Despite not having won yet in 2018, Tiger Woods has checked most of his goals back



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Tiger Woods had an impressive 2018 up here. Big Cat has 12 starts, four top 10s, $ 2.1 million won and is number 6 on the PGA Tour with overall wins. For most golfers, it's a huge hit, but the legends of 79 wins are not most golfers.

So, instead of judging his year by the success of others, let's go back to the beginning of the year 2018 and to the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods made a great showing at his own tournament, the Hero World Challenge in December, and we were all cautiously optimistic.

I went back to this opening presser in La Jolla to see if we could know what were the real goals of Woods for 2018 and see how well he met them. For some of the goals that I've listed below, I had to go further in the season and its quotes and thoughts, but the majority of this is early 2018.

Here are some things that I found.

Objective # 1 – Begins

"I just want a few starts," Woods said in January. "I want to start feeling what it feels like to be here and hit shots, grind scores and that's something I've been looking forward to."

"To be honest with you, I just want to start playing on the tour and get back to the rhythm of the lineup," he added. "I have not done this for so long, so I do not know what to expect."

Woods has certainly started. With a few more events to come, he's already 12, which is the most he's had since he's played 16 events in 2013. With the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the Championship PGA a certainty with the FedEx Cup Playoffs a good chance that Woods reaches 16 (if not more). And if it hits 16, it will only have been two seasons since 2005 (!) When it played more events. Grade: A +

Objective # 2 – Quality of Life

"I just did not want to feel as bad as I had felt for so long," said Woods . "I just want to have a way of life that I can participate with my kids' lives and be around them and do things. Golf was not at the top of this list, but now that I can start doing this, it feels good to go there and practice, it feels good not to have a burning sensation that goes down my leg in my foot or that s'. collapse when I walk, things of this nature.

Up to now everything is fine. And I think the part of all this that has struck me the most throughout the year is that I do not climb anymore when it takes massive hacks like I did at the beginning of the year. the season. The back has withstood the point that for the most part, I forget that it was a problem. A band of kinesiology aside Woods does not seem to have had any problems on or off the course either. Grade: A

Objective # 3 – Playing (and Playing Well) at Augusta National

"I'm just trying to build around the month of April," said Woods. "That's what I told you guys last year in the Bahamas, I can not wait to play a full schedule and get ready for the Masters and I do not have it has been doing for a very long time. "

He built his game toward him, and he almost won twice in the process. But the actual performance at Augusta – always a goal or sub-goal – did not live up to its standards. Woods finished T32 after firing rounds of 73-75-72-69. Note: B-

Purpose # 4 – "Easy" 65s

"Well, I think going on the field and shooting 65's as it's easy [is the hardest aspect to get back]"said Woods. "It's sometimes easy to go out there and shoot a 65, I just have to bring my game back to where it's like that."

It took 29 rounds, and I'm not sure how easy it was eventually, but Woods shot a 65 in the third round of the 2018 Players Championship. Then he did it again in the second round of Quicken Loans National. He followed with a 66 in the final round of this same tournament as well as a 66 in round 3 at the Open. It has become clear in recent tournaments that he feels much more comfortable by becoming lower than at the beginning of the calendar year. Level: B +

Goal # 5 – Playing Bridgestone

"There are big events to play, and one of my goals is to enter Akron, one last times, before we leave it there, "Woods told The Players. "I have won eight times, and I would like to get there with one more chance, but I have to do some work from here, with a good event, I hope."

This seems to be some sort of goofy goal for someone who has won 79 times, but that is important for two reasons. The first is that it signals someone who is in the top 50 of the world (up from No. 656 at the beginning of the year!) And who is heading in the right direction. The second is that Woods would like to send Akron to Memphis for the WGC 2019 event with his ninth win at this tournament. He earned enough OWGR points (all at once) with his T6 at the Open. Level: A +

Objective 6 – Competition in majors

I can not find an example of Tiger speaking about this, but it was more or less Purpose that defined his career. I do not see why it would be otherwise – especially now that he has built a point where he is not worried, physically, to put on four rounds together. After being a non-factor at the Masters and U.S. Open, Woods took the solo lead Sunday at the Open Championship. It's a huge deal, especially considering it was its first top 10 in a major since 2013. Note: A-

Objective n ° 7 – Win

The last one. Great. The elephant in the room

Again, Woods did not declare it at the beginning of the season, but I have to think that he's on the way, he grafted it on his goal sheet. I've argued that it does not really matter if Tiger wins again (I do not know if it's the right way or the wrong way to see that), but that's counts for a lot of people, especially among the 14-time big winner himself. All other goals are so ambiguous. You can discuss them in one way or another depending on how you feel or how you define success. This one, however, is binary. Did Tiger win? Tiger did not win? It's a matter of time before that happens, of course, but until the result, with respect to that goal, is only a failure . Note: F

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