Devil Ball Golf 18 for ’15 (Part 7): What’s in store for Tiger Woods?

It’s Part 7 of Devil Ball Golf’s 18 for ’15. It’s also Tiger Woods’ 39th birthday. Who else would we talk about here?!

It wasn’t a good 2014 for Tiger Woods. He spent most of it on the disabled list, hampered by an injury so severe it required microdiscectomy surgery in his back on March 31. He missed the Masters and U.S. Open.

Woods rushed back to return at his Quicken Loans National, admitting it was to placate a new title sponsor and a divided host membership at Congressional Country Club, as well help out his foundation, which benefits from the event. He missed the cut.

Then Woods tried to get on with his season like everything was normal, making the trek to the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, where he won his last Claret Jug in 2006. It wasn’t the same burnt-out course, nor the same Woods. After a promising 69 to open, Woods shot 77 the next day and didn’t break par the rest of the way, finishing T-69.

Two weeks later, Woods tweaked his back early in the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament he’s won eight times. He had to withdraw.

Just three days later at the PGA Championship, Woods showed up at the last minute to Valhalla, hoping maximum rest might give him a puncher’s chance at contending for a 15th major. Nope. A pair of 74s sent him away quietly as Rory McIlroy won his second-straight major after a hard-fought battle with Phil Mickelson.

Locked out of the FedEx Cup playoffs and without delivering much reason to believe he’d be of use to the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Woods ended his season and declared himself out of contention for a wild-card nod from captain Tom Watson. He wouldn’t have been able to stop a third consecutive European win anyhow.

Woods fired Sean Foley after four years, later saying he wasn’t physically able to do what Foley wanted to see from him. In other words, Foley may have been hurting Woods. After several months’ worth of thinking, viewing old footage and study, Woods decided his best path forward was to go back to the swing that began his march to history. Woods found Chris Como through friend Notah Begay III and began work on developing a new swing heavily influenced by his pre-Butch Harmon motion from the early 1990s.

That new-but-old swing debuted at the Hero World Challenge, where Woods finished tied for last but showed signs of a potential revival, if he can just figure out how to chip the ball again.

And that’s where Woods stands heading into 2015. What should we expect from him this year?

History tells us we shouldn’t expect much. In Jack Nicklaus’ season after he turned 39, he didn’t win a tournament. In fact, it was his worst year as a professional.

But then Nicklaus won two majors in 1980 before a miraculous Sunday run to win a sixth Masters at age 46 in 1986. No player has won more than three majors after the age of 39, with Nicklaus tied at that mark with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead.

Woods said at Isleworth that Father Time is undefeated, and he’s right. But how long can Woods, who has a surgically repaired back and four surgeries on his left knee, stave off old age? Does the story really end this way?

When Woods last had a healthy season in 2013, he won five times, with what is inarguably his worst swing. When healthy since 2005, Woods hasn’t finished outside the top six in the Masters. Woods contended at Augusta National and for the Open Championship in 2013. The Open could have been his in 2012.

if Woods is to ever get off 14 majors won, it would seem the year’s first and third majors are where he’ll make his mark. He’s a legitimate threat to win a fifth Masters. With the Open at St. Andrews, where Woods has won the Claret Jug twice, there’s a good chance.

However, everything with Woods is predicated on his health. If his back and knees hold up, Woods can play a full schedule, find his short game and tournament rhythm and perhaps some victories.

Read all of the Devil Ball Golf 18 for ’15: