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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – JUNE 17: Tiger Woods of the United States hits his tee shot on the eighth hole during the final round of the 112th U.S. Open at The Olympic Club on June 17, 2012 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images).
After winning the memorial tournament, a week before the US open, with a sensational 50 foot birdie chip on the 16th hole, many believed Tiger woods had peaked at the right time before the start of US open. This came after a 30 month title drought in the PGA tour. His form leading up to the memorial wasn’t great either – finishing 40th at the Masters and Players Championships and missing the cut in Wells Fargo.
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When Tiger shared the lead after 36 holes, few would have bet against him winning his 15th Major title. After all his record is impeccable and he was leading 8-1. On the previous nine occasions when he was in the lead after 54 holes, he was #1 in accuracy off the tee, and #3 in hitting greens in regulation. So what went wrong last weekend?
Tiger shot a 75-73 to finish T-21 which he would like to forget quickly. He had a bad start in both rounds 3 and 4. He started with four over in the first 8 holes on Saturday and 6 over in the 1st 7 holes on Sunday. Even though he recovered later, the bad starts hurt him in the final run-up to the title. Critics will say that he is anxious to break his Major drought. The pressure to catch up with Jack Nicklaus record is forcing him to try too hard. Others argue that things have changed since he had last won a Major. He is a father and a single parent which is weighing him down heavily.
Tiger may not be the dominant force he once was, but he claims he has got his swing back and he feels good about his game. Whether it translates to Major wins in the near future remains to be seen. At 36, he has age on his side. Jack Nicklaus had won his last major when he was 46. If Tiger shows the promise and consistency he did in the first two rounds at the Olympic club, he should be very close to winning his 15th Major.
