{"id":10757,"date":"2010-08-27T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/?p=10757"},"modified":"2010-08-27T14:16:43","modified_gmt":"2010-08-27T18:16:43","slug":"tiger_will_own_2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/thrash_talk\/tiger_will_own_2011","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Will Own 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ThrashI’m glad to hear that it’s “okay to root for Tiger Woods again<\/a>” because, if nothing else, it signals a return to stories about Tiger being about golf<\/em> and not about his marriage, his kids, his infidelity, his temper tantrums on the course, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don’t really care about.<\/p>\n

We recently asked people in the forum to predict Tiger’s 2011<\/a> season, and as I write this 25% of people think Tiger will continue his major-less streak in 2011. 43% think he’ll win a lone major, and 23% think he’ll win two or more. In regular PGA Tour events, only 9% think he’ll go winless, while 40% think he’ll win one to three and another 25% think he’ll win four or more.<\/p>\n

My votes? I picked two majors and 4-6 regular PGA Tour wins, and here’s why. In 2011, Tiger Woods will have the emotional wreckage of his broken infidelity and subsequent divorce behind him, he’ll have incorporated enough of new instructor Sean Foley’s methods to get his swing back, and he’ll be eager to prove that he can still be dominant. Let’s look at each of these.
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\nThe Past Will be The Past<\/strong>
\nWhen Tiger Woods talked on Wednesday about his divorce from Elin Nordegren only two days prior, the weight of the white elephant that had been sitting on Tiger’s shoulders was lifted. Many said Tiger even appeared to be a new man during his press conference two days ago at the first “playoff” event in this year’s FedExCup at the Barclay’s.<\/p>\n

\"Tiger<\/p>\n

I’ve never tried to play golf or even do my job while suffering from 1\/10th of the turmoil that Tiger Woods underwent in 2010. I’ve seen others go through even amicable divorces, and to say their work, mood, and energy level is understating things to an extreme. Divorces – without all of the sordid affairs and the investigation of a doctor – have a long history of ruining the years and sometimes even careers of players on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

2011 is still four months away, and the first major is over seven<\/em> months away. For Tiger, another seven months of healing will do a lot<\/em> to improve Tiger’s attitude, ability to focus, energy levels, and dedication levels.<\/p>\n

Sean Foley’s Changes Will Kick In<\/strong>
\nTiger Woods is an exceptional athlete and a skilled golfer. My proof is a bit of a back-handed compliment – he won as often as he did with the swing he was making under Hank Haney’s instruction.<\/p>\n

Sean Foley’s instruction, which is based largely on the method developed by Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, is just the medicine Tiger needs. He’ll take his hands in instead of out, he’ll keep his head from drifting off the ball with a steeper shoulder plane (more tilting and extending during the backswing), and he’ll – hopefully – continue to push his hip forward on the downswing.<\/p>\n