Tiger Woods is Back and Starving for a Good Meal

So the big hoot in professional golf has obviously been the return of Tiger Woods to the PGA Tour. After 8 months of rehab stemming from a torn ACL, and multiple stress fractures in his leg, Woods made his post-injury debut at the Accenture Match Play Championship. I read multiple reports that people didn't expect Tiger to win the whole thing, but at least figured he would contend into the weekend rounds. Not so I guess. Ousted in the 2nd round of the match play tournament I guess the question to be asked is, "Why did, after such a serious injury, Tiger Woods choose to compete in such a top notch tournament that would not only test his possibly rusty skills, but his still healing knee?" Fairly simple answer - that's what champions do.

I guess not such a simple answer for people who do not compete on Tiger's level. The reality is Tiger Woods has little to prove to anyone except himself. He's won 14 majors, 65 PGA Tour matches (3rd all time), and 89 overall professional matches. He's won The Masters, The British Open, The U.S. Open, and The PGA Championship (each one multiple times). He has more money than anyone could want in multiple lifetimes. So, what does he have to prove to anyone? Like I said, nothing. But the will of a champion is more than just stats and money (albeit nice to have in their own right); it's competition with history, and most importantly himself/herself.

Most golfers would probably have chosen a smaller stage with which to re-enter competition. A few small tests to see if the knee holds up, conditioning is up to snuff, and the skills are polished. I guess Tiger didn't get that memo. On his first day, he won in great Tiger fashion. On day two of the Accenture Match Play Championship he fell short losing 4 and 2 to a player who himself was ousted the next day. So Tiger will go back to the drawing board and get ready for the next match on his dockett - the World Golf Championship - CA at Doral in Tiger's home state of Florida. Not really shying away from the spotlight, or the pressure. Again the will of Tiger Woods is not something to be penned up in some cage. So I wonder if Tiger is up to something?

Woods hasn't played a whole lot of high stakes golf in the past 8 months (none actually), and coming up April 6 to 12 is The Masters, so is it a surprise that Tiger is making his comeback with high profile and highly competitive matches? Jason Sobel, who covers the golf world and blogs for ESPN.com, in a recent article entitled "Match play format undeniably favors Woods," discussed the pros and cons of Woods' return at Accenture. He also outlined a possible forecast for Tiger in the coming weeks:

"For argument's sake, let's say everything goes according to plan. Woods likely will follow the Match Play by taking a week off, then playing at Doral, taking another week off, then playing at Bay Hill and then taking another week off before making the drive down Magnolia Lane to Augusta National. Three events -- each with a week off in between -- should give him more than enough competitive rounds to feel comfortable entering his pursuit of a fifth green jacket."

This sounds very doable for someone like Tiger. It gives him ample opportunity to dust off his competitive clubs, fine tune what he's been practicing, face elite competition, and most crucial of all test his knee. With all this layed out, what would one expect from Tiger up until The Masters? He isn't entering these tournaments to lose. He fully believes he is going to win, if he plays the way he knows how. He must feel comfortable with his knee to know how much he can push it. So, I chalk up his early finish at Accenture to a bad day, and lack of real playing. In the coming weeks we will see him play some more and see what progress he is making. I think by the time The Masters rolls around we will see the Tiger of old, except this time he will be walking on two fully healthy knees. Just think - he was able to win The U.S. Open (in a playoff no less) on one leg (and from what he says he's had bad knees for years - check his stats over the past years again), and now he is going to have 2 good knees that should not give him any problems for the foreseeable future...Look out golf world because the roaring Tiger is back, and I think he's very hungry. Eight months of no feeding can really work up an appetite.