WS Chronicle

Just when I though I’d never see Tiger Woods as one of the favorites going into a major championship, he proves us all wrong as he is one of the betting favorites going into the Masters next month.  The 42-year-old golfer has overcome injury and scandal to place himself back into the spotlight.

Woods is coming off of two top five finishes in his last two PGA Tour events.  That has to give Woods and his fans supreme confidence going into the Masters, a tournament he has won on four different occasions.

This dramatic turn of events for Woods seemed unthinkable just a few months ago.  In an interview with ESPN, Woods says he’s never had to change his game considerably, but back surgery has finally enabled him to play pain free.

Honestly I never thought Woods would ever come close to the Tiger of old.  Back injuries in golf are like a basketball player with bad knees.  For him to endure surgery after surgery and finally be pain free is nothing short of miraculous.  And now that he is back, the players on the PGA tour better get ready for the show.

Everyone knows that golf is more interesting when Woods is good.  In my lifetime I have never seen a player dominate the sport as he did in the early part of the 2000s.  The PGA Tour needs Woods to return to form as he raises ratings and attendance in their galleries at every event he plays.

Woods currently sits at 14 major tournament wins, second most behind Jack Nicklaus who has 18.  Tiger has always said his goal is to eclipse Jack’s record.  He has not won a major tournament since the 2008 U.S. Open.

To think that Woods has five major victories left in him would be optimistic.  As the old saying goes, father time is undefeated, so he will have to hurry if he wants to catch Jack.  For me, it would be good just to see him win one major before it’s all said and done.

I still think Woods has some top notch golf left in him.  His swing, short game and putting have progressively gotten better each week.  It may be too soon to expect him to compete for a major title so soon but it’s good to see him finishing in the top 10 of tournaments.

Many of the top golfers on the PGA Tour have never seen Woods at his best.  None of them have been able to fill the void in the last decade that Woods left when all of his troubles and injuries began to manifest.  The fact no one has been able to fill his shoes shows even more how great he really was during that time.

I know some will doubt the legitimacy of Woods’ comeback.  I feel if he can get back to 80 percent of what he was, that will be good enough to compete for wins week in and week out.

People forget he is the only player to win all four professional major championships in a row, has the lowest career scoring average in PGA tour history, won 79 PGA Tour events and has been PGA Tour player of the year a record 11 times.

Those are just a few of the many accomplishments he has achieved over the years.  I realize it has been almost a decade since he was on top of the golfing world but if he can stay pain free it will be hard not to believe he can’t win at least one more major, after all he is only 42 years of age.