The State Of Tiger's Game, Players Edition

I haven't really been too concerned about Tiger's mediocre play (by his standards) because he's rusty and has a lot on his mind. Nor do I think you can argue with Hank Haney's record. Ron Sirak summed it up best:

So was Woods' performance disappointing because it produced only a 71 or was it remarkable because he managed to break par with far from his A game? The mere question indicates the compelling nature of the Tiger Woods who has returned to competition. No one really knows what to expect -- probably not even him.

That said, this has to be a huge concern for Tiger. Either it's a statement about his swing or his physical health. I can't see any other option. Garry Smits reports:

On the list of driving distance statistics through 54 holes in The Players Championship, Fred Funk is 69th among 70 players. No surprise there for the player who pokes fun at himself for his distance off the tee.

No. 70, 2.5 yards behind Funk's tournament average of 261 yards, and dead last among players who made the cut in the tournament is Tiger Woods -- who used to amaze fans and other players with his length off the tee for most of his career.

Now you say, no big deal, Tiger was hurt by the bad drive on 7 and the No. 70 position is on the two measuring holes. Fine. But on overall driving distance using ShotLink, he's 65th out of 70.

Comments

[JT]

Does getting of PED's and HGH have that quick an impact?

[JT]

Is it true that Tiger has only hit driver once or twice this week as reported by Chamblee?

[LiquidKaos]

I say TW wins the next tourney he enters. The writing is on the wall. :)


Cheers,


LK

[Squeaky]

He had a hard time reaching 18 in two today. Left himself a 5-wood to the green and couldn't quite get it there.

[Bystander]

I hate to bring it up but *some* of this has to do with his equipment. It's a well known fact that the Nike ball that Tiger uses is extremely spinny and short of the tee in order to provide Tiger with the greenside spin he prefers. I would venture to guess that Tiger's clubhead speed is still comfortably in the top 20 in the field but his launch parameters are far from being optimized (low launch, high spin). Just my two cents.

[Shorty]

Tiger's stance is quite narrow these days. He seems to have power leaks in his new swing. fwiw, Here is an analysis I found interesting. http://www.somaxsports.com/ (click on Tiger's new swing)

[Wisconsin Reader]

Last week at Quail Hollow the Golf Channel was doing club head speed, ball speed and carry distance on one hole. When the 3 some of Cabrera, Woods and Cink came through they reported - as I recall - almost identical club and ball numbers and Tiger had the longest carry by a few yards. . . It is safe to say Tiger can generate the club speed to be in the top 10% of all tour players . . . The question is can he consistently find his golf ball in a playable location?

[JT]

Some people will totally disagree with that somaxsports review of Tiger's swing since Tiger actually has a greater angle differential between hip/shoulder turn than their preferred swing they show. In theory the torque generated by the bigger differential is where the speed comes from. Stored power releasing like a wound elastic band.