It’s looking like this might be a banner year for Tiger. We might be witnessing the beginning of another 2000 (his most dominant year). Today, he beat Ernie Els in a playoff at the Dubai Desert Classic. While that’s nothing new (he’s done it to Els twice before), what was nothing short of unbelievable was that he even ended up in contention, let alone winning. His drives were errant. No, that’s not strong enough a description. He was downright pathetic with driver most of the day. But, in typical Tiger fashion, when it mattered most, he made some truly awe-inspiring shots.

On the first hole of the sudden-death playoff, Tiger did what he does best. He blasted a drive down the long part-5 fairway, positioning the ball nicely in the center. You could actually see the angst on Els’ face as he stood over his tee shot. Predictably (even for the ‘Big Easy’), his attempt to keep his drive close to Woods’ ended up producing a wayward shot that ended up in the trees. Woods then calmly hit his 2nd shot to the back of the green, while Els was in a ‘do-or-die’ situation and found the water with his 2nd. It was all over then, of course.

So, Tiger earned a second consecutive win in a playoff, and the rumors are flying that this will be his best year yet. That clearly remains to be seen, of course, but Tiger appears to be able to withstand his own mistakes much better this year than in the last few. His swing, which he’s spent the last several years revamping, no longer seems to cause him anxiety, even though the results sometimes do. And that’s bad news for the other pros. Really bad news! It looks like Tiger was right about changing his swing, and his critics were wrong. Is anyone surprised?