Maybe Tiger Didn't Do So Bad After All

Perhaps conditions at Torrey Pines weren't that easy for anybody this week.

After all, World Number 1 Jason Day shot +3 and missed the cut. World Number 3 Dustin Johnson shot +2 and missed the cut. Jimmy Walker, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and last week's winner Hudson Swafford all missed the cut.

None of them have had three back surgeries, and they've all been playing in tournaments for the last 17 months.



Perhaps we should note that, although it's Tiger's first missed cut at Torrey, he improved in almost every category on Friday.

• He hit 10 of 14 fairways (way up from the 4 on Thursday),
• 11 of 18 GIR (vs 9 on Thursday),
• made 14 pars instead of 9,
• 2 bogeys instead of 5,
• no doubles instead of 1,
• was over 15 yards longer off the tee,
• scrambled better (5/7 rather than 4/9, if I remember correctly)
• and took a couple less putts.

He shot even par on Friday, which only a third of the field could beat.

I'm not saying everything is sunshine and roses in Tiger's camp. He himself said that he doesn't know how his back will hold up when he flies to next week's event.

But I look at where he's been over the last 17 months -- we forget he had trouble walking a mere 12 months ago -- and I see a lot to be optimistic about. Even Brandel Chamblee said some encouraging words Friday, which either means: 

1. Tiger is making some serious progress or
2. the apocalypse is upon us. (In which case, you should drop, cover and kiss your a** goodbye.)

All I'm saying is that perhaps it's time to cut Tiger a little slack and stop acting so surprised that he's human. Let's see how he's doing in April before we sound the alarms.

The photo came from Golfweek's Tiger Tracker page.