Question of the Day: How many tournaments and majors will Tiger Woods win this year?
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Writers from around Tribune Co. weigh in on the topic. Check back throughout the day for more responses, and feel free to leave a comment of your own.
Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune
No one will remember this prediction in December, right? Well, I’m still laying up. The smart money has Woods struggling most of the season while swing doctor Sean Foley guides him through the de-Haneying process.
Woods’ commitment to excellence is fierce, of course. I can’t think of anyone on the planet who wants to win more quickly in 2011 to end the discourse on his philandering-induced slump.
But Woods has struggled when undergoing swing changes (see 1998, 2003-04), and I envision the same for 2011. At least by his standards. So I’ll predict two victories, none coming before July, and another 0-for-4 in the majors.
[Updated at 12:30 p.m.:
Diane Pucin, Los Angeles Times
Watch Tiger Woods win his first tournament of the year at one of his favorite places, Torrey Pines, this week as he kicks off the season at the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods likes to send messages. This one will be that he’s ready.
But early success won’t mean a return to dominance. Woods is still in the process of fixing his game after dealing with leg and knee problems the last couple of years. He has a new swing coach, Sean Foley, and he has the new reality of every tabloid reporter in the world watching for a non-golf misstep.
It’s really impossible to predict how a single golfer will do. Fields change every week, conditions change, swings come and go. That said, Tiger will win three or four PGA Tour events. He will come within a stroke or two at a couple of majors. But he won’t win one of those. Jack Nicklaus’ record will have to wait.
Mark Wogenrich, the Morning Call
Tiger Woods is 35 with a trick knee, a fifth-generation swing and a field of bloodhounds circling. That his nine-win seasons are in the past should be OK with the rest of us.
Doesn’t mean he’s forever consigned to frittered-away years like 2010, though. I watched Woods plod through last year’s AT&T National outside Philadelphia, where he sprayed the ball to Jersey and tied for 46th. Never once, though, did I consider that week a preview of his future. Woods might have strayed from World No. 1, but the guy probably has the best range-finder in golf. He’ll get most of it back.
For 2011, that means three wins, including at least one before the U.S. Open. One of those will be a major; the guess here is Woods picks up No. 15 at Congressional in June.]