Today is a great day for me. The 2011 PGA Tour opens at Kapalua Resort with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. (I've got my fantasy golf lineup set and I'm ready to win it all this year.) This weekend's lineup has a field of only 34 golfers because the competition pays homage to the Tour's previous season's winners. Tiger Woods hasn't played in the season's opener since 2005, more recently saving his first tournament of the year for the Buick Invitational at the end of January. However, even if he wanted to, Tiger Woods would not be able to play in Hawaii this weekend because for the first time in his career he went winless on the PGA Tour.
Tiger's personal problems in 2010 have been covered ad nauseum and, while I do not agree with his actions, I am someone who believes that that is part of his private left and should be left alone. I also believe that the off-the-course distractions affected his game and were a major factor in his performance or lack thereof.
The intense practice sessions and dedication to the game of the world's greatest golfer are well documented. Tiger's obsession with catching Jack Nicklaus drove him towards 12-hour practice days, hitting countless golf balls, practicing every imaginable shot, and even introducing a focus on fitness and exercise rarely seen from golfers who proceeded him. But with everything going on in his personal life, Tiger wasn't able to dedicate himself to the game as he had done his entire life. He attempted to fix his personal life and his family at the expense of his success on the course.
But now the divorce is final and the hatchet buried. For the first time since the 2007 offseason, Tiger was healthy enough and void of any personal strife where he could employ the practice habits and focus that led to 14 major championships and 71 career victories. I can only hope that means one thing - Tiger is ready to take the 2011 season by storm. I can't imagine Tiger was too happy about going winless last season despite all the personal distractions and he will be expecting to pass Jack in career victories (73) and pull closer in major victories (18) during the 2011 season.
A lot of comparisons have been made between Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, namely that both are completely obsessed with winning. I'm going to go ahead and make another comparison that probably turns out to be a little bit of a bold prediction.
Let me set the scene a bit: After dominating the NBA from 1987 to 1993, winning three straight titles and three MVPs, Michael Jordan left basketball to play professional baseball for a season and a half. He returned to the NBA in March of 1995 and bowed out to the eventual Eastern Conference champions in the second round of the playoffs. Jordan and the Bulls weren't just weren't able to form the chemistry that develops over an 82 game season. Losing left a bad taste in Jordan's mouth and he and his team came back with a vengeance during the 1995-1996 season. They won 72 games and captured the first of three consecutive championships, the Bulls second three-peat of the decade.
Enter Tiger. Like Jordan, he dominated his sport for nearly a decade, winning an absurd 26.8% of the time he entered a tournament (Phil Mickelson is second all-time at 9%). It might be a stretch but I'd like to attribute Thanksgiving 2009 through the 2010 season as Tiger's professional baseball moment - he just wasn't "there". We all know how Jordan handled being eliminated by the Shaq and the Magic in 1995. I think Tiger experienced something similar when he lost in a playoff to 2010 sensation Graeme McDowell at the season ending Chevron World Challenge.
Now for the prediction. I think Tiger has a "Jordan-like" run over the next three years. I'm talking big. I'm looking for six wins this season, including at least one major - preferably a green jacket (he hasn't won at Augusta since 2005). I expect him to surpass Sam Snead's all-time wins record (82) in 2011 finishing the season with 84 career victories. For those who are counting that's seven more wins in 2011. While I think it will be difficult for him to pass Jack in the next three years, I expect him to enter the 2014 PGA season with 18 total majors - again, that's 4 more majors over the next three seasons (a career total for pretty much any other golfer). At 38, I would imagine Tiger has three or four solid seasons to win the record-breaking 19th major.
Look, Tiger didn't all of a sudden forget how to play golf. Like Jordan, the chemistry just wasn't there in 2010. With the divorce behind him, I expect Tiger's focus and dedication to be back. Sunday afternoons just aren't the same with Tiger not in contention and I am excited to get those Sunday afternoons back this year because I suspect he will be in contention more often than not.
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