Well, now it's one day after Tiger lost in his return to the PGA tour after an extended period off for knee surgery. Should it be a surprise that he lost in the second round of match play to Tim Clark? Not really, in my opinion. It's not surprising that he was a little rusty, given the long layoff. The last time he had a long layoff when his father died, he came back and missed the cut in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. It's almost to be expected that he wouldn't be as sharp as he normally is. No matter how much practice and preparation he undertakes, there is no substitute for tournament competition.
In addition, this is simply the downside to match play. Sure, if the favorites make it all the way through, you will have a fantastic final match and a great viewing audience. More often though, upsets happen along the way, and you're left with a less than riveting matchup. It's the simple evolution of the PGA tour, that they've mostly done away with match play competition, and especially in the PGA Championship, which used to be match play at one time. This particular event does usually draw a lot of attention because of the purse size and novelty of the event, but in the end it's asking a lot for it to always produce the best matchups toward the end.
Tiger will regroup after this I'm sure, and will most likely still have a very productive year. My opinion, at least two majors this year. Even given his time off, no one else has exactly stepped up to the role of consistent challenger to his #1 world ranking.
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