PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — It is almost as if those five wins Tiger Woods posted in 2013 — double a successful career’s worth for most PGA Tour players — occurred in 2003.
As he prepares for Thursday’s 7:35 a.m. Honda Classic opening-round tee time off the 10th tee at PGA National with playing partners Keegan Bradley and Zach Johnson, much of the talk surrounding Woods is centered around what’s wrong with his game.
Woods has played only twice this year and the results have been spotty at best — a tie for 41st at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and a tie for 80th at the Farmer’s Insurance Open last month at Torrey Pines that included an eye-opening third-round 79.
After Woods’ 79, Jhonattan Vegas, his third-round playing partner, said: “I’ve never seen him play like that.”
CBS commentator Nick Faldo said Woods looked “very rusty” after a six-week break. Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said Woods’ swing appeared so short it looked like that “of a 55-year-old man.”
Woods’ performances in those two events have raised questions about whether he has had enough reps as he heads into this Florida swing that leads into the Masters.
Woods, though, walks to his own beat and sets his schedule the way he sees fit and did not sound alarmed by his poor start while speaking to reporters Wednesday after his pro-am practice round, during which he spent a lot of time consulting with his swing coach, Sean Foley.
“I was pleasantly surprised how well I was hitting it today,’’ Woods said.
Asked about the work he has been doing with Foley, Woods said: “He’s just doing a lot of video, and he’s looking at it. I’m not really looking at it. I know what I need to do and the feels that are associated with certain parts of the video, and I’m just focused on that. He focuses on a more technical level of it.’’
This week, along with next week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in three weeks in Orlando, are key tune-up events for Woods’ pursuit of a fifth Masters green jacket in April as he chases his first major championship victory since June 2008.
“Once we get to Florida, I think we’re all thinking about our way to Augusta,’’ Woods said. “Some guys usually start at Doral, some guys start here, but once we get to Florida, now most of the guys are getting pretty serious about their prep to Augusta.
“This week … you can understand now with the field the way it is, the quality and the depth of the field has gotten so much better over the years, plus I think a lot of the guys have moved down here, as well, and they’re playing the event.’’
One of those locals is McIlroy, whose win at the 2012 Honda Classic elevated him to No. 1 in the world and who walked off the course in frustration in the middle of his second round last year.
Reigning British Open champion Phil Mickelson is playing this event for the first time since 2002. So, too, is defending Masters champion Adam Scott.
This is, by far, the strongest field of the PGA Tour season to date, and it has the ingredients to be quite a show before Sunday’s final round is finished.
The question is whether Woods will be the star of that show, because he has, in his first two tournaments, simply not looked in rhythm.
Ian Baker-Finch, the CBS commentator, recently told Reuters he believes Woods has “issues with his swing,’’ adding, “He keeps blaming his putting, but it’s not his putting, it is his swing.
“He doesn’t look in sync to me,’’ Baker-Finch said. “It’s obvious something is not right. He might go win Bay Hill by 10 shots again and two or three others on courses where he feels comfortable, but there was a time a decade or so ago when he was top-three every time he played.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s still capable of being No. 1 in the world for another five years, but it’s not the same Tiger we saw from 1999 to 2007.”