the aches and pains spike up a little more quickly, hurt a little more sharply, and dissipate a little more slowly. The compensations can certainly impact his swing as well as the amount of practice time he's able to dedicate to his game.


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 7/22/2009 5:38p).]

Tiger will still win 20+ majors. I would bet my life savings on that.

He is so far and away the best player alive right now it's not even funny.

Yes, he still has it. No, he's not the immortal perfect golfer that the uneducated think he is when all they hear is the positive praise after a win. But he's still far and away the best.

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Tiger will still win 20+ majors. I would bet my life savings on that.

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Okay...great, but there were swarms of people claiming he would win 30+ at one point. See OP...the question was "will he get back to his dominance of old?" not "is Tiger still really good?" We've gone from people predicting 30+ majors to people who are just confident he'll get to 20. That's a big difference.

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No, he's not the immortal perfect golfer that the uneducated think he is when all they hear is the positive praise after a win. But he's still far and away the best.

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Nobody claimed immortality and sorry for being so "uneducated," oh wise one.

[This message has been edited by S.S.Aggie (edited 7/23/2009 12:42p).]

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See OP...the question was "will he get back to his dominance of old?"

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The problem is, the "dominance of old" was often overstated by people who don't understand golf.

Tiger just had a two year stretch essentially where he finished in the top 10 in EVERY SINGLE STROKE play event. How is that not as dominant as his earlier years? Look at the last 15 tournaments he played before knee surgery. It was unbelievably dominant. And now since knee surgery he STILL finished top 10 in every single tournament (with 3 wins) until the British (not counting match play). And that's coming off of a stress fracture and reconstructive knee surgery! Come on, what do people want from the guy? In my opinion, it is uneducated ignorance for people to be saying Tiger has lost something at this point. At least wait until after next year to judge. Tiger has done better this year than any rational person should have expected. Prior to this year he was as dominant as any golfer in the history of golf.

Wins/Appearances - Win %
2009: 3/10 - 30%
2008: 4/6 - 67%
2007: 7/16 - 44%
2006: 8/15 - 53%

These numbers simply suggest that he still hasn't returned to his "dominance of old." Yes, he is still INCREDIBLE. However, he may never get back to such high win percentages. That remains to be seen. So will you at least admit to a noticeable difference post surgery... suggesting he MAY never get back to where he once was?

[This message has been edited by S.S.Aggie (edited 7/23/2009 1:10p).]

Well sure so far his win percentage this year is less. Which is exactly what you'd expect. Let's see how he looks next year when he's fully recovered. I think it's pointless to even have the discussion at this point (especially considering he could still easily win 3 of his next 4 and suddenly he's at 6/14 for the year, which matches up just fine with his previous dominant years).

[This message has been edited by watty (edited 7/23/2009 1:21p).]