What We Learned About Tiger Woods at the Quicken Loans National

Following two solid rounds of 68-66 to put himself in contention at the Quicken Loans National, Tiger Woods found himself falling back out of contention after his third round with a 3-over 74.

There were however flashes of promise for Woods on Sunday when he bounced back after a lackluster round.

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Tiger got his driver going early and it paid off. He able to hit his first six fairways in a stretch that included three consecutive birdies.

Woods closed out his front nine with a massive 42 foot birdie putt to finish 4-under. Big Cat’s front nine includes 6 of 7 fairways hit and 8 of 9 greens. Good things happen when you’re able to find the short grass.

Another hit fairway on the 10th hole led to an approach shot within 9 feet of the hole where Tiger would grab birdie to move to 5-under for the day. That would be the peak of his day.

Everytime Woods seems to get some momentum going, something strange happens. When it looked like he was going to tap in for par on the par 3 11th, Tiger’s putt did a complete 360 around the hole and rolled right back to him. He’d tap in for bogey and drop to 9-under on the tournament.

Then Tiger started to miss his drives, beginning on the 12th hole after he drove his tee shot into the hazard and had to take a drop in some nasty rough.

He’d recover nicely however, from 214 yards out, Tiger piped a 5 wood onto the back of the green, pulling off one of his most impressive shots of the week. He would still finish up with a bogey and drop another stroke to 8-under.

The bad luck continued on the par 5 14th. After another missed fairway, Big Cat was forced to lay up. On his third shot, he hit his approach shot pin high, but unfortunately had too much zip on the ball and it spun back into the water.

He’d take a drop in a similar location and put this one within seven feet, where he would finish up with his third bogey in the last four holes.

Tiger got the driver straightened out on the 15th with a 339 yard drive down the middle and wound up with a par on the hole. He would also par the par 3 16th to remain at 7-under.

Finding another fairway on the 17th, Woods made his 9 foot birdie putt to get back to -8.

Woods hit the fairway on the 18th and gave himself a birdie look from 14 feet. He would end up wrapping up with par to finish at 3-under 68 on the day and -8 for the tournament.

Despite some hiccups throughout the week, there was definitely positive signs in Tiger’s game, but what’s the biggest take away?

When Tiger is finding the fairway with his drives, he’s having tremendous success and his performance this week at the Quicken Loans National is a prime example.

The worst round of Woods’ week was his 3-over 74 on Saturday. During that round, Tiger hit only half his fairways leading to a measly 10 of 18 greens hit. His poor play made him lose 3.85 strokes on the field and drop out of contention.

His best round of the week came on Friday when he fired off a 5-under 66. He found 10 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens. Sunday’s final round consisted of 11 of 14 fairways hit and 15 of 18 greens.

Every bit of Tiger’s success this week started off the tee box. When he set himself in the short grass, he had easy looks at every hole which led to his low scores. When he’s not finding the fairway, it’s making his approach shots more difficult for himself.

We saw this on Saturday and during his brief hiccup on Sunday when he had three bogeys in a four hole stretch. He hit zero fairways during those four holes.

There has definitely been progress in Tiger’s game, but he gets in a certain mode during a tournament where he tries to hit that extra gear with his driver and bomb his tee shots. This leads to him getting out of sync and losing control of his drives. resulting in bogeys on the scorecard.

If he can find consistency in his game and string together four solid rounds, a win could be on the horizon for Eldrick.

Tiger isn’t in the field for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational next week and his next tournament is scheduled for the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. He’s going to need an impressive showing if he wants a chance to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

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