Tiger Off to Another Strong Start.

Tiger Woods holds on to a three stoke lead at the Chevron World Challenge after posting a 67 Friday in round two. After a solid 69 posted in round one Tiger lays out two eagles in the round to solidify the top spot with 8 under and a three shot lead over Matt Kuchar. Could Tiger be riding some momentum off of his President’s Cup performance a couple weeks ago in Australia? Many sure would hope so. Woods has looked strong in the opening two rounds of his last three tournaments but begins to fade going into his third and fourth day of the tournaments. His most recent tournament, The Australian Open, Woods had a one-shot lead after day two of the tournament. In rounds three and four Woods began to struggle around the green, particularly with his putting, and quickly dropped in the standings.

In this year’s President’s Cup Woods showed signs of his old-self but still struggled with putts that used to be automatic for Tiger. Woods has continued to make strides in each of his tournaments he’s competed in and this very well could be the week we finally see the elusive “win”. Woods has stressed the importance of staying comfortable out on the course and not to try to do too much during competition. Woods said after today’s round that he felt like he was making the shots he needed to make to put himself in position to win his first tournament since his falling out.

There was that feeling today while watching Tiger that he was finally starting to play like Tiger. When he would get in trouble he managed to work his way out. Woods set himself up nicely around the green where he was able to leave himself with manageable putts rather than the jaw dropping putts we were accustomed to seeing with the “old” Tiger. Another characteristic that is finding it’s way back onto the course is Tiger’s emotion and mental game. You get the feeling that Tiger is getting into his groove. There is more emotion being shown that has always been a staple in Tiger’s game.

We can’t officially say “he’s back” until he gets that win but that might be coming sooner than we might have expected. If the momentum from his strong start can carry on into day 3 and 4 don’t be surprised to see Tiger in a position to win this tournament on Sunday and maybe the start of the upward climb we’ve all been waiting for.

Cory Walton