Tiger, where art thou?

At last. Rory McIlroy becomes the first golfer to win multiple majors since Padraig Harrington in 2008. It has been a long time, 17 majors in fact, too long in my opinion, for someone to show some consistent dominance in the majors. Two is nothing to get excited about, but the fact that McIlroy has won his first two majors at a slightly younger age than Tiger Woods (one month), sets up well for the future of golf. Some are already talking about Rory catching Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors. Take it easy, he has only one 2, let's wait till he hits double figures before getting anywhere near discussing this. He probably will reach 10 majors, but until then, let's wait. Emphasizing how hard it actually is to win multiple majors, Rory, at 23, joins 36 year old Woods as the only two pros under the age of 40 to do so. 

Once again Tiger had failed to play a good round on Saturday, traditionally known as "moving day." Tiger did move at the US Open and British Open this year, but in the wrong direction. Amazingly, Tiger failed to break par in the weekend of all four majors this year and has been near, or taken the lead, into the weekend of the last three majors. Once upon a time, Tiger would never surrender the lead in a major. We could even trace this back to the 2009 PGA Championship where, entering the third round, he had a 4 shot lead. Tiger then began Sunday with a 2 shot lead and went on to surrender his first "lead in a major when entering the final round" to YE Yang of South Korea.

I have said this since the beginning of Tiger's partnership with new coach Sean Foley, which began 2 years ago. I said I would give him two years to adjust to his new swing. Those 2 years have now past and, from 2013 onwards, I do not want to hear Tiger talking about the "process" of adjusting to Sean's methods. Essentially, if Tiger does not win a major next year - cause ultimately that is how you are judged in the golfing world - then it would be pretty safe to say that Tiger's drought is more than just physical, it is mental.

The dedication to the full swing and implementing those changes has come at the expense of Tiger's putting and short game wedge shots. Over the past few months Tiger has hit many wedge shots that have not gone pin high, in other words, his distance control with the short clubs is non-existent nearly all the time now. Tiger ranked very highly in most putting statistics in 2007 and 2009, but from 2010-2012 has not performed as well. Similar arguments can be made for his chipping and pitching from looking at PGATour.com

This will sound ridiculous to most of you, but Steve Williams understood Tiger's golf game more than anyone. Obviously with all his talent, Tiger would have won bunches of tournaments without a caddy at all, but the caddy's role is more than just stating distances. His current caddy, Joe LaCava, is experienced and has caddied for the likes of Dustin Johnson, but Stevie's knowledge of Tiger's game is second to none. This was evident during the final round of the 2008 US Open where, needing a birdie on the 72nd hole, Williams persuaded Tiger to change his club for the approach shot. Tiger ended up pin-high, and the rest is history. Williams could draw on years and years of knowledge of the world's best golfer to make this well-informed decision. LaCava has only been caddying for Woods just under a year now and it could take a few more years for Tiger to reap the full benefits of his current caddy. Similarly, Steve Williams has been caddying for Adam Scott for near on a year, and last month's British Open will only help Williams develop understanding of Adam's golf game and mental frame of mind.

So should Tiger fanatics panic that he has been stuck on 14 majors for just over four years? Tiger himself has said it at times; Jack was 46 years old when he won his 18th major, the Masters in 1986, his sixth green jacket. So assuming Tiger remains injury free he has 10 more years, in other words 40 majors, to win 4. Winning ten percent of majors for the next 10 years? That sounds straightforward even for a less-dominant Tiger. People argue that Tiger has gone 4 years without a major but it is hard to count 2010 and 2011 as genuine years cause of all sorts of reasons. He has still been one of the dominating players this year without actually playing that well, winning three times, more than any other pro on the PGA Tour. I would love nothing more than to see Tiger reach, or even better pass, that magic number of 18. The fact that he has misbehaved off the course does not in any way hinder my judgement on him as a golfer.