Steve Williams walked off the last green at Doral on Wednesday morning and nodded in quiet approval.
“Better,” he said softly.
He was referring to the play of his boss, the formerly undisputed heavyweight champion of golf, who is mired in the worst slump of his career.
Williams isn’t one to sugar coat.
He was expecting Woods to bounce back from the personal upheavals of last year, and he freely acknowledges what has been blatantly obvious to the rest of us: that so far this season has been “a disappointment.”
His man limped home at Torrey Pines, kept finding water in the Dubai desert and got bounced from the Accenture Match Play in Tucson by, of all people, Thomas Bjorn.
Three at-bats. Three strikeouts.
So, Wednesday was better.
But better than what?
Tiger Woods played nine holes at the Blue Monster on Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for this week’s Cadillac Championship, which will be his 19th tournament since he last won, at the JB Were Australian Masters in 2009.
The longer the drought, now into its 17th month, lasts, the more his confidence is dented, the more pertinent the following question: What makes this week any different, Tiger?
Those around Woods believe he will return to the winner's circle soon.
His coach, Sean Foley, says that “just by accident,” Woods is good enough to win majors.
I don’t doubt it, because I’ve seen him win a major on willpower alone, the 2008 U.S. Open.
But others, including Johnny Miller, aren’t so sure.
Miller two weeks ago likened Woods’ fall from grace to that of Mike Tyson. It was a tad over the top, but Miller’s not alone in thinking that Woods is done.
Woods heard the analogy.
He’s never been a fan of Miller’s, anyway.
“I don’t think I’m as big as he is,” Woods said Wednesday, referring to Tyson.
“That’s Johnny being Johnny.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and he has his, which is a lot.”
Woods preferred to focus on the kind words uttered by Jack Nicklaus last week. Nicklaus said he thought Woods would still overtake his record of 18 major championships.
“It’s nice to have Jack say that,” he said.
“That’s something that is very humbling. I respect the heck out of Jack and what he’s done and the person he is. And for him to still believe that I can play top-notch golf, it certainly is a confidence-booster.”
Woods also noted that when Nicklaus went winless in 1979, he didn’t remain on the canvas for long.
“He turned it around and in 1980 he did pretty good; (won) a couple majors,” he said.
But can Woods lift himself off the canvas?
He’s in desperate need of, above all else, confidence.
“Well, obviously, it is about confidence, yes,” he said.
“But it’s also motor patterns, because I revert back to (old) motor patterns.”
Perhaps it’s more comforting to believe that his problems stem from not yet being fully comfortable with Foley’s swing ideas.
“I know what I can do, so just a matter of doing it,” he said.
It’s not that simple, though, and he knows it.
It’s worth noting that in 2009, when Woods came back from major knee surgery, he was less than stellar at the Match Play and at Doral. There were doubters then too.
Woods hit the ball no better at Bay Hill that year, but got up and down like a magician, sank every putt, and his dramatic one-shot victory over Sean O’Hair triggered a six-win season.
Winning breeds winning, and it can again for Woods.
But if he is going to struggle with his long game as he’s been doing, he’s going to have to find a way to score.
And since overhauling his short-game technique — which, he said on Wednesday, included the way he released his putter — he’s been woeful around the greens.
I asked him why he would change the fundamentals of a short game that’s been the envy of his peers for years?
Why go from the best in the world to a player essentially learning how to chip?
“You want to have the same type of swing with the putter all the way up to the driver,” he explained.
“It’s the same motion, just smaller, and the pitch shot is the same.
“So the best way to change (the full swing) is actually to work on the short game.”
It’s a view that’s certainly controversial.
He’s sacrificing a lot now in the hope he’ll be better later.
But this much hasn’t changed about Woods: For better or worse, he’s going to do it his way.
