Expectations for Tiger Woods in 2018 suddenly sky high
By Jake Ellis
Tiger Woods finished tied for ninth at 8-under at the Hero World Challenge in his first tournament in almost a year. After a successful tournament, here is what to expect from him for the upcoming season.
When Tiger Woods walked onto the Albany Country Club grounds, the expectations for him were at an all-time low. We all had been hearing how well he had been playing at his home course in Jupiter, but we know to take that with a grain of salt. Playing at home with your friends in a cart is a lot different from playing in competition against some of the top players in the world. After this past weekend, it is time to start taking this comeback a bit more seriously. His expectations for the 2018 season have not been this high for a long time.
Whenever Tiger has set up his schedule, he has always built them around which courses he has the most success at, and of course, the majors. This season is going to be no different. After he finished his final round, people were already asking, “When are we going to see Tiger Woods next?”
In his last comeback, Tiger scheduled four events in five weeks after his Hero World Challenge debut from 2016. He did not even make it through the second week after he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic with back issues, which led to his fourth back surgery. According to a Golf Digest article, he is going to take it a lot slower.
"“I think we are going to sit down here and we’re going to figure out what’s the best way for me to build around my schedule for the major championships. Play enough, but don’t play too much.”"
It is safe to say that we will not see Tiger try to play four times in five weeks this time around. After mentioning the majors as his main target point for the upcoming season, expect him to play in spurts, with most events coming right before the Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA. Because he has been on the shelf because of problems with his back, Woods has missed 10 of the last 16 majors, including three of the past four Masters.
People thought that they were going to see a shell of Tiger Woods when he teed it up in the Bahamas this past weekend. Instead, a completely different Tiger showed up. He was hitting fairways like he hasn’t done since the early 2000s, his putter seemed to get him out of making some big scores, and we saw another thing we hadn’t seen in ages: that smile.
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Tiger Woods looks happy, and that should be scary for his competitors. Brandel Chamblee, who is an analyst for Golf Channel, had stated that Tiger would not be able to compete because all of his injuries. After this weekend, he admitted he was wrong.
"“I didn’t think he’d come back with this much speed. I didn’t think his swing would be this good. I think we all can agree he can contend and probably win golf tournaments with this swing.”"
Where might this new look Tiger show up next? You should expect to see him back at one of his old stomping grounds at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open in January, and if he plays well there, be prepared for the hype about his 2018 potential to really take off.