Tiger Woods Chipping Woes Continue at the Farmers Insurance Open

Tiger Woods continues to struggle around the greens. (Among other places on the course.) Coming off of his worst round ever, an 82 during the second round of the Phoenix Open, Tiger is hoping that he’ll be able to play through his struggles and turn his game around. However, on his first hole of the day at the Farmers Insurance Open, the par-4 10th, he hit the dreadful shot above.

On Wednesday Tiger was seen getting advice from Billy Horschel on his short-game, something that has always seemed to come naturally. While it’s brutal to watch a man go through injuries and a swing change and lose all confidence in something that he’s always done so well, I am still very hesitant to say that Tiger is done. Golf is finicky and Tiger’s best round could still be ahead of him.

Just two years removed from winning the Player of the Year award, Tiger still has plenty of time to find his form again. From there, his confidence around and on the greens should follow.

Phil Mickelson agrees:

“I think that Tiger’s going to have the last laugh,” said Mickelson. “I think that his, his short game, historically, is one of the best of all time. I think his golf game is probably the best of all time.

“I don’t think he’s going to have any problems, I really don’t. I think we all, myself included, have had stretches where we feel a little uncomfortable, we don’t hit it solid, and usually it’s just a small tweak. Because it’s such a short swing that it’s not a hard thing to fix. I just don’t see that lasting more than a week or two.”

It’s too early to tell if his struggles have carried over from last year, but eventually I expect him to find his form around the green well enough to give himself a shot down the road at another major.

Remember, Tom Watson almost won the Open Championship at the age of 59. With golf, nothing is impossible. Tiger may fall off a cliff or he may turn it around and win something big this year. Who knows? I just hope he finds his form again because watching this is just sad.

Tiger did hole out on his second chip of the day to save par on the 11th, but he is still 1-over through his first 9 holes. (You can ignore the “he’s back” comments from Faldo and company.) And notice how gingerly Tiger squats down to pick his ball up. His back could still be an issue.