1. Is it just me or is it true that TW seems to be a slow starter in tournaments. Very seldom do we see him lead wire-to-wire. More often, he's behind after 2 days, makes a move on Saturday and sometimes has a chance to catch the leaders on Sunday or may be too far back and only gets a Top 10 finish.

2. If you've also noticed this, what accounts for this slow start? Is he just too conservative in the first couple of days? Sometimes it looks like he's strategizing and carefully playing the course, when others seem to be going at pins.

Tiger is a cautious starter. He believes in the philosophy that you can't win a tournament on Thursday but you can lose it so he tends to be very conservitive in the first round. To me he was always a great Friday player especially back in his Butch Harmon days.

Seems like he starts too cautious, then gets behind, then has to get more aggressive and starts scoring better. This seems to be more the case since he is back from knee surgery. I think it has hurt him in the majors this year because guys on thursday and friday are getting a big lead.

He just doesn't seem to force the issue when he doesn't need to. I think he sees a number at the end of the week and tries not to worry about someone having a hot round. Usually after someone cards say a 62 the next day they come back to earth with a score of 70+/-. Tiger tends to be more consistent by stringing together 66s and 67s four days in a row. He also plays according to his game plan for the course and seldom diverts from it. If Phil had Tiger's mental toughness/discipline he would be on par with Tiger IMHO.

Seems like he has been this year. Its almost like he plays better when hes 6 shots behind starting the weekend.

+1 I've got to agree with this...he is very cautious (on purpose) but it can hurt him because he may find himself too far behind. There are just days when the course is soft and receptive and you need to take advantage of it. When the course dries out and plays harder through to Sunday, it's no guarantee that the guys in front will fold and come back to him or that he can shoot enough birdies on a tough course to catch the guys in front.

He has won three tournaments this year guys! I think he knows exactly what he is doing.

We are talking about his close misses. This isn't a Tiger bashing thread... It's just an analysis of his close ones.

I would agree to some point with this except it did not hurt him at the US Open, the draw is what hurt him. His first round the conditions were not ideal for scoring. However, I feel that he has let the last two Masters get away due to his cautious play in the early rounds. Then again when he set the scoring record at the Masters he carded a 40 on the front nine on Thursday. I believe he looks at it as slow and steady wins the race over four days. Take the AT&T for example. AK opened with a 62 and could not back up any of those rounds the next three days, while Tiger just plodded along with his 3-4 under for four days and wins. If the large majority of the field goes out on Thursday and scors low and he does not, then it is an uphill climb for him. If only one or two players go low on Thursday, he is feels he is okay, because they tend to come back to the field during the next three days. I think that in his mind as long is he is within 5 or 6 strokes of the lead going into the weekend he feels that he is in a prime location for winning the tournament. Typically though, Saturdays (moving day) is when he starts turning it up and makes his move.

Tiger's standing after the 1st/2nd round at his tournaments so far this year:

Doral: T40/T35

Bay Hill: T10/5

Masters: T21/T19

Quail Hollow: 1/T3

Players: T38/T22

Memorial: T9/T24

Bethpage: T81/T41

Congressional: T2/T1

Tiger is T7 in scoring avg before the cut, 18th in 3rd round scoring average, and 3rd in final round scoring average this season.

Agreed...relying on someone to come back to you is not exactly a good strategy, as it's "out of your hands". Who's to say how streaky some of the guys are on any given day / week?

Sure, he's come back from 5-6 back. But that's a lot of strokes in a major championship, on a tough course yielding few birdies. And if only one part of his game is off on that Sunday e.g. putter goes cold with lots of lip outs, then it's game over. Let's face it, TW is interested in Ws only not Top 10s.

Well, well, well ... a course as benign as it can ever be, and what does Tiger do? He shoots a score that puts him ON THE CUT LINE. Not only is he 7 shots behind the leader, he has 67 guys in front of him and he's tied with another 28-29 guys. Yes, it's still early days yet, but you cannot keep giving guys a big head start and expect to be able to reel them in later. Unless he has a good Friday and Saturday, the best he's gonna do is another Top 10. Nothing to sneeze at if you were anyone else, buy for Tiger?

Looks like TW is still very much in the hunt, err... Tom Watson that is. LOL. I love it when the "veterans" give the young guns a run for their money (as Greg Norman did last year). GO TOM GO...