Capelle On Golf

Tiger Woods’ other big years, by his standards, are typically part cold, part red hot. In 2001 he won four if his first 10 starts, then cooled off, winning only one of his last nine. Through the British Open in 2007 he won three of 11events, then closed the season with four wins and a second in five starts.

His 2008 season could have been no exception, or the exception. He was mostly hot for all seven events, a balky putter keeping him from running the table. That same putter might have turned the second half into an ordinary great year if it had cooled, or it could have led to his greatest campaign ever. That will forever be a mystery – one that makes it difficult to rank his abbreviated campaign. Still, let’s give it a shot.

Ranking Tiger’s Best Years
1 – 2000 – Will always be the standard. Three straight majors and nine PGA Tour victories.
2 – 2002 – Winning the first two legs of the Grand Slam is a powerful argument, complemented by a second at the PGA and five Tour victories.
3 – 2006 – Came back after his dad’s death to finish the season with six straight wins, giving him eight for the season, including the last two majors.
4 – 2005 – Two majors, a second and a fourth in the others, and six tour victories.
5 – 2008 – Won four of six starts and finished 2, 1 in the Masters and US Open.
Next best (best first – one major in each): 2007, 2001, 1999, 1997
The three worst (no majors): 2003, 1998, 2004

The Year of the Hot Putter
Woods played in seven events in ‘08 including the Match Play and Dubai. He won five of them largely because of the flat stick. The two events he didn’t win were because his putter turned cold.

Tiger’s Seven Starts – Putting Performances for the Ages
Buick Invitational – Averaged 27.75 putts (1t) even though he was 2t in GIR! This is unheard of!
Dubai Classic – Holed a 25 footer on the final hole to post a 274. He won by one shot when Els found the lake on the last hole.
Accenture Match Play – Made a ton of putts to beat J.B. Holmes and stave off elimination in the second round.
Arnold Palmer – Wins by a shot with a 24’ curler on the last hole.
WGC-CA – PGA Tour win streak is snapped at five when he finished two back because he was 44t in putts per round.
Masters – Finished three back after a horrible exhibition of putting in the final round.
US Open – Hit only 46 greens (the leader hit 53) but made tons of putts, including a 12’ on the 72nd hole to force a playoff.

Tiger’s Stats that Matter Most
The PGA Tour has tons of stats – I just counted 89 on their player’s page for Tiger. Below is a listing of the six most relevant of the bunch.

Greens in regulation – 71.39% - first – another great ball striking year – except…
Driving accuracy – 57.84 - 154th – Missing fairway is Tiger’s Achilles heel.
Putting from 3-5’ – 93.55% - third – His dominance stems largely from his refusal to miss short putts, a perfect stroke, and today’s pool table greens.
Putting average – 1.735 – fourth – Indicates great putting and quality irons shots.
Scrambling – 68.93% - first – This shows excellent chipping, pitching, and short range putting.
Scoring (actual) – 68.90 – first – The bottom line speaks for itself.

KEY STAT: Scrambling
Scrambling is a composite stat of several skills. To rank highly a player must play the chips, pitches and bunker shots up close, then make the short putts. Despite a sand save percentage of under 50% (his 48.39 is 108th on tour) Tiger’s overall scrambling was otherworldly. On his scramble attempts from other than the sand, Tiger saved par (or better) over three quarters of the time. That is scary good. While he’s got an abundance of short game skills, his performance was also partly attributable to Nike’s new high spin ball.

Components of Tiger’s Short Game
Scrambling – 71 for 103 – 68.93%
Bunkers – 15 for 31 – sand saves are irrelevant
Others – 56 for 72 77.78% that better than 3 of 4 times