Peter Jacobsen implored everyone to “temper their expectations” for Tiger Woods early last week at Bay Hill.
That’s a tough task when the media raves about how great Woods is hitting the ball and how good he looks and how pain free he is.
Seems some of the lads at Westgate in Las Vegas have installed him as THE FAVORITE to win the Masters, throwing him out there at 8-1,, ahead of Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas at 9-1.
Indeed, Woods inserted himself into the hunt over the final 18 holes at Bay Hill on Sunday. He got it to three-under through eight holes then at the ninth promptly blew his drive so far right it found the concession tents. That resulted in a bogey and he had basically gained little to no ground on the leaders.
He bounced back with a birdie at the 10th, another at the par five 12th then he rolled one in from 13 feet at the 13th. “Here he comes!” pronounced David Feherty.
Feherty spoke too soon. That would be his last birdie of the day. Yet he was 12-under and just a shot behind faltering Henrik Stenson.
On 16 tee, Woods really had a chance to do something special. Easiest hole on the course, nothing but a long par four in today’s world of driving distance.
At that instant, Woods once again found his driver to be highly unreliable. It sailed way left, out-of-bounds. Once again, a day when he had the two-way miss going with the big stick.
“I didn’t decide,” Woods would later explain, keeping his smile and wits about him. “I didn’t decide, I felt pretty good out there. I could hit three-wood eight-iron in or why don’t you just bomb it over the top?”
Back in the day it was a no-brainer and he would have bombed it over the top. Instead, the OB made it a bogey, then another at the 17th, the wind looked out of his sails and he missed yet another fairway at the 18th when his three-wood went right and he had to scramble for a closing par, a 69 that got him to 10-under and a tie for fifth with Ryan Moore.
“I feel like I really putted well this week,” Woods went on to say. “I know I need to keep making birdies. I figured I had to play the last three holes three under but that wouldn’t have been good enough the way Rory’s playing out there,” Woods said of eventual winner Rory McIlroy, who birdied five of the final six to shoot an incredible 64.
The takeaway for Woods?
First, it may be hard for him to win at The Masters if he can’t call on his driver. Life’s tough there if you have to hit three-woods and the “chicken-stick” aka the long iron off the tee.
Second, Woods is getting a glimpse at how difficult it is to win on the PGA Tour these days. Someone’s always hot and Sunday it was Rory.
This was his last appearance before The Masters and has gone runner-up, T5 in his two tune-ups for Augusta National.
“He’s (Woods) definitely closing in on some victories,” proclaimed Johnny Miller.
