Frank Nobilo is at PGA National this weekend as a part of Golf Channel’s coverage of The Honda Classic. Watching Tiger on Saturday, Frank sees continual improvement in Tiger’s swing as well as the rhythm of his swing. A player’s rhythm goes through their entire game and it seems like Tiger is gaining more confidence in his swing and that confidence is extending to other aspects of his game.
Sean Foley told Todd Lewis earlier this week that he takes the blame for Tiger’s putting struggles because he is having Tiger make his putting stroke match the path of his full swing and as a result of those changes, we are also seeing changes in how Tiger has performed. But as the full swing changes go into effect, we should see the putting stroke changes go into effect as well.
As of today, Frank will know his Masters favorite at the end of today and if Rory McIlroy wins, his favorite will be Rory. It will be such a relief for Rory if he is able to become World #1 today and then he can focus on getting his game ready for The Masters. If he is unable to win today, Rory will be under more scrutiny than ever and those distractions may have a negative impact on Rory’s ability to prepare for The Masters.
The Florida Swing has become much tougher as the courses have adopted thicker rough and the courses by design have become more difficult. During these events, players have to dissect their games and figure how to play their best every week because there are no easy events and everyone goes from challenge to challenge as the Florida Swing moves from city to city.
He would take the field over Rory McIlroy in the final round because it is still close at the top of the leaderboard in the final round. You can certainly pick favorites in a final round but it does not mean that you can dismiss the rest of the field. There have been some amazing come from behind wins on the 2012 PGA TOUR but he is very optimistic about Rory because of the two shot lead and the way he is hitting the ball this week. A win this week and the ascension to World #1 will be a culmination of what we have all thought Rory was capable of for the last year.
