Brandel Chamblee lauds Tiger Woods’ Augusta effort but says The Players could ‘eat his lunch’

Tiger Woods’ T17 finish at Augusta earlier this month was a pleasant surprise to Johnny Miller and Brandel Chamblee, each of whom anticipated the worst when the 14-time major champion made the Masters his first competitive start after a lengthy layoff.

“Somehow (at) the Masters he got that pitching and chipping under control and actually was good out of the bunkers, good everywhere,” NBC lead analyst Miller said during a Tuesday teleconference promoting next week’s Players Championship. “He was pretty darn good. Didn’t drive it sensational, but he drove it all right and tied for 17th was pretty darn good. Sure impressed me.

“I was sort of thinking it could be a train wreck for him, but it gave him a lot of confidence (heading to the Players),” Miller observed about Woods’ return from a two-month hiatus he imposed upon himself in February.

Stunning short-game woes showed up in Woods’ repertoire starting in December at the Hero World Challenge. What Chamblee and others called chipping yips led to a career-worst 82 and missed cut in Phoenix, while Woods blamed a sore back for his early withdrawal at Torrey Pines a week later.

Chamblee echoed Miller’s praise for Woods’ rebound.

“I thought he could probably have been sort of a sad sight at Augusta National,” said the Golf Channel commentator, who had predicted that Woods’ “catastrophically bad” short game would derail his comeback at the Masters. “I would put what he did there as almost surprising as what Jordan Spieth did. It was great. It was wonderful to watch.”

But just because Woods seemed to have fixed his wedge issues during his time off the PGA Tour circuit, Chamblee, in particular, was not ready to pronounce Tiger’s overall game healed -- especially ahead of next week’s Players Championship. While he lauded Woods for conquering his short-game dilemma, Chamblee worried about the obstacles that TPC Sawgrass presented.

“It was wonderful to see him sort of find that magic around the greens,” said Chamblee, who was particularly dazzled by Woods’ wedge shots on holes 11 and 12 during Thursday’s opening round at Augusta. “I’ve never seen anybody overcome that sort of problem in their pitching game.”

A bogey on the par-3 12th was a good example of Tiger’s revamped short game. He hit his tee shot into the water fronting the green and then stiffed a perfect wedge shot from a tight lie to within gimme range.

Tiger’s accuracy off the tee and into the putting surfaces, on the other hand, was less than stellar as far as Chamblee and Miller were concerned, and did not bode well for next week’s contest.

“He hit the fewest fairways he’s ever hit in his career at Augusta National,” Chamblee said. “He’s never driven it worse in his entire career than he drove it this year at Augusta. And only one time in his entire career has he ever ranked worse in greens in regulation.

So, this is a place where he could get away with some errant drives and he could get away with missing it in the right spot, and scrambling was so good that he was able to save himself. But if he hits the ball the way he did at Augusta at the Players, The Players will eat his lunch.”

Woods found 30-of-56 fairways in regulation for the week at Augusta, which was 54 percent compared with an average 66 percent for the field. He also hit an overall 64 percent of greens in regulation (46-of-72), compared with the field’s 63 percent.

Woods, however, will be entering the Players in the wake of severely diminished stats from Sunday’s Augusta finale, during which he tweaked his wrist. Tiger carded a 1-over 73 and was a paltry 2-for-14 in fairways (39 percent compared with 61 percent) and 7/18 in greens (14 percent/64 percent).

Indeed, despite the acclaim for Woods’ general Masters performance, such final-round figures likely factored into the prognostications of the pundits, neither of whom was willing to forecast success at TPC Sawgrass for the former world No. 1.

“I don’t think he loves the course,” Miller said about the track where Woods won the Players in 2001 and 2013. “Be great if he could continue the confidence at the Masters and segue into the Players and the U.S. Open.”

Sure, it would, but Chamblee was not overly optimistic that Woods’ game was up to the challenge.

“You have to be able to flight the ball both directions (at TPC Sawgrass),” Chamblee said. “You have to be able to flight it low and high. You have to be able to sort of deal with whatever anxiety issues you have off of the tee.

“So you know, I don’t think any of us anymore can predict with any sort of even close to validity what Tiger Woods is going to do,” he said. “I’m just happy that he is choosing to play there. That’s great. It’ll certainly be wonderful to watch. But what he’s going to do, you know, flip a coin.”

Miller also wondered about the impact Woods’ kinder, gentler persona might have on his on-course results.

“You know, he’s a much softer person now,” said Miller, who referred to the guy who hugged everyone he saw at Augusta and had his two kids caddy for him in the Par-3 Contest. “His relationships matter to him, and he’s much friendlier,” “I’m not sure that’s great for his golf game, but it’s sure nice to see it. He’s become softer in his personal life. I don’t usually talk about the personal life, but I can see that he seems to be happier, which is great.”

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