Tiger Woods: Imperfect, but showing progress in Honda Classic opener

Tiger Woods briefly found his way to the top of the leaderboard at The Honda Classic on Thursday, but even after some stumbles, his game shows progress.

For a few opening holes, Tiger Woods had his massive galleries roaring, as he did so often in years past. Early on Thursday morning, the Honda Classic leaderboard had his name next to a big red “1”.

Of course, we saw that last week for a moment, too. And just like last week, Woods did take a tumble later in the round. However, Woods did leave PGA National with a much better taste in his mouth than what he had at Riviera.

Tiger, opening his round on the back nine, made two solid birdies in his first four holes to get into red numbers. Facing the notorious “Bear Trap” early, he actually made his way through the course’s toughest stretch relatively unscathed. He made pars on Nos. 15 and 17, and made an unfortunate bogey on the par-4 16th when his approach shot found the greenside bunker.

For a course as littered with potential disaster as PGA National, though, Woods largely avoided any huge numbers. The only truly brutal hole, oddly enough, was the par-5 3rd, a relatively straightforward 538-yarder.

Tiger’s drive and approach shot both found bunkers, and his greenside escape attempt came up short of the green. His four-footer for bogey skirted five feet past the hole, but he made the comeback to avoid the dreaded snowman. A bounce-back birdie on the par-4 4th brought Woods back to par, and he stayed level the rest of the day.

Tiger: “Easily” the best ball-striking round of the year so far

As disappointing as the late slide back to par could have been for Tiger, he was surprisingly confident after his round. He told reporters that it was the best he’s struck the ball in his short return so far, and that he felt good around the greens.

That bears itself out in the stats that he put together. Woods was just under +2.5 strokes gained tee-to-green on the day, and 75% in scrambling. Granted, he’d likely be far better off not missing eight of 18 greens, and he still missed half of his fairways (seven of 14). The driver continues to be a struggle for him on that front.

Only found the fairway once in five tries with the driver today. Very encouraging with the 3-wood—his only miss was here on 9, by an inch.
— Tiger Tracker (@GCTigerTracker) February 22, 2018

Tiger has always been a power player, but the reality is that he knows he can’t continually be fighting for par from the rough (or adjacent fairways), and expect to win tournaments. That comfort level will likely come sooner or later, but Tiger isn’t a guy who has historically been willing to wait for results.

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Alan Shipnuck recently answered a question about why Tiger even bothers with his driver right now. This part of his answer was telling:

"I’d love to see Tiger be more conservative off the tee, because through the rest of the bag he looks pretty solid. But he’s not ready to concede 30-50 yards to the DJs and McIlroys of the world. Part of that is tactical; he knows it’s tough to beat guys ceding that much yardage. And part of it is vanity; Tiger is simply too proud to capitulate. So, we’re all gonna be along for this wild ride as he continues to try to figure it out."

In reality, that’s the part of the game that has to come together for the results to change. Tiger Woods can be an outstanding player even without a driver, but can he be Tiger Woods?

Next: Ryder Cup: Jim Furyk names Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker as vice captains

The good news is that Woods is still solidly in the mix at the Honda Classic. At the time of this publication, he’s tied for 25th, and with breezy conditions expected to continue and even pick up through the afternoon, that number could still improve slightly. Assuming he doesn’t blow up on Friday, he should be able to stick around and get the “reps” that he so desperately needs.

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