Tiger Woods - Can 2007 Match 2006?

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Tiger Woods - Can 2007 Match 2006?
December 26, 2006

The pundits put it all in context with their comments after Tiger Woods took home yet another title the recent Target World Challenge.

"One last birdie putt he didn't need. One final victory that didn't count."

How fitting.

Tiger wrapped up what might have been his best season ever when his final round 66 helped him cruise to a four shot victory over another limited field, although many competitors were amongst the best the world has to offer. For Woods, it was his third victory in eight years at the Target event. Tiger promptly donated the $1.35 million prize to charity, his own Tiger Woods Learning Center.

After his father and trusted confidante, Earl Woods, passed away in May after a long and difficult battle with cancer, Woods had one of his lowest moments of his life and his golfing career. The loss of his dad was so traumatic that Woods missed the cut at the U.S. Open, his first ever missed cut in a major. But once he put the emotion behind him, Woods went on one the greatest runs in modern golf.

From that point on, Woods won the year's final two majors and at one point amassed wins at six consecutive PGA Tour events. Even more amazing, Woods never finished worse than second in a stroke play event for the rest of the 2006 season.

Moreover, the Target World Challenge represented his 11th overall title of the year. What may even be more amazing is that Woods skipped the final five events on Tour in 2006, including the Tour Championship, yet still won eight times in official events. That matched his win total for 1999 and represented one less than his own standard of nine titles in 2000.

It will be fun to see what the red hot Woods will do in 2007. Given his strong finish in 2005 on top of his sterling 2006, many see him once again as the unequivocal favorite at every PGA event. So hot is Woods that even Golf magazine is picking 2007 as the year that he manages the single season grand slam, winning all four majors in the same year.

However, his 2005 total of six wins means his last two seasons of 14 wins still trails that 1999-2000 stretch of 17 titles. Yet that is exactly why 2007 looms so tantalizingly before golf fans. So the question remains, will he continue his run and top even his 1999-2000 run, or will he slow his torrid pace as he did after that amazing stretch? After all, the last PGA Tour event Woods entered that he did not win goes all the way back to the Western Open in early July.

Perhaps to add some suspense, Woods still has not indicated his exact schedule for 2007. Will he start at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii in early January? Or will he wait for one of those tournaments associated with his name, the Buick Invitational?

Whenever he does decide to tee it up, he will put his six tournament win streak on the line. But for amny, the real excitement will not come until April with the first of the majors, The Masters. Only then will we begin to see whether Woods can put that final indelible stamp on his resume, that of the golf grand slam. That honestly seems like the only question left about Woods, as he seems destined to earn all of the all time victory records before he hangs it up.

Yes, everyone will have their eyes on Woods in 2007, to see what this guy can do for an encore.

10:30 AM