Will Tiger Win the Accenture Match Play Championship

[photoballmarker]

Tiger Woods is back and the PGA Tour and golf needed him back.

Two questions...

1. Will Tiger win his first match back and why?


2. Will he walk away with the Accenture Match Play Championship, if not, who will beat him and when?

Post your predictions here and we'll see what happens.

I'll go first, Tiger will win his first two matches and get beat in the Sweet 16 round. Bad news for the weekend ratings.

[jambalaya]

Never count him out but I wouldn't be surprised to see him struggle.

[PEZGolf]

Tiger Woods is back and the PGA Tour and golf needed him back.

I hope he does not run into Nick O'Hern who is 2-0 against Tiger in matches.

[Quinn07]

I think Tiger will take it. I say this because when he wants something he has a knack of doing it. With being away for so long I think he wants to put the nay sayers in their place.

If he does lose I think it will be in the semi's and only because he doesn't have his competitive golf endurance up yet.

[Puttin4Bird]

It's hard to predict how things will go, other than his first match I don't know who he has in his bracket just yet. Once that comes out (if it's out please tell me) we'll have a better idea of his 2nd and 3rd round opponents. I believe he'll do "ok" but don't think he'll have enough to win the whole thing, it's a pretty brutal event based on what the players and those close to the event say. I do hope that he at least makes the weekend matches for ratings sake.

Once I see a bracket I'll post an update with all my projections.

[bogeyhitter25]

Tiger said that he wasn't going to come back until he's ready to win a tournament. It'll be too easy.

[Golf_Predictor_Guru]

I think that he'll win his first few matches. However, as the week progresses, his stamina might let him down.

I wouldn't be surprised though if he steamrolled over everyone (again!).

[Lemay427]

Knowing how Tiger has played and prepared over the last 11 years, I bet his stamina will be better than before, his game will be as sharp if not sharper, and he will be prepared to win.

I think back to when Tiger first came on tour and bone head Curtis Strange asked Tiger about starting every tournament with the intention of winning (and assuming 2nd place being a failure) and Tiger simply responded "Yes". Strange says, "you'll learn" and chuckles. Tiger proved him wrong.

This guy was built for tournament golf.

[elchene]

I never count Tiger out, I think there is a very good possibility that he walks away with the tournament.

[MI Rob]

Honestly I don't think he will win his first tournament coming back. There are alot of good players who are going to give him a great competition.

[Uber$winG]

If he does win, then I vote for his immediate apotheosis.

[topspin4hand]

This will be one of the few occasions where Tiger is not *expected* to win. I can't think of that many tourneys in the recent past where he hasn't gone in as one of the top 2 favorites.

I think he'll win his 1st two matches (though I don't know who they're against).

[Franco!]

I'm not dumb enough to bet against him.
He'll win.

[Kevin04]

I love matchplay golf and the competition aspect and knockout phase of it.

I think this type of tournament might be too grueling for Tiger to come back to as his first tournaments as he might have to play 36holes in one day but it is Tiger so who knows, he could well go on and win it.

[sosinsurr]

I want him to win it all, but I don't think it'll happen...but I hope I'm wrong.

I think he'll at least make it to the semi's.

[colin007]

i hope he does. i have such a man-crush on him its not even funny...

[Three Putt]

No idea, Tiger will probably approach his return to golf as a major, 70% chance he's the winner is my guess.

[Chilli Dipper]

He has a much better chance beating six opponents head-to-head in his first tournament back from injury than finishing four rounds ahead of the rest of the field. Tiger can win, but I don't think he will win.