Tiger Woods: I didn't know if I'd ever play golf again

Tiger Woods says he now has swing speeds he hasn't seen since his early 20s and admits he didn't know if he'd ever play golf again as recently as 2017...

During the Valspar Championship in March, Woods recorded the year’s fastest club head speed on Saturday at 129.2 mph, and he currently ranks third on Tour with a 121.9 mph average club head speed.

In 2013, when Woods was dealing with ongoing back issues, he ranked 28th with a 118.3 club head speed, while in ’08, the year he won his last major championship, he had a 124 mph average.

But then club head speed is far from the ultimate benchmark for success. A more objective way of estimating how the 24 year old would match up against the 42 year old could boil down to simple math.

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Woods’ fourth full year on Tour was by far his statistical high-water mark. He averaged 298 yards off the tee (second on Tour), hit 71.2 percent of his fairways, 75 percent of his greens in regulation and had a 67.7 scoring average. He also won nine times.

In 2006, he was longer (306 yard average) but hit fewer fairways (60.7 percent), greens (74 percent) and his scoring average climbed to 68.1; and that trend continued in ’13 with a 293-yard driving average, just 62.5 percent of his fairways and a 68.9 stroke average.

In a limited sample size - Woods has played just six events this season - his 2018 statistics compare favorably with ’13 and ’06. This season he’s averaging 302 yards off the tee and is hitting 51.9 percent of his fairways, although his scoring average has ballooned to 69.8.

Lost in these comparisons, however, is what Woods now brings to the table. His short game has been vintage Tiger and his putting average (1.74) is statistically similar to 2013 (1.73).