What should we expect?
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Tiger Woods is set to Tee off at 12:05pm tomorrow alongside Justin Thomas. The Hero World Challenge is hosted by Tiger Woods so I wouldn’t expect him to drop out before the event begins. That’s the only prediction I feel very confident about. Beyond that, well your guess is as good as mine. In this post I’ll make a number of bold predictions. Some of them will be positive in nature, but there will be a few negative. Lets hope the positive predictions come true. A healthy competitive Tiger Woods can only be good for Golf.
Will he complete all four Rounds?
It appears to me, and from the accounts of others that Tiger Woods is in better shape entering this tournament than he was last year. He completed all four Rounds last year. Even though it was obvious at times that he was playing through a fair amount of physical discomfort. Barring a major physical injury during the event. I expect Tiger Woods to play all four Rounds of the Hero World Challenge.
Can he finish under par?
Something a lot of people aren’t aware of is that Tiger Woods finished last year’s Hero World Challenge with 24 Birdies. The most Birdies of anyone in the field. Despite that he only finished the tournament 4 under par. I would expect Tiger to improve on last year’s performance. So yes I expect Tiger Woods to finish under par.
Can he finish in the Top 10 by score?
Here’s where things get far more difficult to predict. Last year Tiger Woods would have to have shot an 8 under par to have tied Patrick Reed for 10th place. Four strokes better than he finished. Now I’ve already predicted that Tiger Woods will finish better than last year. So do I think that he can finish in tenth position by score? No I don’t. It’s not that I don’t think he can shoot 8 under par. I have a feeling that the scores will be a little better this year. I don’t think 8 under par will be good enough for 10th. My prediction is that Tiger Woods will finish the tournament at 8 under par. How about that for a bold prediction.
Will he keep pace with Justin Thomas?
Talk about a tall order. 2017 has been Justin Thomas’s year. FedEx Cup Champion, PGA Tour Player of the year, and the PGA Championship winner is on a roll. Seems almost cruel to Tiger Woods to pair them up on day one. The truth is that it could be much worse. Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, and Kevin Kisner could all be potentially worse Players to tee off with. Justin Thomas has a tendency to go for it. That type of play can lead to poor positions, and relying on your scrambling ability. Something I expect Tiger will have to do as well. Tiger Woods also has a total look of Focus while playing. Something that seems to have the ability to rattle other Players. It’s happened far too many times to be a total fluke. Tiger’s playing partners tend to have there worst Rounds. Don’t be surprised if Justin Thomas isn’t on the first page of the Leaderboard at days end tomorrow. The question is will Tiger Woods have an off day as well? I expect Tiger to be within two strokes of Justin Thomas. It’s even possible that he could be two strokes better.
Looking ahead
So my predictions for the Hero World Challenge are mostly positive. I’m hoping that this event is just the beginning for Tiger Woods this Season. Now what I hope, and what I expect are two different things. I don’t expect Tiger to be around for the entire Season. I think that he will withdraw, or miss the cut in more tournaments than the number of tournaments he finishes. I only expect him to play in one Major this Season. That would be the Masters. These are my predictions. I really hope that I am wrong.