Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth: When Will They Win Again?

Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth have both had their struggles this year. Still, both feel that they’re close to winning again. The only question left is when.

Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, though not equal in career achievement, are two of the most popular and successful players in the game. One is returning from back surgery and has hopes of winning again, anywhere, and the other is still recovering from mono and has not shown the brilliance of his first four seasons as a professional. They are both frustrated with their results. It shows from time to time in displays of temper, but the reasons are clearly different.

A couple of days ago on the Hank Haney program on PGA Tour radio, Haney recalled a conversation he once had with Steve Williams when Williams was caddying for Woods. According to what Williams told Haney, any time Woods had 120 putts or less in any tournament, he would win. Although that sounds like a lot of putts for a winner, Haney pointed out that Woods had 109 putts at the recent Quicken Loans National and finished fourth, which means while Woods has been away, players have gotten better. Or in a tournament record week, what Williams said doesn’t count.

I have to add here that I trust what Haney said as Williams’ honest belief, and I have no way to count all the putts Tiger Woods has made in his career. The PGA Tour, in its effort to get granular with stats, no longer lists things like putts per round or per tournament, although there’s no doubt they have that information.

My recollection is it used to be a part of tournament summaries. I have no way to count all the putts Woods has made in his career victories, plus it would really take a while if the data was findable, and I would need a minion or two, which I don’t have.

At last week’s Quicken Loans National, in the final round, Francesco Molinari, didn’t play like he was in the zone, he played like he invented the zone. Molinari won by eight strokes, and he was 10 ahead of Woods who finished fourth, two behind second place which was locked down by Ryan Armour. Molinari shot 8-under for 62 on a par 70 course. Woods posted a closing round of 66.

Had Molinari not blasted his way to a new tournament record, would Woods have somehow shaved off another few shots and been closer or in a tie or a playoff? If the leader had been closer to Woods in score and been chased by Woods, could that have caused him to be nervous enough to make a mistake or two on the back nine and help Woods out? These are questions we all ask, Woods included, no doubt, but we’ll never know because none of that transpired.

Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth at the 2018 PLAYERS Championship (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) /

In his first season post-surgery with a back that doesn’t hurt, Woods has shown us many signs of his former brilliance. But what he hasn’t shown us in 2018 is four rounds in the 60s. However, at Quicken Loans, he did post three rounds in the 60s on a course that’s a par 70. That’s the best he has done all season. It’s that one remaining round that appears to be holding him back.

Woods best score all of 2018 was a 65 at The Players, which is 7-under par at a par 72 course. His final round at Quicken Loans was his second best, a 66, which was just 4-under par on a par 70 course. In his prime, Woods’ par on most courses with a par of 72 was 68. He took care of business on the par fives with birdies and snuck in another birdie or two somewhere most rounds. That meant a typical round was easily 4 or 5-under par.

While even winning players typically have one day that isn’t as good as the other three, and in Woods’s case, it is now about bringing that highest score down a few shots and getting back to 4-under being his par on par-72 tracks.

Jordan Spieth’s recovery from illness is progressing, but slowly

Jordan Spieth is in a similar position. He has not been able to go low consistently. Spieth had one week with four rounds in the 60s, and all it got him was a tie for 18^th. That was at the Sony Open.

The rest of the season, his scoring has just been too high. Whether it’s been his putting or his driving or some other aspect of his game, he just hasn’t been sharp. A lot of that has to be due to mono which he had last winter.

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I had lunch with a group of non-golf people a couple of weeks ago, and one of them asked the inevitable what’s up with Spieth question. I answered: mono. The guy who asked the question then rolled his eyes and recalled the time he’d had mono and missed an entire baseball season in college. He said it took him at least six months, if not longer, to get anywhere close to right.

We have just passed the six-month mark in Spieth’s mono recovery, and during that time, he’s been trying to practice and play high-level, tournament golf, which is an energy-draining task. His accelerator just won’t go down, his spark plugs aren’t firing, and the results are a lower performance than we have seen in previous seasons.

Sure, that last round at The Masters was fabulous, and he shot an opening round 63 at Travelers, but he has just not been himself, a bit like a piano chord with one key out of tune. Worse yet, every week he’s at tournament, he gets asked about it, which only adds to the pressure he feels to perform. He’s just been a little off most of the year and has even had several rounds significantly over par, with the highest being a 78.

For Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, getting back to their past levels of play has been difficult. That means, it just might not be this year that either one gets to the winner’s circle. I’d be happy to be wrong about that, but until they start posting consistent rounds in the 60s, until they start living on leaderboards on a regular basis for all four rounds, victories will remain elusive.

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However, they are both too good not to overcome their current frustrations, and if it’s not this season, it will surely be next. Just give them a little more time. If there’s no change after another 12 months, well, then it’s a potential problem.

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