How Many Tournaments will Tiger win in 2012?

[mvmac]

After his first 2 events of 2012, Tiger finished T3 in Dubai two weeks ago and T15 today at Pebble.  In the hunt at the beginning of both final rounds but came up short twice.  Is this a sign that he's close or that he's getting into contention in spite of still struggling with his swing?  Tiger's last regular season win was at the BMW Championship in '09.

So what do you guys think, how many wins does Tiger get this year?

[michaeljames92]

3 regular season wins. I'm going for no majors. As much as I'd love to see him win all 4 this year, I just think he won't for some reason. A few years ago he could hit it everywhere and still win tournaments. Now he is apparently hitting it less wildly yet he still is blowing up good positions in tournaments, something which he never did.

[shades9323]

I know I am really going out on a limb here, but he will win at least 1 tournament over the course of 2012.

[Dave H]

I voted for 1-2. If Tiger continues to be in contention going into Sundays a win is likely to happen at some point.

[mvmac]

And I'm thinking he'll win twice this year but no majors.  I think he'll get his putting in order, more of a speed issue than a stroke.  Long ways to go still imo with his ball striking to win a major, best chance would be at Augusta

[Zwick]

I go with 4 (including 1 major). As soon as he wins the first one (Doral), the other wins will follow.

[AmazingWhacker]

3 regular wins and 1 major is my prediction.

It's kind of a crazy thing to predict, tho, as I can honestly imagine him winning 6 events and 2 majors this year . . or maybe nothing.  I am very interested to see how he does at The Masters this year.

[jamo]

I said 3-4. No particular reason, other than the fact that I think if he wins one, more will follow.

[newtogolf]

I'm not a swing expert or teacher, heck I can barely play the game but all this talk of Tiger being done and unable to win any longer is way too premature.  Tiger totally changed his swing under Foley and now he's suffering from what Hogan worked most of his career on, to develop a swing he can trust under pressure.  Give Tiger some real practice time while he's healthy to work with his new swing and gain the confidence he needs to trust it on the final day of a tournament.  He'll win 1-2 this year but I think he'll dominate again in 2013 if he can stay healthy and avoid and personal life setbacks.  The swing works, he's making cuts and he's been in the Top 10 last few tournaments up until the final day.

[GaijinGolfer]

Zero.  Tiger is done.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

Zero.  Tiger is done.

Last four tournaments...

15th at AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro Am........... 68/68/67/ 75

3rd Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship................. 70/69/66/ 72

1st at Chevron World Challenge.............................. 69/67/ 73 /69

4th at Australian Masters....................................... 68/67/ 75 /67

I believe he is far from done.  He simply needs to put together 72 holes of tournament golf, and he will start winning again.

[k-troop]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Last four tournaments...

15th at AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro Am........... 68/68/67/75

3rd Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship................. 70/69/66/72

1st at Chevron World Challenge.............................. 69/67/73/69

4th at Australian Masters....................................... 68/67/75/67

I believe he is far from done.  He simply needs to put together 72 holes of tournament golf, and he will start winning again.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but you've basically just described what every aspiring tour star has to do.  Hell, all I have to do is put together 18 good holes and I'll start shooting under par consistently, and then who knows?

I think Tiger will win again, but his inability to close has me seriously questioning his Tiger-ness.  Every since the YE Yang PGA Championship, Tiger just can't seem to close anymore.  Whenever he got within a few shots of the lead, his game always seemed to kick into another gear.  Now he folds.

Based on his ballstriking through 54 holes, I think his swing is "back" in that he's clearly capable of winning with it.  Based on his performance on Sunday--from tee to green--I just don't think he has that roar in him anymore.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by k-troop

Just playing devil's advocate here, but you've basically just described what every aspiring tour star has to do.  Hell, all I have to do is put together 18 good holes and I'll start shooting under par consistently, and then who knows?

I think Tiger will win again, but his inability to close has me seriously questioning his Tiger-ness.  Every since the YE Yang PGA Championship, Tiger just can't seem to close anymore.  Whenever he got within a few shots of the lead, his game always seemed to kick into another gear.  Now he folds.

Based on his ballstriking through 54 holes, I think his swing is "back" in that he's clearly capable of winning with it.  Based on his performance on Sunday--from tee to green--I just don't think he has that roar in him anymore.

I agree that he has lost some of the 'Tiger-ness'.  But he also is playing solid golf.  Forget about his past... Look at him as a new golfer who is trying to prove he belongs and can win again on tour.  That is the way I look at Tiger now... And I think he is playing quite well considering he hasn't played much tournament golf.  4 tournaments since last November - not including the Presidents Cup.

And people look at his round yesterday and think he is finished... And I just chuckle.  Look guys... He's gone on record and said that he didn't like the greens at Pebble in the past... That was one of the reasons he stopped playing Pebble year after year due to the poa greens and how they were bumpy in the afternoons.  I was actually surprised to see he even picked Pebble and not Torrey Pines as his debut for 2012 on the PGA Tour... But after hearing he may have received up to $3M in appearance money to play at the HSBC in Abu Dhabi - it makes more sense.  He had to pick a tournament to kick off 2012 and Pebble was it.  I think it was more of a surprise for me that Charlie Wi didn't win the tournament - more so than the fact that Tiger had a bad putting day.

[Kieran123]

3-4.

[k-troop]

I think we're arguing the same point.  That's how I look at Tiger now:  as someone who deserves to be on tour, but not someone who is likely to win four or five events a year.  Heck, Luke Donald is #1 in the World, and if we posted this same poll about Luke folks would probably come out in the 1-2 wins category.

Tiger is an emerging star, looking to make a breakthrough.  He's Rickie Fowler:  we all expect many wins, just as soon as he gets that first one under his belt.  But every week, every time he fails to close, it gets harder and harder to picture him winning five events and multiple majors, which would have been an average year when he was "Tiger."  (For those who would nit-pick stats, he averaged 1.3ish majors from 1997-2008, which is more than 1.)

[tasker]

I said zero -simply because he does not have his putting ability anymore.  There are brilliant ball strikers on tour and most can put together 3 good enough rounds.  But good putters win tournaments.  I understand that his swing was a work in progress, but I am totally confused what happened to his putting. How can he win by putting like an average  player, except maybe for luck?

[mvmac]

Johnny Miller made sure to get his vote in

Quote:

“Tiger’s the greatest Sunday pressure player ever,” Miller said. “I think he’ll win three of four times in 2012 and have a second career that will match [Phil Mickelson’s] career, which is amazing.

“Phil’s won almost 40 times with four majors—I think Tiger will win four more majors and 30 or 40 more tournaments, which is fantastic,” Miller continued. “But for him to win five and surpass Jack? There’s a great chance he’ll win four and tie with Jack, but I don’t think he’ll get the fifth.”

[Zeph]

I'm going with 1-2. He can win at any time now, but there are still elements in his game and swing that prevents him from winning. Winning a couple of times is possible, but with his small amount of starts each year, he will need a bit more consistency. If he gets there soon, he can win 3-4 events.