Tiger -- 74 at Augusta?

[tdiii]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/report--tiger-woods-struggled-to-74-in-augusta-national-practice-round-015130289-golf.html

Quote:

Woods shot 2-over 74 in his Tuesday round, according to a Golfweek report citing a source familiar with Woods' round. The 14-time major winner, with caddie Joe LaCava on the bag, played with two Augusta National members, making five birdies but hitting several "indifferent" chip shots.

The four-time Masters winner is not required to tell club officials of his plans and does not have to appear at the tournament until just before his to-be-assigned Thursday tee time.

[jbishop15]

I dont think they usually keep all that rigours of scores for practice rounds. Usually a practice round is about setting up a game plan less than it is a straight-up round. I'm a little skeptical of this.

[Gunther]

He still moves the needle. It's pretty amazing how many threads just here are dedicated to him. Guess that'll continue til he announces his retirement in a couple months. But then he'll be back next season trying again. Alas... Go Rory, go Justin, go PReed. I'm ready to move on. Come join me, golf is good right now.

[Abu3baid]

I dont think they usually keep all that rigours of scores for practice rounds. Usually a practice round is about setting up a game plan less than it is a straight-up round. I'm a little skeptical of this.

Fine, so he didn't keep score the way he kept score in his 66 worst ball round. The more important comment is about the "indifferent" chip shots.. Now that should be concerning since it is a major question mark that hasn't been answered yet.

[Shorty]

I dont think they usually keep all that rigours of scores for practice rounds. Usually a practice round is about setting up a game plan less than it is a straight-up round. I'm a little skeptical of this.

Scratching my head over what I've highlighted.

Practice rounds are not about setting up a "game plan". They are about putting to known hole positions, and, basically practising certain shots.

The "indifferent chips" comment is clearly designed to gain attention and should be ignored.

If there were issues they would have been very specific about errors he made.

[tiger19]

If he shot a 74, he has to be out there. Nothing wrong with a 74.

[Grinde6]

Scratching my head over what I've highlighted.

Practice rounds are not about setting up a "game plan". They are about putting to known hole positions, and, basically practising certain shots.

The "indifferent chips" comment is clearly designed to gain attention and should be ignored.

If there were issues they would have been very specific about errors he made.

Practice rounds ARE about setting up a "game plan" and you said it yourself in your next sentence.  If you are putting to known locations from different sides of the hole, you are setting up a game plan to where you want your approach shot to be.  If one side of the hole is a big breaker or another is lightning fast, you obviously don't want to be on those sides of the hole, that's a game plan...and practicing certain shots on different holes is also a game plan...laying up to certain yardages, missing the green to a certain side, is all practicing shots and is all setting up a "game plan"...

[tiger19]

Well supposedly he is playing another round today, and theb will make his decision. I just can't believe shooting a 74 keeps him from playing. A 84 maybe , even though I still think he should play . But 74 , get out there TW .

[Ferguson]

He still moves the needle. It's pretty amazing how many threads just here are dedicated to him. Guess that'll continue til he announces his retirement in a couple months. But then he'll be back next season trying again. Alas... Go Rory, go Justin, go PReed. I'm ready to move on. Come join me, golf is good right now.

Move on? Retire? No, no, no. El Tigre has some fuel in the tank. One must hit rock bottom before making any recovery. A guy like The Tiger doesn't quit when he's so close. He just needs to pick a direction with his current body and go.

[ChrisP]

He had 5 birdies, which means he was a mess on many of those other 13 holes. And in a practice round with no pressure on you, that's not a good sign. I said the other day and I hold to it, i think if he was confident and comfortable after his round, he'd have announced pretty quickly he's playing. Something is definitely concerning him, and it might be his chipping if the reports are correct he still had problems around the greens around Augusta. No doubt Tiger wants to play, but I think he doesn't want to go out there and look like an ass with his short game again like he did the last couple tournaments. And I'm sure he's frantically trying to figure that part of his game out in so short a time.

[tiger19]

As I have said numerous times, if he is healthy , how the the heck doesn't he play? He shot a 74 and he is rusty. He is obviously not far off. Put it this way , he is close enough where if he plays something can click at anytime. He might not play. If he doesn't after shooting a 74 , I will he shaking my head.

[jbishop15]

Scratching my head over what I've highlighted.

Practice rounds are not about setting up a "game plan". They are about putting to known hole positions, and, basically practising certain shots.

The "indifferent chips" comment is clearly designed to gain attention and should be ignored.

If there were issues they would have been very specific about errors he made.

I mean, if you want to quibble over the semantics of "game plan", I'm all for it. But you basically just said what I described.

[Patch]

He's going to play. Only two questions remain. How many rounds/holes will he complete, and if he does complete 72 holes, how competitive was his play against the rest of the field. I am thinking that 74 doesn't mean that much to him, if he was just tinkering with his game for that course.

Of course if any part of his game is suspect, he may finish, but I don't think he can pull off a win.  My guess is that Woody will need to be some where around -8 after Saturday to be in the mix for Sunday. I have a bet that -12 will be the inning score.

[tiger19]

-12 is a better score then what traditionally win, which is -8. The weather also looks suspect for the weekend. I am thinking more -6 may win it. once TW says he's playing, I will take a breath and start thinking about the tourney opposed to Tiger.

[ChrisP]

If forecast holds up, the weather next week looks pretty ideal. There's a couple days with 30% rain chances, but that's not a washout kinda forecast. Winds pretty light. So if that holds up, you should see a winning score around 10-under like we have the last few years.

[Patch]

-12 is a better score then what traditionally win, which is -8. The weather also looks suspect for the weekend. I am thinking more -6 may win it. once TW says he's playing, I will take a breath and start thinking about the tourney opposed to Tiger.

-12 is doable, and had much higher pay back for the bet I made. I think the past 7 masters has averaged something like -10 or -11 I think. I might be wrong.