Tiger's game: It ain't broke and don't need to be fixed

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Tiger Woods hit just 6 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation Sunday at THE PLAYERS Championship.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- What's wrong with Tiger Woods? That's the question that's going to be asked until he wins his next tournament, or at least stops hitting shots that elicit certain non-PG reactions. The answer to that question? Nothing.

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Brian Wacker blogs live from Sunday's final pairing, Alex Cejka and Tiger Woods. TIGER 73, CEJKA 79 (6:44 p.m.): Even though Tiger had no chance of winning, he was visibly mad at himself for missining his putt on 17 as he made his way to the 18th tee. Woods missed another fairway off the tee, though this time just barely, but his approach shot was one of his better ones of the day, even though it was 33 feet away. That's what kind of day it was for Woods -- not his best. Both men two-putted for par, but it wasn't the ending they hoped for.

For previous entries in the Cejka-Woods live blog, click here

TIGER WOODS

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Woods' transcript

That might sound apologetic, but Woods was only two shots off the lead halfway through the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship with a Band-Aid swing that the stitches fell out of early on. Woods isn't about top 10s, but, well, he did finish in the top 10, and a lot of other guys would gladly take that.

In the four stroke-play tournaments Woods has played this year, he's finished in the top 10 all four times. Half of those were back-door top 10s, but one of those was a win with a final-round 67 that included a birdie on the last hole and another included a final-round charge at Augusta National with another stitched-together swing.

There was also the little matter of that 6-under 66 that Henrik Stenson threw out there Sunday, two groups in front of Woods. I admit that I didn't see a single shot Stenson hit on his way to finding 14 of 18 greens in regulation because I was following Tiger all day, but Woods himself said that was a hell of a round. A day earlier, I'd asked Kevin Na if a 66 was out there and he said it was possible, but he looked at me like I was the one who was out there.

The golf course was so baked out that they almost lost some of the greens -- and that was on Saturday. Try landing a golf ball on a ping-pong table and you'll understand. On Sunday morning, the greens got about as much water as is contained in your average loogie.

No one hits the ball higher than Woods, yet almost every shot he hit into the greens sounded like something hitting a brick wall instead of a ball landing on grass and dirt. Fast and firm is how Woods, and most players, like a golf course and that's exactly what they got.

The bigger problem for Woods was that he kept hitting spinners off the tee out to the right and missing one fairway after another. The rough was down a quarter-inch from last year, but with the greens so crusty they were more yellow than green, it was hard enough trying to get the golf ball to stop from the short grass and Woods only his 6 of 14 fairways, his lowest total of the week.

"It was frustrating because if I aim down the right side, I'd spin it to the right; aim down the left side, spin it to the right," Woods said. "I tried to put the release in early enough, but it still wasn't right."

Woods would have bigger concerns if it were a two-way miss that he needed to fix, but the biggest thing he needs to fix right now seems to be the number of competitive rounds under his belt.

If it hasn't been his driving, it's been his ballstriking. If it hasn't been his ballstriking, it's been his putting. He has yet to put it all together, really, and when he does he will win. The only solution for that is time.

"On a golf course like this, if you're not on it's hard to shoot a good number," Woods said. "I just haven't -- sometimes, playing the game is harder to do on the golf course."

This golf course has not been kind to Woods, either. He's only broken par in the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship three times, and his career scoring average coming into this year's tournament was 71.53, so his 73 on Sunday seems in line with what his previous track record is here.

As great as Woods is, he's only won this tournament once, finished second once and hasn't been in the top 10 since 2001, until this year. Saying this course doesn't suit his eye is silly. But saying there's something wrong with his swing, or his game, or his knee, or his work with Hank Haney is just as silly.

Woods will win again. After all, it's only been eight rounds since his last victory.

Get more news and insight from PGATOUR.COM's Brian Wacker at Twitter.com/pgatour_brianw.