Golf-Tiger primed for liftoff at Augusta – Lyle (Reuters)

By Tony Jimenez

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) – Tiger Woods is turning the
corner with his game and victory at next month’s U.S. Masters
would put him back on track to break Jack Nicklaus’s record of
18 major wins, according to former Masters champion Sandy Lyle.

Former world number one Woods is without a trophy since the
2009 Australian Masters but a top-10 finish at the WGC-Cadillac
Championship this month, his first on the PGA Tour since June,
suggested he was starting to find his form.

“I think he’s going in the right direction,” Briton Lyle
told Reuters on Monday. “From what I can see he could be heading
back to the way he played in the 1990s under the guidance of
(former coach) Butch Harmon.

“He will obviously be very annoyed with his performances
last year and this year he’s going to come out with all guns
blazing.

“The Masters may be a great springboard for him and if he
wins next month then Jack’s record could be in jeopardy again,”
added the 53-year-old Scot.

Lyle is expecting Woods to be galvanised by the special
setting of Augusta where he claimed Green Jackets in 1997, 2001,
2002 and 2005.

“He knows the course so damned well and I’m sure he will be
inspired to do well,” said the winner of the 1988 Masters and
the 1985 British Open.

“You know he’s not sitting around on the couch all day long
watching TV. He is going to make sure he goes into the Masters
in tip-top shape.

“I don’t think he will leave a stone unturned. He will be in
as good as shape as he possibly can be and going by his start to
the year he sounds reasonably optimistic about his game and is
starting to see some shots he hasn’t seen in a while.”

Woods, 35, has been criticised in several quarters for
deciding to undergo the fourth swing change of his career, this
time under the direction of Canadian coach Sean Foley.

However, Lyle, who recorded his first victory in 19 years by
capturing the Senior World Championship in China this month,
believes the 14-times major winner has made the right move.

OLD BACKSWING

“I wasn’t overly keen on some of the takeaway positions he
was trying to create with his old backswing,” said the Scot.

“Now you can definitely see a change in the 1ast three or
four feet of the backswing so the club is a lot squarer to the
target and slightly more inside.

“There also seems to be a better shoulder tilt which is more
matching his arm angle. He is staying connected a lot better and
his balance is improving,” added Lyle.

“I think by the end of this year you’ll start seeing very
steady scoring from Tiger. You won’t see a 73 and then all of a
sudden a 66, you will see a lot of 68s and 67s and his
confidence will get stronger.”

Lyle, though, conceded that Woods would have to start waving
his putter like a magic wand again in order to sustain a level
of scoring improvement, starting at this week’s Arnold Palmer
Invitational in Florida.

“His putting is a little flaky right now but if his golf is
okay he’ll start making putts again,” said the former European
Ryder Cup stalwart.

“He has got a tough task ahead. He’s obviously had some
tough life changes in the last couple of years and it’s going to
take a while to get back in the swing of things.

“Tiger’s world is a whole different world now. He made it
that way and he’s got to face the music,” added Lyle, referring
to the American’s marital infidelities and recent divorce.
“A few years ago, when he was chalking up his major wins
like crossing off items on a shopping list, he was quite
incredible and it looked like he was well ahead of his record
target,” Lyle said.

“He won 14 within no time and you thought, ‘Crikey, he is
going to beat Jack’s record in a couple of years’,” said Lyle.

“I’m sure that is still his drive and his goal now—not
just to win tournaments but to win majors.”

The Masters, the first major of the season, starts on April
7.

(Editing by Ed Osmond. To query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)