Moving Day at Augusta: Tiger Better Get Goin'

Filed in archive Golf News on April 12, 2008

Courtesy: AP

If Tiger Woods is a master of the pressure situation, then he must really be reaching deep for inner strength now.

What's at stake is not just another Green Jacket but Woods' avowed aim of winning the modern Grand Slam in one calendar year.

In two days around Augusta National, Woods has managed to get to 1 under par.



Certainly, his modest score is not the result of lack of effort - anything but. However, what seemed to have come easily in previous tournaments this season has been a struggle this week at Augusta.

Woods' usually impeccable short game has been sorely lacking; his putting touch on the Masters greens has likewise not been there.

When he has missed, he has missed by mere inches. But when Tiger is completely dialed in during a golf tournament, the inches disappear along with the misses.

So he's not firing on all cylinders. And perhaps he is putting too much pressure on himself to win this thing and keep that Grand Slam dream alive. Maybe he's taking just a little peak down the road in his mind.

Still, today is Moving Day at Augusta and Tiger's got a lot of moving to do. Like a pro team fighting to make the playoffs, Woods needs to see those ahead of him start to stumble and collapse.

In other words, he's going to need the misfortune of others to help him keep his dream alive while he has to start rolling in some birdies and avoid the bogeys.

That's a mighty tall order. Especially at Augusta National.