Tiger’s Putting Problem

Tiger Woods (McAlpine)

GOOD (OR GREAT) PUTTING TYPICALLY WINS majors. Mediocre or poor putting, even when other parts of the game are strong, doesn’t get the job done. This, to me, is the main reason Tiger Woods hasn’t won a major since June of 2008. He has been in contention many times.

An article on Monday pointed to this fact, or at least highlighted Tiger’s difficulty with the flatstick this season. From Reuters:

The cold black-and-white of certain key statistics underlines the perplexing nature of Woods’ 2012 PGA Tour campaign.

On the plus side, he leads the money list with earnings of $4,989,158 and, perhaps most crucially of all, he tops the scoring averages with 69.02.

However, with the putter, he lies only 41st in strokes gained -- his performance relative to the rest of the tournament field. With putts between five and 10 feet, he languishes 79th in the PGA Tour charts and, from between 10 and 15 feet, he lies a staggering 145th.

It must be frustrating for Tiger: first in wins, first in money, and first in stroke average, but no majors. (Although I expect Tiger would call it progress, which, to be fair, it is compared to recent seasons.)

As Reuters said, “He just needs to get that putter, once a lethal weapon for him, firmly back on his side.”

And for four rounds. In the same week.