Florida Swing Special Report Tuesday 26 March Onward to Augusta

So that was the month that was. The Florida Swing chronicled in 22 blogs on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk and to date the series has been viewed more than 1170 times by people in over 50 countries across 6 continents. I would like to start the final blog of the Florida Swing Special Report by thanking each and every one of you that has read and hopefully enjoyed and been entertained or informed by the blogs, some took longer than others to write and some required a great deal of research. This year's Florida Swing produced two first time winners and two tournaments won by a player on a seemingly certain quest to become the most successful golfer ever on the PGA Tour, as ever the weather played its part and fields of varying strength and diversity created a series which has set the world of golf up for the first Major of the year – The Masters.

Following the first World Golf Championship of the year in Arizona the world's best made their way to the Sunshine State for The Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, all of the hype surrounded the World Number One Rory McIlroy and World Number Two Tiger Woods, but once again both flattered to deceive and were never in contention. McIlroy created a stir by withdrawing on the Friday citing wisdom tooth pain following a poor stretch of play which saw him floundering at seven-over-par, the withdrawal was discussed and debated for days after by the media and the Ulsterman received the most criticism he has received so far in his short career. With the Big Two out of the picture the spotlight fell on a few lesser-known members of the field in Luke Guthrie and Michael Thompson. Michael Thompson claimed a first PGA Tour win of his career and became the first American to win at PGA National since Mark Wilson in 2007, holding off and in some cases outplaying his much more illustrious peers on another demanding day in South Florida.

Anyone expecting Thompson would fold on championship Sunday at PGA National, and I was one, really only needs to look back to how the 27-year-old performed at the tricky test that was Olympic Club last summer in the US Open to see why it is no surprise he should triumph over a course in the conditions we had over the weekend. Michael Thompson showed little or no indication that the performance was around the corner given his form prior to The Honda, the first career PGA Tour win comes in his third season on the tour following a career which has included a modicum of success at amateur level including a runner-up finish in the 2007 US Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. His achievement over the Lake course was no flash in the pan, finishing second again over the iconic layout, this time at the 2012 US Open. His sole professional title prior to Sunday came at the 2010 Michelob Ultra Classic on the NGA Hooters Tour and coming into The Honda Classic had earned just 1 FedEx Cup point this season, hardly form to say that he was going to outplay the likes of Lee Westwood, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Two weeks later the PGA Tour assembled in the Tampa Bay area the Innisbrook Resort for the Tampa Bay Championship presented by EverBank, played over the gruelling test that was the Copperhead course. Once again the stars came out to play but they were outshone by a player determined to make a mark on the PGA Tour, Kevin Streelman played gutsy golf down the stretch to clinch his first career PGA Tour win holding off a charging Boo Weekly and defending champion Luke Donald. Early on Sunday during the final round of the Tampa Bay Championship 13 players were within 1 shot of the lead and 6 were tied for the lead but the demanding Copperhead course had its say once more as contender after contender failed to go low, apart from Boo Weekley, who came from nowhere to post a score of 8-under in the clubhouse some 3 hours ahead of the leaders reaching the 18^th hole. The likes of Donald and Garcia were expected to contend and the veteran Justin Leonard, but it was the winless Kevin Streelman who produced the goods down the stretch near Clearwater. A superb tee shot on the par three 13^th set up a birdie and another stunning birdie at the 17^th gave him an unlikely 2 shot lead going to the 72^nd and on the verge of his maiden title. When the pressure was on it was Streelman who showed up and he nailed his drive up the middle of the uphill 18^th hole to leave himself 132 yards in, and being able to post a five and still win enabled the North Carolina man to make a straightforward, no fuss par to take the title against the odds.

