Is Tiger Woods Back?

Introduction

No, but as his caddie stated: "The tide is turning". Two things indicate this: First, Tiger Woods was at the top of the leaderboard. Second, he played three old-Tiger under par good rounds. And last, he let the third round get away from him, and, as a result, he not only ended up losing the match, but more importantly, shooting an unlikely 73. Yes, he's on the mend, but he ain't quite mended yet.

Woods near top of leaderboard

Tiger Woods was once more at the top of the leaderboard, not as number 1, but as number 2 in his event, the Chevron World Challenger that consists of 18 of the best golfers in the world. This was not a fluke. On the contrary, Tiger Woods has been hanging around the top of the board in the last few golf events that he has played in during the last few months. This tells me that he is on the mend and is close to being fully mended, which I believe will occur sometime during the 2011 season.

Woods shoot three impressive low rounds

Another thing that indicates that Tiger Woods is just about mended is the scores he put up during the first three rounds of the Chevron Challenge. In round one, he shot an impressive score of 65. He followed that up with a second impressive round of 66. Finally, he shot a score of 68 in the third round. By doing that, he was on track as far as how he used to play. That is to say, he would--when he was at the very top of his game--shoot three row rounds of below par. He did that in the Chevron Challenge. This, too, indicates to me that he is on the mend and close to getting fully mended.

Woods shoot an uncharacteristic 73 in the final round

Finally, he Tiger Woods threw away the fourth and last round of the Chevron tournament by shooting an unheard of 73. This in itself tells me that he is not completely mended. This is uncharacteristic of him. I expected him to be true to form by shooting a 69 or a 70 but never in my wildest dreams did I think that he would shoot a 73. This tells me that he is not back yet.

Recap

All of this adds up to one result: The hanging around the top of the leaderboard, the shooting of three impressive low rounds under par, and the uncharacteristic shooting of a high 73 in the last round of the Chevron World Challenge tells me that he is on the mend and close to being mended, but he is not there yet.