Experts sound off on Tiger at PLAYERS

Greenwood/Getty Images

Swing coach Sean Foley walks with Tiger Woods at TPC Sawgrass on Tuesday.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- This week, Tiger Woods is looking for his first PLAYERS Championship win in 10 years. PGATOUR.COM asked several members of the golf media, as well as Tiger's former and current coach, to weigh in on why Tiger hasn't won at TPC Sawgrass since his one-shot win over Vijay Singh in 2001.

SWING COACHES

SEAN FOLEY, who will be coaching Tiger at THE PLAYERS Championship for the first time: "We haven't talked about why he's struggled there and I haven't even watched him play there yet. But typically when guys have an issue or struggle somewhere a lot of the time, it's because the course doesn't set up to their eye. That's the only thing I could imagine it would be with Tiger. Maybe it's because some of the angles of how the tee shots set up don't look right."

HANK HANEY, Tiger's coach from 2004-2010: "In general, every player has tournaments or courses that are better for them and Tiger's no different. He has courses he's done really well on and other courses that don't fit his eye.

"At TPC Sawgrass, he has a lot of holes on the golf course where he's had consistent difficulty driving the golf ball well. You have to put it in play there and he has a hard time doing that there -- No.1 and No. 2, No. 6 is OK but No. 7 he has a hard time with for whatever reason. No. 14, he hits it into the mounds all the time. The 18th there's trouble on the left and that's a hard tee shot for him."

GOLF MEDIA

LARRY DORMAN, New York Times: "That Tiger has not won THE PLAYERS since 2001 is perplexing. He has mastered the TPC Sawgrass course twice under entirely different playing conditions: winning his second of three U.S. Amateurs there in 1994 on a hard and fast course; coming from two strokes off the pace on a softer course to win the 2001 PLAYERS. No question, the course is a bit confining for him. But throwing out last year's injury-plagued performance, the case could be made that he's trending up with a T-8 in '09. Assuming he is healthy, I like his chances to contend this year."

DAMON HACK, Sports Illustrated: "The TPC Sawgrass is the rare golf course that has negated Tiger's power advantage through the years. You don't overpower this Pete Dye golf course. You navigate it, gently. Winning was always going to be harder for Tiger there than, say, more muscular golf courses like Augusta National, Firestone and Torrey Pines. Tiger's record at Sawgrass and the potpourri of winners there (Tim Clark, Stephen Ames, Fred Funk) bear this out."

RON SIRAK, Golf World: "One of the facts overlooked when people talk about the swing change Tiger Woods is working on is that he has never been a particularly straight driver of the golf ball. Even when at his best -- as he was when he finished second at THE PLAYERS in 2000 and won it in 2001 -- Tiger missed fairways, just not by as much as when he struggles. His most memorable shots throughout his career are his recovery shots. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass does not lend itself to that kind of play. It is a very demanding golf course off the tee that punishes wayward drives severely. Not only has Tiger not won THE PLAYERS since 2001, he has finished in the top 10 only once since then. He is just not precise enough with the driver to handle the demands of the golf course."

THOMAS BONK, freelancer golf writer: "It's the 10th anniversary of Tiger Woods' one and only victory in THE PLAYERS, and if it is sort of puzzling why he hasn't won it a second time since, then consider this: No one else has won it twice in the last decade either. Nine different players have won after Woods' victory. In fact, THE PLAYERS is downright unpredictable. Since Woods defeated Vijay Singh to win THE PLAYERS in 2001, only two players ranked in the Top 10 have won the PGA TOUR's crown jewel of a tournament. They are Davis Love III in 2003 and Phil Mickelson in 2007. Sergio Garcia's victory in the 2008 PLAYERS moved him to No. 10, but he was ranked 19th when he started the week at TPC Sawgrass. The bottom line, for Woods and everyone else, is that it's a hard tournament to win, played on a long and difficult course, where absolutely nothing is guaranteed."

JIMMY ROBERTS, NBC Sports: "It's been 10 years since Tiger Woods won THE PLAYERS, but what's truly astonishing is that in that decade -- a time (outside of the last two years) he pretty much laid waste to the competition -- he's only managed a single top 10. Why? Check out his averages at the Stadium Course over that period: Driving accuracy 53rd; Greens in regulation 37th; Proximity to the hole 37th; Putting inside 10 feet - 49th. None of those numbers are terrible, but as Woods himself said in 2009: 'Its (THE PLAYERS) very similar to a major championship. You have to have all the pieces.' "

JIM McCABE, Golfweek: "Though Pete Dye has applied touches that shock, he mostly relies upon a time-honored blueprint: Get golfers out of their comfort zone. That is what is at work at TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course. It makes Woods uncomfortable, doesn't 'fit the eye,' as they say. An overhanging tree there, a dogleg here. Placement shot here, layup shot there. Part of Woods' legend is how he's played well over the same courses (Firestone, Torrey Pines, Memorial, Bay Hill). But he's just as likely to sour on a course that for whatever reason makes him uneasy (Sawgrass, Riviera, Westchester) and for that reason, kudos to Dye for a successful design."

STEVE DiMEGLIO, USA Today: "To the surprise of many, Woods has limped home with only one top-10 since 2001, with a withdrawal and three endings north of 22nd on his PLAYERS resume. Why? Because he only feasts on the par-5s. While he's 58-under par on the four par-5s since the start of the 2002 event, he's 18-over par on the par-3s and 27-over par on the par-4s. His magical short game gets stressed out as a collection of humps, bumps, hallows and deep bunkers surrounding the greens awaits players. Be just a hair off on an approach, you're dropping and hitting 3, or facing a brutish flop shot to a baked green. Momentum goes to die in the 10 yards surrounding the greens, and not even Woods is immune to that."

BRIAN KATREK, PGA TOUR Network: "It has been very popular lately to talk about whether or not Tiger has lost his ability to intimidate his competition. While the value of intimidation in golf can be debated, I think it is lessoned on a demanding golf course such as TPC Sawgrass. Players simply don't have time to let their minds wander off topic when every shot requires your complete attention. Danger lurks on every shot, and the course is hardly ever vulnerable to a charge of birdies from any one player. On the rare occasions when someone does start to make a run, it is easy for a leaderboard watching player to imagine the run coming to an end soon -- sometimes even with a big number. Tiger has given us some of the most incredible moments the game has ever seen, and it is easy for other players to get caught wondering if they will fall victim to another one of them. But at TPC Sawgrass, there is too much else to worry about."

GARRY SMITS, Jacksonville Times-Union: "When Woods won in 2001, he was at the peak of his career. The victory at the Stadium Course that year was his 18th in 37 starts. He was winning everywhere, under any conditions. Since then, he's finished among the top-10 only once, and has either not started or withdrawn due to injury twice in the last three years."

ART SPANDER, PGA Lifetime Achievement award winner: "His game, the occasional wild tee shot, does not work at THE PLAYERS. Of course, it did once, didn't it? Ah, the mysteries of sports."