Capelle On Golf

Tiger Woods proved that he hasn’t forgotten the art of winning as he erased a five shot lead to beat Sean O’Hair by a shot at Bay Hill.

Woods putting down the stretch won the tournament and offered more proof that you can throw the theoretical odds out the window when it’s winning time on Sunday. Here’s a recap of big putts down the stretch.

14 – Faced with a 13’,5” putt to avoid falling two back, he coolly drained it to stay close.
15 – Tiger rolled in a 25’,7” birdie putt to pull even with O’Hair.
16 – He drove into the right rough, punched out, wedged from 111 yards to 3’,4”, then rolled in the kind of knee knocker that others often blow, but he never does. This gave him a one shot lead after O’Hair’s approach found the water and he made bogey.
17 – Tiger’s tee shot buried in the front bunker and he two putted from 21’, 5” for bogey. Back to even with one to play.
18 – Tiger split the fairway with his tees shot, then hit to 15’,11” from 160 yards, setting up the winning bride putt. O’Hair missed his 38 footer. Tiger then rolled his winning putt straight in the cup just as daylight expired.

If you calculated the odds of him using six putts on the last five holes from those distances, they might be 1 in 50 or worse. But when Tiger’s on the back nine and a tournament is in his grasp, and his eyes light up, and the odds be damned.

Though Tiger got the W, his performance throughout the week was not vintage Tiger. He finished 51t in GIR at 54.1% among the 74 players who made the cut. He was also tied for 51st in fairways hit. What saved him was his short game and putting. Though he missed 33 greens, he made only eight bogeys and one double to lead the field in scrambling at 72.7%.

So, heading into Augusta, the good news is that his short game is super sharp and his putter has staged a timely return. Now, if his tee to green game heats up, the field could be in for trouble at Augusta.

Over the last nine months several players have stepped up their games and become contenders for Augusta. Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, and Vijay Singh are the most talked about names. And there was even talk that Sergio or Phil was poised to take the #1 spot in the World Golf Rankings, but we’ll hear no more about that for a while.

Oddly enough, however, Tiger was not on the list of serious contenders for the Masters because we couldn’t be sure if his knee would hold up, his swing could be trusted, or when the magic would return. But now that he’s back, the Masters in 10 days is shaping up as one of the most competitive in recent memory.