Tiger’s In a Slump?

It was almost a joke. Almost comical. It was as if Tiger Woods stepped onto the golf course today at the Buick Open and declared “I’m done with being normal, put me back on my perch”.

After a disconcertingly normal one under, 71 in round one of this weekends PGA tournament, Tiger Woods blasted up the leader board by shooting a nine under 63 on Friday. The back-on-track performance marked a few milestones for Woods. First, it was his best round of the year. Second, it was the best first five holes of his entire career.

By the time the ball hit the bottom of the cup on the par 4 14th (he started on the back nine), Woods had birdied four holes and eagled the other. This comes a day after bogeying two of the first five holes in round one. Woods would exceed par only once yesterday, bogeying the par 4 18th.

The round skyrocketed Tiger into a tie for fifth place, trailing leader Jon Senden by four strokes.

I think this was an important round for Tiger and, depending upon how the next three weeks go, could be looked upon as a turning point in his already under-rated season. After missing the cut at the British, I think many expected a round like this to come on Thursday. Instead, it did not. The shockingly normal one under wasn’t close to the British disaster, but it didn’t exactly inspire confidence either. He struggled off the tee again. This led me to believe that Tiger had not yet erased the demons that plagued him at Turnberry.

Apparently, those demons left Tiger Thursday night. I’d expect Tiger to continue this surge and march towards a Buick Open victory on Sunday. I can’t see players like Senden, Michael Luztig, and Vaughn Taylor keeping a hot Tiger at bay.

Related posts:

1. Tiger Woods Answers Critics (for now)
2. Mickelson To Return to PGA Tour Next Week
3. Tiger Misses Cut at British
4. The Host is a Greedy One
5. Yang’s All Good; Upset At PGA