Talk of Tiger turnaround premature

PEOPLE should cast their minds back a year before declaring that Tiger Woods is on his way back to the top.

For the second Presidents Cup in a row, Woods secured the winning point as the Americans beat the Internationals 19-15 at Royal Melbourne on Sunday.

He did it with a brilliant five-under-par display in the 15 holes he needed to defeat Aaron Baddeley.

At Celtic Manor in October 2009, however, Woods was nine under in thrashing Francesco Molinari by the same 4&3 score.

He finished the Ryder Cup that week with three points out of four, but failed to win a tournament in 2010 and has still to end a barren spell that goes back 24 months.

In Australia he won only two of his five games and in the first of them suffered his worst-ever matchplay defeat, a 7&6 foursomes hammering at the hands of Adam Scott and KJ Choi.

Woods, now back outside the world’s top 50, will be hoping that a putting tip from Steve Stricker, his partner last Thursday, works for more than one day.

And International captain Greg Norman is hoping so as well.

“Tiger’s Tiger – he stepped up the plate,” Norman said.

“I said to him ‘You need golf as much as golf needs you’.

“Any player hates to see a great player struggle. We all know what it’s like to go through the ins and outs of the game.

“You want to see the player who dominated the game come back so that when you beat him you feel like you beat him at the top of his game.”

Woods, advised by Stricker to alter his ball position, said: “I played well all week, but unfortunately didn’t make any putts in the first four matches.

“Today (Sunday) was a different deal – they poured right in. It felt great.”

His delight was matched by captain Fred Couples, whose early choice of Woods as one of his two wildcards sparked a fierce debate in the sport.

Norman still believes USPGA champion Keegan Bradley would have been a better pick, but Couples has no doubts he did the right thing.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever felt vindicated in golf in 30 years, but I feel like I know what I’m doing,” he said.

“There’s a reason I picked Tiger early. He worked hard and when a guy says ‘Don’t worry about me’ you are going to smile.

“I got frustrated a bit (by the attacks on his selection) because I felt I was picking the greatest player I’ve ever seen play.

“He was the Tiger of old today and Aaron Baddeley said it was phenomenal.”

Woods will be next in action at the Chevron World Challenge in California on December 1-4. He lost a play-off to Graeme McDowell last year – after leading by four with a round to go.

Pride of place in America’s fourth successive victory went to Jim Furyk, who joined Mark O’Meara, Shigeki Maruyama and Woods two years ago as the only player to win a maximum five points.

Furyk beat Ernie Els 4&3, while Hunter Mahan defeated Jason Day 5&3 a year after his loss to McDowell as Europe won the Ryder Cup.