Woods benefiting from greater consistency

A Guest Post:

Tiger Woods feels he is improving all the time after picking up his second win of the season in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral last weekend.

Woods secured his 17th World Golf Championship success and his first since 2009 with a two-shot victory in Florida, despite bogeys at the 16th and 18th. The world number two carded 71 in the closing round to end 19-under.

Woods was delighted to see off the challenge of Steve Stricker, who gave the 14-time major champion putting tips before the tournament. The friendly gesture backfired on Stricker as Woods putted his way to glory and dominance in the golf betting odds.

“I’m just trying to get better. It’s very simple. I feel like my game’s becoming more efficient. It’s more consistent day in and day out, and I’m very pleased with the progress I’ve made,” said the 37-year-old.

Graeme McDowell started the final day in contention but failed to put sufficient pressure on Woods. He hit a double-bogey at the last to drop into shared third place, with Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott.

“The way Tiger was playing, I was always in chase mode. He was always going to be a tough guy to catch. Fair play to him. He played fantastic golf the last couple of days,” said McDowell.

Meanwhile, the only player ranked above Woods, Rory McIlroy, left the tournament in high spirits after a bogey-free 65 in the final round saw him finish in the top 10.

The Northern Irishman went into the event with question marks over his mental state after a bizarre walk-off in the Honda Classic. He responded with a positive showing in Florida.

“I feel a lot better. Regardless of the score, I hit a lot of good shots over the last three days,” said McIlroy.