Tiger Woods’ game might not be where he wants it to be, but his back apparently is strong enough to play in two consecutive tournaments for the second time this season. Woods has committed to the Valspar Championship, which begins Thursday and the Arnold Palmer Invitational the following week.
Woods announced his playing intentions on his Twitter account. It will be his fourth event since late January when he began his comeback from his fourth back surgery. After placing 12th at the Honda Classic two weeks ago, Woods gave his body a rest and said the break was what he needed as he now try to play eight rounds of PGA Tour golf in 14 days.
He has never competed at the Valspar and oddsmakers at both Las Vegas and Internet sports books have him at 25-1 to win. The Westgate LV SuperBook has him at -210 to make the cut and +175 that he won’t play on the weekend. They also have him as a +375 to finish in the top 10 and a -500 he won’t. A top-20 finish has odds of -240 he doesn’t make it and a +190 he does.
The following week Woods will be returning to familiar ground. He has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill eight times in his career. Of his 79 career victories it is the most at any one place.
Encouraging Finish, but Still Struggling
Placing in the top 15 at the Honda Classic was the best finish by Woods in a full-field event since a tie for 10th at the August 23, 2015 Wyndham Championship. It gave the former No. 1 some optimism.
“My expectations have gone up,” he said. “I feel like each time out I’ve gotten better and I’ve gotten more of a feel for playing tournament golf. The last couple days, it felt easy to play tournament golf.”
While the result might be promising, there is still plenty of work to be done on the golf course. Woods has struggled in key statistics that will prevent him from any success in major championships.
With enough rounds to now qualify for PGA Tour rankings he is 213th out of 216 players in driving accuracy and 206th in greens in regulation. The biggest surprise could be in the par-5 scoring. Woods used to utilize those holes to his advantage, routinely getting birdies and eagles. Now he ranks 208th and at the Honda Classic played the par 5s at 1-over par.
Georgia on His Mind
Those categories have to improve if Woods is to have any chance at Augusta National. The next two events will be a barometer for him and how he should do at the Masters, which is in a little more than a month.
Five tournaments might not be enough preparation for a major championship, but of the four grand slam events the Masters favors a Woods victory.
He is currently 15/1 to win his fifth green jacket and of the four this is the one he has experienced the most success at. The last time he played at Augusta National was 2015 and he finished tied for 17th. He missed the cut in the other three later that year. The last time Woods won a major was the 2008 US Open.