Being face to face with a Tiger

After all that has been written and spoken the last 12 months about Tiger Woods. Tiger proved at Pebble that he is a shadow of his former self in a stroke play event. The last day was just too much for him, trying to play against 3 or 4 opponents was hard.

But this week Tiger will only have to play one person at a time, something very different from a stroke play tournament. Tigers first three rounds at the AT&T were pretty flawless, but this I believe was because he only had one opponent, the golf course. And the last day he felt he was playing 3 or 4 (Mickelson, Wi and a few others).

Yesterday Gonzo (Fedez Castano) started really well against Tiger, and arguably should have won.

But I believe the combination of two things made the turnaround possible. Firstly playing head to head with Tiger is difficult, you can't hide in the pack. One on one is going to be very intimidating still. Secondly and more importantly Tiger is only playing against you, he is focused totally on the task of beating you. This sounds a very scary proposition , even though he has lost a huge chunk of his aura around him.

Strangely, both Tiger and Gonzo have won a tournament they have organised in the last 12 months.

Yesterday, he came back to win. Yesterday he beat the only person in front of him. Today he has one man to beat too, Nick Watney is that man. Another man for Tiger to sink his teeth into!