Sport
Tiger Woods is ready to win
There are only six players from the top 50 on the money list, and 26 from the top 100. Rory Sabbatini at No. 27 is the highest-ranked player from the PGA Tour money list.
And then there is Woods, who is No. 118 after having entered only eight PGA Tour events and going the distance in five of them.
He no longer is among the top 50 in the world ranking for the first time since he was a 20-year-old rookie in 1996, having slipped to No. 51 this week. Yet he is such a powerful draw that ticket sales are five times ahead of last year. The Frys.com Open is close to selling out, unusual for a Fall Series event, and even some tournaments in the regular part of the season.
Woods’ year looked much more promising in April when he tied for fourth at the Masters, after briefly being in a tie for the lead when he made the turn at Augusta National on Sunday. But he aggravated injuries in his left leg, then returned too early at The Players Championship. He withdrew after nine holes and didn’t return again for three months at the Bridgestone Invitational.
Woods thought he was close to putting his new swing together at the Masters.
“And then after that, I was kind of shot for a while,” he said. “And that was frustrating because then I had to go back and kind of piece my way back to where I was at Augusta.”
He said he was limited to how much he could practice early in the season, and he had less than a week to get ready for the Bridgestone Invitational once he was given clearance to play as much as he wanted.
“This is different,” Woods said. “I’ve had a chance to prepare, and then obviously after this event, I’ve got a few more weeks – four – before I play in the Aussie Open. So that’s more how I’d like to prepare and practice and play in events. So I’m getting back to my normal routine.”
The question is whether he can get back to normal results.
Copyright 2011. The Associated Press.
