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/ The Betfair Contrarian / 05 October 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Prepare to see Tiger grimacing plenty on Thursday and Friday
"Tiger no longer backs up his confidence on the fairways, going two years without a win, and if anything the results are getting worse rather than better."
The greatest golfer of this generation is fit, in form and ready to go - or so we were told - but after a string of poor performances we say he won't even make it to the weekend at the Frys.com Open
There's hope that Tiger Woods has finally completed his seemingly endless run up to the comeback trail after hiring a new caddy in Joe LaCava and setting a new course record of 62 practising at the Medalist Golf Club in Florida. This isn't the first time that the Contrarian has been warned that Tiger is back though. In fact, he has heard it so often over the last year or two that he is now immune to all of the excitement. He's advising you to treat his latest attempt to bounce back with similar disdain, especially as there are odds of [3.75] available on him failing to make the cut...
There are no legitimate signs of improvement
Woods talks a good game before each tournament that he enters, but then that has never been a problem for the 14-time major champion. The issue is that he no longer backs up his confidence on the fairways, going two years without a win, and if anything the results are getting worse rather than better. He has missed the cut of three competitions in the last 27 months, having fared that badly just three times in almost 12 years prior to that, and whereas in 2010, he was a frequent fixture in the top-25 of events, he has placed that highly in only three of the eight he has completed in 2011.
He was cut last time out
You have to go back just two months to find the last example of Woods heading into a tournament with high hopes of a return to greatness, targeting victory in the PGA Championship. However, on that occasion it proved woefully misguided as his participation was ended prematurely after two rounds of 77 and 73 left him ten over par. That was the first time in his career that he was forced to put his clubs in the boot halfway through the final major of the year, in his 14th entry in the competition.
It can take a while to gel with a new caddy
Woods will be aware that in LaCava he is getting an experienced and well-regarded caddy following his triumphs with friend Fred Couples, but relationships between golfers and bagmen can be slow off the mark. Indeed, LaCava endured high-profile early disappointments with Couples, failing to make the cut at the 1990 US Open, and Dustin Johnson, missing it at this year's PGA Championship. Clearly, the Frys.com Open isn't on anywhere near the same level as those majors, indeed it's an event Woods wouldn't even be involved in were it not for his slump. However, it a hugely significant moment in his season, the chance to show that the personnel change has had a positive impact on his form and bid to end his drought in a competition that he is surprisingly the [7.0] favourite to win.
His Medalist success is almost irrelevant
The aforementioned feat of the former world number one - now 51 in the rankings - in setting a new record at the Medalist Golf Course was no doubt encouraging, but there is a big difference between performing in a non-competitive environment at your home course and delivering in a tournament, especially one that you have never played in before. The Contrarian made the mistake of reading too much into his practice displays, which were earning rave reviews, before last year's Masters and US Open, yet on the key weekend when it mattered most, he was unable to meet expectations both times.
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