Kuchar tees off on the 10th hole during the fourth round of the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass. (Melina Vastola-US PRESSWIRE)

Yes, the tee shot on the 18th can be extremely daunting, but he wasn’t daunted. A par secured his victory. In a tournament noted more for the “yips” of Kevin Na, Kuchar rode a 2-under-par 70 to snag his biggest win of his career. For the tournament, Kuchar shot a 13-under-par 275. This also marked his first PGA TOUR win since The Barclays in August of 2010.

Kuchar does own a pair of joint victories from 2011: the CVS Caremark Charity Classic where he partnered with Zach Johnson and the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup in which he teamed up with Gary Woodland. He was also a member of last fall’s Presidents Cup winning team.

A group of four finished two shots back of Kuchar including a charge from last year’s Player of the Year Luke Donald. He shot the third best round of the day with a 6-under-par 66. Joining Donald at 11-under-par were first round leader Martin Laird, last week’s winner Rickie Fowler and the winner of the Valero Texas Open Ben Curtis.

Bob Estes and David Toms both carded 65′s for the rounds of the day.

Fowler had the chance to put a little pressure on Kuchar. On the 18th, Fowler had a putt of about seven and a half feet for a birdie. He went to school on Ben Curtis’ putt, but Fowler pushed the putt to the right and settled for a par.

Shortly after the third round ended yesterday, talk of Kevin Na and his “yips” grabbed front and center. He was assessed a bad time in the third round, but those do not carry over into the next round. Two bad times result in a one-stroke penalty. You have to wonder if that lie in the back of Na’s mind as he went through his final round. Considering he fired a 4-over 76, you could suggest that it did…and no one would blame him if it did.

With the win, Kuchar moves into 6th place in the Fed/Ex Cup standings.

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Prior to The Masters, I was a guest on Ricky’s show, Kickin’ it with Keeler. I picked Rory McIlroy. That didn’t pan out too well. Onward…

The question Ricky raised is how Tiger seems to lose a little steam on the back nine where there are holes that you can make a birdie or two. I went back to look at the scorecards since Tiger’s last triumph at Augusta National back in 2005. Here’s a look at the bundle.

A trio of things to point out here.

First, Tiger’s -7 on the back during the 2010 Masters is the only time within this window where Woods was under par for all four rounds. Second, the -6 front nine aggregate during the 2011 Masters was almost completely due to a front nine 31 (-5) during the final round. Finally, the last two years, Tiger has, as you can see, played the front nine better than the back.

(Allan Henry-US PRESSWIRE)

That may be a reason behind the lack of a Masters win since 2005, but it’s not the whole reason. Give those that have won (or finished ahead of Tiger) a little credit for showing a willingness to play better golf even during his reign as the world’s top golfer.

We have expected more due to the fact that Woods had won four green jackets within a nine year timeframe. The longest time in between wins: three years (1998-2000) and that was after his first Masters title. The current: seven years. We’re simply not used to it. And as the above table suggests, it’s not totally related to the perceived “back nine woes”. He hasn’t excelled on the back, but he’s not floundered either. Well, this year is a little different.

There is more. There isn’t a big contrast to front nine v. back nine performance from an overall standpoint. There’s only a difference of 0.21 strokes on average (front = 35.57, back = 35.36). The overall score is an average of 70.93 and that includes this years stunning (or not-so-stunning) score of 5-over-par.

And if you ask Tiger, you get the same response: work in progress, getting close, almost there. The win at Arnie’s tournament logically leads you to believe that…until Augusta bit him.

As one of Tiger’s biggest critics, I do think he can rebound from a poor week. The downside to making such a statement is that he failed to break par at Augusta. And there’s something else…

His next tournament (per TW’s website) will be at Quail Hollow for the Wells Fargo Championship (May 3-6) followed by The Players (May 10-13). The last time Tiger visited Quail Hollow (2010), the dreaded “MC” when he was +9 over the first two rounds. Didn’t help that Tiger posted a GIR of 55.6% and his driving accuracy was 21.4%. He does own a win at Quial Hollow back in 2007 when it was known as the Wachovia Championship.

Last year at The Players saw a “W/D” when he was only able to play nine holes (and shooting a front-nine 42, 6-over-par). Also, Woods has a “W/D” in 2010, too. He did win at Sawgrass back in 2001…and we know what a year that was for Tiger.

You know he would dearly love perform better at both venues.

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