The circumstances surrounding Tiger Woods' 2012 season are much the same as the circumstances surrounding his 2010 and 2011 seasons. He'll be looking to show the world that he's still one of the greatest golfers of all time, but nobody is quite sure if he can do it.
The sense of doubt that follows Tiger around these days is justified. He hasn't won a major since 2008, and he has been an inconsistent mess ever since his personal life was torn to shreds in late 2009. If it's not a problem with his swing, it's an injury. If it's not an injury, it's drama with former employees. And so on.
But for the first time in a long time, things are looking up for Tiger. He finished the 2011 season by securing his first tournament victory in over two years at the Chevron World Challenge, and his recent comments make it clear that he's in a good place both health-wise and mechanics-wise.
“It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been physically fit,” said Tiger on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. "So I’m looking forward to getting out there and giving it a full season, which I haven’t done in a while."
Tiger at the 2011 PLAYERS Championship, where he once again withdrew due to injury.Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Tiger's not kidding. He was fresh off knee surgery at the start of the 2009 season, his 2010 season hit a bump in the road when he came down with an injury at the THE PLAYERS Championship and Tiger's 2011 season was marred by injuries to his left leg that kept him out of action for a few months.
Towards the end of the year, though, Tiger was able to play and play well. His time away from the course and from competition was undoubtedly frustrating, but it was useful because it gave him time to get his health up to speed.
The other thing up to speed is Tiger's game itself, which was put under construction when he hired Sean Foley in August of 2010. He said this week that he is in tune with Foley's instruction.
“I’m looking forward to this year,” he said. “That’s something that I have to say, because I was able to prepare and get fit enough to prepare last year and towards the end of the year. I demonstrated to myself what I can do with implementing what (coach Sean Foley) wants me to do on the golf swing.”
Tiger Woods and Sean Foley at the Frys.com in October.Robert Laberge/Getty Images
If Tiger is telling the truth about his health and his mechanics being up to speed, then he has essentially solved the one problem that has plagued him throughout the last couple years: consistency.
This is what Tiger has needed more than anything. He wasn't able to even get out on the course consistently in 2010 and 2011, and when he was playing, he was faced with a seemingly never-ending struggle to get his swing right. We saw flashes of his old greatness here and there, but for the most part, we saw a flawed golfer—and a frustrated one at that.
We're not going to see a flawed golfer at the outset of the 2012 season. If so, it's not going to be long before Tiger regains his old swagger.
The rest of the field probably isn't very frightened of Tiger at this point, as he needs to prove out on the course that he is still a threat. But let's not forget that Tiger played pretty well early on in 2011, and he nearly won the Masters in April. This was when he was still trying to figure things out, meaning the rest of the competition had a leg up on him.
That advantage no longer exists. Now that Tiger is healthy and in a good place mechanically, the playing field is level. That's something that should frighten the rest of the field.
We are, after all, talking about a field that contains exactly zero dominant players. Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are consistently good, but never great. Rory McIlroy is inconsistent, and the rest of his fellow youngsters are even more inconsistent. The field had a chance to provide a player (or players) to supplant Tiger as golf's greatest these last couple years, but it didn't.
So the competition may not be frightened of Tiger right now, but he has no reason to be frightened either. If he wants to regain the top spot, he can. Nobody is going to keep him from it.
It's all on Tiger. He has every excuse to be great again, and he will be.
