The International Herald Tribune has an article on Tiger Woods’ increasingly picky schedule. As has been noted in this blog before, a majority of his wins have come on a very few courses.

The reporter writes:

Woods will be going for his fifth title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting on Thursday. He opened his 2008 season by winning the Buick Invitational for the sixth time. He also has six victories in the Bridgestone Invitational, and six more at the World Golf Championship that now goes by the name CA Championship.

He has four green jackets from the Masters, four Wanamaker Trophies from the U.S. PGA Championship.

Woods, perhaps more than any other golfer, is a creature of habit.

He has won 63 times in his U.S. PGA Tour career, yet he has trophies from only 24 tournaments. Vijay Singh has a far more diverse record, winning 31 times at 23 different tour events.

And more:

Consider another statistic that illustrates how his schedule works in his favor. Woods has won 52 times at the 17 tournaments tentatively on his 2008 schedule (that doesn’t include two victories at Doral in Miami, which has been merged into a WGC).

One thing about Woods as he gets older — he doesn’t add events, only subtracts.

To all of this, I’ll add that it looks even worse when you consider his major wins. Six of his thirteen majors have come on two courses: August and St. Andrews.

Woods is all about winning—and winning majors in particular—so his strategy makes perfect sense. I just wonder if he doesn’t manage to outsmart himself at some point. When he eclipses Jack and Sam Snead, will critics point to this as a blot on his record? 

Some of the more hysterical members of the golf media have been speculating not only on whether Tiger will win the Grand Slam this year—but also whether he will magage to go undefeated.

The answer is a “no” to both, and I predict that the questions will be answered at the Masters. I think another dark horse will win it this year.

But just for amusement, lets take a look at Tiger’s remaining schedule. In addition to the Buick, the Dubai Desert Classic and the Accenture Match Play, which he already has played, Tiger has the following on his schedule:

The Arnold Palmer Invitational
WGC-CA at Doral
The Masters
The US Open
The AT&T National at Congressional
The British Open
The WGC at Bridgestone
The PGA Championship
The Target World Challenge

You can also safely assume that he will play in three or four of the FedEx Cup events: The Barclays, The Deutsche Bank, the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship. (In addition, he’ll appear at the Ryder Cup.) As a member of the PGA Tour, he has to participate in 15 Tour sanctioned events. So he will add as many as three more events which he has not yet announced.

The problem for Tiger is that there’s no breathing room. Every tournament he plays also attracts the other fifty best players in the game. If he has an off week (and EVERYBODY has an off week), and one of the others is hot, then he loses. I am reminded as I write this of the old Highlander movie: “There Can Be Only One!. There’s just one first place in each tournament, and there are a hundred guys who want it.

What he has going for him, though, is that the rest of the Tour is completely intimidated by him. So any time he’s in the hunt, you can be sure that more than a few are going to melt down.

I’d love to hear your predictions. Leave a comment below.

The Player Who Is Without Peer says that the pace of play on the PGA Tour is too slow:

In a recent newsletter, Tiger Woods said: “It’s been an ongoing problem on the PGA Tour for some time. I honestly believe the pace of play is faster in Europe and Japan.”

Woods’ comments may have been prompted after he played against JB Holmes, who is known as one of the slower players on the PGA Tour. These comments also come in the wake of media reports blaming the decline in the number of golf rounds played on slow play.

The Globe and Mail asks a relevant question: Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Tiger?

I think so.

The Golf Channel is advertising “Two Weeks of Tiger”—apparently a fourteen day Tiger lovefest. All kinds of things were running through my head as I heard that. Among them:

There IS such a thing as too much publicity.

The Golf Channel has jumped the shark.

If Tiger is as private a person as his press releases make him out to be, what does he think of this?

Is Nike paying The Golf Channel through back channels for two weeks of nonstop advertising?

They’re beating a dead horse.

I wonder how the other 124 members of the Tour feel about this?

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Too much of anything is bad for you.

If (God forbid) Tiger were to die suddenly, would The Golf Channel go out of business?

I’m giving The Golf Channel “three thumbs down” on my TiVo for the next two weeks so it won’t record any of that network’s programs.

Why didn’t I get a two week celebration when I returned to teaching after winter break? I’m at least as good a teacher as Tiger is a golfer. I’ve been voted Best Teacher six years in a row by the Senior Classes. I’m better looking, too. And smarter. And more interesting.