While Palm Beach Gardens and Tampa Bay crowned new princes of the game of golf Miami and Orlando paid homage to the King, the king is dead long live the king. No, not Arnold Palmer but the man who has transformed golf in the last twenty years with stunning achievement after stunning achievement, record after record and win after win until his world came crashing to earth in November 2009. Since that dramatic middle-of-the-night incident near his home in Isleworth Tiger Woods has been rebuilding his life and his game and in the last month has reached the light at the end of the tunnel, he has risen like a phoenix from the flames and he has returned to the place that many feel is rightfully his. Woods' win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational set and match numerous records but the significance of the win can be pinpointed to one consequence – the win took him back to World Number One, the achievement which can be most closely related to the career of Tiger Woods after his Major Championship wins. 

October 31, 2010 was the day on which the failure of Martin Kaymer to win the Andalucia Masters enabled England's Lee Westwood to take the mantle of the World Number One thus ending the incredible 281-week domination of Tiger Woods as the world's leading golfer. In the last 29 months Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy have each held the Number One spot, in the same period Woods fell to his second-lowest ever World Ranking of 58 and many doubted if he would ever return to the summit of the game. 6 wins in his last 20 PGA Tour starts, a 30% win rate, has seen him reach Number One for the 11^th time in his career matching the achievement of Greg Norman and making him outstanding favourite to win The Masters and end a 5-year drought in the Majors. Two weeks ago Woods won at Doral to edge closer to McIlroy at the top. With a Sunday 71 Tiger Woods became the first multiple winner of the 2013 season, won a 17^th World Golf Championship and claimed his 89^th worldwide career official win by 2 shots from Steve Stricker. 100 putts for 72 holes is a career low for the World Number Two and it was very much the definitive characteristic shown by Woods throughout the week, making it very difficult for the chasing pack to make up much ground on the final day as he put together a front nine 34 to stamp his authority on a championship he has now won a sensational seven times. His game was controlled and calm, much like the US Open at Oakmont as I referenced earlier in the week and he made very few mistakes all week, allied to an incredible 27 birdies, the last of which came at the 10^th hole on Sunday. “I played well” Woods said at the presentation, he thanked Steve Stricker for the “putting lesson” prior to the start of the tournament on Thursday, the pupil clearly took notice of what the instructor said and preceded to put on a clinic on greens which will be dug up next week as the renovation of the Blue Monster begins.

This was as dominant as Tiger has been in any tournament since 2009 winning wire-to-wire and having the least putts and most birdies, an almost unbeatable combination in one of the world's premier championships with every great player on the planet present. The wins at Bay Hill, Muirfield and Congressional were good, but this was very good bordering on great as far as a performance in a massive event goes, but even though he was utterly dominant it was oh so nearly very different. He bogeyed the 16^th and then after laying up on the 18^th his approach narrowly avoided going into the water, if it had have done he could quite easily have ended up getting into a fine mess and falling into a play-off with Stricker. And then at Bay Hill, in a different fashion, Woods won for the third time this year and 77^th time on the PGA Tour to ascend to the top of the game once more. Rounds of 69 and 70 put him into contention but it was his Saturday 66 including an eagle three at the par-five 16^th that saw Woods take control of a tournament he has won a now record-equalling 8 times, matching the achievement of Sam Snead at the Greater Greensboro Open. During the final round there was the odd stumble and a late charge on the back nine saw Rickie Fowler get to within two of Tiger but a triple-bogey 8 on the 16^th ended his challenge and saw Justin Rose slip into second place, taking the Englishman to a career high of World Number Three.

A birdie at the 16^th a par at 17 and bogey at 18 saw Tiger over the line by 2 shots from Rose and put him at the top looking down once more on the world, the question is will he end his Major drought at Augusta?

Next week Rory McIlroy gets the chance to respond and re-claim the number one ranking at the Shell Houston Open but there can be little argument that Woods deserves his tag as favourite despite the lack of a Major title since the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Of course being a Major Championship it is never ever a one-horse race and the likes of Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Brandt Snedeker, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley will all be joining Woods with ambitions of taking the green jacket off Bubba Watson on Sunday evening.

The Masters on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk will bring you a unique build-up to the first major of the year and update you on the events in the 77^th Masters Tournament starting next Monday April 1, 2013.

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