Tiger Woods finally got a win at last week’s Chevron World Challenge. He donated the $1.2 m to his charity the Tiger Woods Foundation—not a bad little tax deduction.
But what is next for Tiger? I do not think we will see him at the Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout this week.
Tiger bemoaned the fact during his post-tournament press conference that he had been putting in some long hours on the range and golf course since the PGA Championship back in August.
He had to play in the Frys.com, the Aussie Open and the President’s Cup, as well as the Chevron Challenge.? Four events in just over three months – he should put in for overtime.
The next time we will see Tiger play will be in Abu Dhabi at the end of January 2012. He will skip the Farmers Insurance Open at San Diego to play in the Middle East European Tour event.
He also has announced that he plans to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am betweenFebruary 10 and 13. He added this event to his schedule to offset San Diego, even though he had to play with an amateur partner for a few days. How degrading. The $3 m appearance fee from Abu Dhabi should help soothe the amateur’s bad vibes.
He will need to take another week off to be rested for the WGC-Accenture Match Play from Dove Mountain in Arizona. After that, the tour moves to Florida and the real work begins.???
The win at Chevron was nice. You could see the relief on Tiger’s face. After two years of personal problems, health issues and swing changes, it was a welcome change from missing cuts and facing “When will you win again, Tiger?” questions from the media.
Tiger is focused on the real prize now –winning major titles. Chevron validated the work and practice that he has been putting in. It was, however, just a step along the road.
The Masters held during the first week of April is the focal point now. Everything between now and April is calculated to maximise his opportunity to take home his 15th major trophy and move one step closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.
Tiger finally appeared to be returning to the form that made him the No. 1 player in the world for over 13 years. Yes, he is older now– he will turn 36 at the end of December, but he will have 40 chances to win majors over the next 10 years. He needs four to tie Nicklaus and five to pass him.
This is the only goal that means anything to Woods. If he can stay healthy, he will surpass Nicklaus and probably set a new record that will be impossible for anyone to even dream about.