Tiger Woods: Farmers Insurance Open provides plenty of positives

Tiger Woods endured his share of ups and downs at the Farmers Insurance Open, but the week will provide plenty or opportunities for him to build on.

Tiger Woods did not win the Farmers Insurance Open. While he’s dominated Torrey Pines through most of his all-time great career, he simply couldn’t get the job done this week.

And while Tiger doesn’t like to admit it, at least this time, that’s okay.

Keep in mind, this is the same Tiger Woods that famously said he plans to win every tournament he enters. None of that competitive edge has diminished, but he appears to have recognized just what it is he’s trying to do in 2018.

"“I think it was all very positive,” Woods said after shooting even-par 72 at Torrey Pines’ South course. “The big concern was playing out of the rough. I haven’t played out of rye grass since last year, 12 full months. I wasn’t sure what I was able to do. I hit some shots, very happy about that. Unfortunately I put myself in there. Overall, I’m very happy the way I was able to fight out the scores."

He sure did put himself in the rough, more than any time before in his career. Woods hit just 17 of 56 possible fairways at Torrey Pines. His previous low was 20.

After hitting 8 of 14 fairways in the opening round, Tiger Woods went 3-14 in each of the final 3 rounds.

With players still on the course, Woods 30.4% driving accuracy ranks last among players to make the cut. pic.twitter.com/GNocLxqQWe
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 28, 2018

Still, think about just what we saw from Woods this week, even with those troubles. On Thursday, Woods went 0-for-12 on putts outside ten feet. He battled a wayward driver at every single turn all week. And he still finished inside the top-25 in his first full PGA TOUR event since 2015, and his first event anywhere in a full year.

What worked, and what’s next for Tiger Woods

One of the things that separated Tiger from the rest of the field, even when he was in peak physical condition, was his magical short game. That same finesse was on display all week, with crisp chipping saving him on more than one occasion.

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According to the PGA TOUR’s official stats, Woods averaged 27.5 putts per round this week, while getting up and down for par 14 times on Friday and Saturday alone. When he was asked what could have been without that short game, Woods said “it would have been snowing” – meaning 80s were well in range.

Most importantly, Tiger appears to be almost completely healthy. At least, as much as you’d expect from a 42-year-old coming off a year-long layoff and a fourth major back surgery. At this point, with enough “reps” to knock off any lingering rust, it’s getting easier to envision a year where Tiger actually gets through to the fall without any significant setbacks.

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Woods has his early season schedule heading into the Masters fairly well set. We’ll see him next at the Genesis Open at Riviera, then likely at the Honda Classic at PGA National.

While the finish wasn’t what he was hoping for, rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. Tiger is definitely on the right track for 2018. That’s bound to make things even more interesting each week he tees it up.

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