With everything he’s been through physically, just lining up at Pinehurst No.2 for the US Open is an achievement for Tiger Woods,
but if he wants to compete then there’s a lot his needs to brush up on in his game.
The 15-time Major champion is continuing his plan to play once a month, which is just the Major championships during this stretch of the season.
Woods set a Masters record by making the cut for the 24th consecutive visit to Augusta National, before eventually finishing last of those to make the weekend.
The PGA Championship was more of a struggle as Woods shot 72-77 to miss the cut at Valhalla,
and the challenge at Pinehurst looks to be far greater than what turned out to be a birdie fest in Kentucky.
And although there’s not much of a sample size so far, with Woods finishing just seven rounds of golf in 2024 having withdrawn from the Genesis Invitational in February, some of his stats make for grim reading.
As just in actual scoring terms, Woods is a combined +24 for the seven full rounds he’s played so far in 2024.
And when you consider everyone else was filling their boots with birdies at Valhalla and he could not follow suit – that’s a worry if he really wants to contend at Pinehurst this week.
With those 20 birdies it means Woods averages under three per round, which is miles behind Scottie Scheffler’s PGA Tour leading 5.22 – but then again Scheffler is miles ahead of everyone right now.
But even in terms of the PGA Tour average, which is still 3.77, it’s way off and of the 178 qualifying players only five have averaged fewer than three birdies a round, and only two average worse than Woods’ 2.8.
In terms of the popular stats used most often on tour – in the Strokes Gained: Total category there’s no surprise to see Scottie Scheffler way out in front as he continues to produce numbers we’ve only really seen before from a prime Tiger Woods himself.
But current Tiger Woods is way off the pace, as his -2.834 number is even worse than the current bottom-placed player in the PGA Tour rankings – with Camillo Villegas propping up the rest on -2.225.
There’s not a lot to smile about at all apart from driving – which is the one aspect of Tiger’s game that’s been half decent stats-wise since his return, with his Strokes Gained: Off The Tee numbers the only ones in positive digits.
And in fact, if you carried his 0.405 stat line off the tee over onto the PGA Tour stats this season he’d be ranked 26th, so with the big dog at least he’s been right up there.
From then on though it’s not great reading, as his approach, around the greens and putting numbers are all in the negative.
His approach play would rank him 177th out of 178 on the PGA Tour this season, while his putting stats would place him also near the bottom of the pile at 159th.
However, it’s around the greens where Woods has really struggled, as his Strokes Gained number of -1.879 would see him comfortably bottom of the PGA Tour standings this season.
Scheffler doesn’t lead this category, Hideki Matsuyama tops it with 0.761, but they’re both still miles above Woods, who would be cast adrift at the bottom by some margin, with the worst recorded on the PGA Tour this season being the -0.941 by Paul Barjon.
The numbers play into the old adage of the short game always being the hardest to tighten up, especially in tournament conditions, and they’ll be a huge worry given just how tough it will be around the devilish upturned saucer putting surfaces at Pinehurst.
If Woods can’t significantly improve on the numbers he’s been producing on and around the greens, it could be a tough couple of rounds for him at Pinehurst as he’ll struggling to make the weekend, let alone challenge.
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
