The Masters: Tiger's Jungle

Augusta, Georgia, home of golf's most prestigious event, The Masters. 

For many players it's the Super Bowl of golf.  The event they circle on their calenders and look forward to all year as if it were Christmas morning.  Augusta National truly is golf's sanctuary, evident by a comment posted on Luke Donald's twitter page after his first round, "Bit up and down today, hated the slow start but loved the run on 14,15 and 16.  Looking forward to another perfect day in paradise [tomorrow]."

After two days in paradise, Donald has gotten himself back on track shooting a 4-under 68 to get him within 6 strokes of the up and coming star, 21 year-old, Rory McIlroy, who sits at 10-under.  McIlroy is the second youngest player to lead the Masters after two rounds. (21 years 339 days)  The youngest ever?  Tiger Woods of course, who was 21 years-old and 100 days, back in 1997.  Tiger would go on to win the Masters and his first of four green jackets, by an incredible 12 stroke margin.

Will McIlroy follow in Tiger's paw prints and claim his first Major this Sunday?  I doubt it. Tiger has found his roar and looks poised to finally silence the critics and reclaim the number 1 world golf ranking.

Leading up to the 2011 Masters Championship, the "experts" have been spitting out ignorant statements such as: "Tiger is not ready to contend.", "His swing just isn't there." etc.  They claim Tiger has been struggling on tour.  Sure, he hasn't won a tournament yet, but he hadn't played in a major yet either.  Tiger's goal, as it has always been, is to win majors and beat Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 career majors.  Tiger doesn't care about winning the Houston Shell Open or the Buick Invitational, now the Farmers Insurance Open.  He cares about the big boys.  While most people watched Tiger in the first handful of tournaments this season, they saw him losing.  I saw him practising - getting his swing together so that he could compete where it matters most, at Augusta.

All that practising has paid off, as Tiger has been dialed in and on target all week.  After two rounds, Tiger sits at 7-under, just 3 strokes off the lead.  There are two men between Tiger and first place.  The combined PGA Tour victories of those men, is 2 with no majors.  Tiger Woods on the other hand, has 71 PGA Tour victories, including 14 majors.

Going in to the most pressure filled weekend in golf, I'll put my money on the man that has been to the rodeo before.  I learned a long time ago, to never count Tiger out.  Sunday, April, 10th, everybody else will learn the same.  The waiting will be over and Tiger Woods will retake his thrown, as the best golfer on the planet.      

Waiting on the King to Return

      Golf, the ultimate mental game.  Someone once said that golf is 30% mental, 60% physical, and 10% luck.  Any golfer will tell you that the mental part plays a way bigger part than 30%.  Tiger Woods is the prime example of the great amount the mind plays in golf.  Woods is undoubtedly the greatest golfer of all-time.  He has made shots no other man could come close to duplicating.  He has destroyed his competitors for years and has been renowned as the best in the sport ever since eradicating the field at the Masters in 1997. 
      Things have been very different since Tiger's return to golf, following a brief hiatus after the well publicized sex-scandal that came about in November of 2009.  Tiger wasn't the same competitor last season.  For the first time in his career, he failed to win a single golf tournament and has since dropped to the number 3 ranked golfer in the world.  What happened to the future hall of famer?  Did his skill and determination simply vanish?  Not exactly.  Tiger had numerous stressors consuming him and the scrutiny of the public eye was upon him in a way he had never known.  These stressors were effecting his focus and he simply wasn't in the game mentally.  In a sport such as golf that demands high levels of mental strength, even the world's number one golfer couldn't offset the cognitive strain that was damaging his game.  The golf course was no escape and he couldn't hide from his impending divorce or the circus that had become his life.
      The 2011 golf season is just underway and Tiger Woods made his debut at the Farmers Insurance Open, played at a familiar venue, Torrey Pines.  If you look at the scorecard it didn't appear to be a successful weekend.  Tiger finished tied for 44th and 15 strokes behind the event's winner, Bubba Watson.  What wasn't shown on the scorecard was the massive gallery that stalked Woods on Sunday. Even when he is not in contention, Tiger is still the most important golfer on the course.  Fans want to see Tiger Woods and they want to see him succeed.  Another variable you can't measure from a scorecard is emotion and Tiger's emotion is back!  You can see the fuel beginning to burn in his eyes.  Something that was missing last year.  Slamming his clubs, cussing, yelling "TIGER!" is apart of his game.  A part that made him genuine.  Last week we saw some club slamming and a little yelling.  These are steps in the right direction.  Tiger is not back yet, he is the first to admit that, but he is rejuvenated and determined. With most of his troubles seemingly in his rear view mirror, winning is just around "Amen's Corner" for the greatest golfer to ever step up to a tee box.  In 2011 the "King of Golf" returns.