The Punter's De-Brief: Tiger sees off Sergio in style

Tiger Woods with the trophy, but not in pink

Tiger Woods sailed a steady course to victory as his rivals sunk without trace at the Players Championship. Read Steve's thoughts on the week's action here...

Rory McIlroy had challenged hard on day one and Sergio Garcia fought hard right up until his tee-shot on the 71st hole, but in the end, Tiger Woods proved just too strong for everyone as he collected his fourth trophy of the year yesterday at Sawgrass.

Having looked like cruising to his second Players Championship title, Tiger Woods, who had been backed at as short as 1.171/6 in-running, hit an absolute stinker of a drive on the 14th hole and found water, resulting in a double-bogey six. He drifted right out to odds-against when he missed the 15th green with his approach shot but a tremendous up-and-down put him right back on track and when Sergio's woeful tee-shot on 17 found water the game was up.

My Bets
No complaints this week. I couldn't have considered backing Woods at Sawgrass before the off, given his ordinary record at the track, and I although I thought he was reasonable priced yesterday morning, I can always live without backing a 2.47/5 shot.

As detailed in the In-Play Blog, he looked a fair price after round two but as I was going to the Cup final and wasn't going to be around on Saturday (and well done Wigan - fully deserved) I left it alone, and I just wasn't in the mood to get stuck in last night.

What now for Tiger?
The debate as to whether Tiger Woods is back, whatever that actually means, has been rumbling all year. Whether he already was or wasn't back, or whether he is or isn't back, I'll leave to others to debate but yesterday's win is certainly a significant one in the context of his career.

His appearance at The Players Championship was his 300th on the PGA Tour and he also won on his 100th and 200th starts. His win yesterday was his 78th on the PGA Tour and it was his seventh victory in his last 23 starts. That's all very impressive but what really is striking is that it came at a venue he didn't appear to like at all.

Moments after victory was secured, Joe LaCava, Tiger's caddie, who had previously won two Players titles with Fred Couples, beamed at him, "I told you you'd get this track!"

I thought that was a telling moment. It showed that Woods wasn't confident he could master Sawgrass and even more importantly, it told us that he and Joe are now a really strong team.

Stevie Williams wasn't everyone's cup of tea, even before his disgusting comments about his former employer, but there was no doubting the influence he had on Tiger's game, nor the importance of it.

At the highest level, a caddie isn't merely a bag-rag, they're an integral part of the team and the fact that Tiger brought in LaCava on a number of putts yesterday shows the bond between them is strengthening all the time. And that really does bode well; maybe that next major victory is just around the corner now?

Did Sergio choke?
My timeline on Twitter last night went from being one big Sergio love-in one minute to a tirade of abuse the next, with claims of choking!

I don't agree with his conduct this weekend, far from it. Whatever he feels about the way the crowd was marshalled around Woods, or how he personally feels about Tiger, who he's now failed to beat in 11 straight encounters, shouldn't have been made as publically as it was and to openly criticise him as he did, I felt was wrong. But so are claims that he choked away the tournament...

He's had his off days for sure, giving up a six-shot final day lead at Quail Hollow immediately comes to mind, but yesterday wasn't one of them. When you look at his scorecard it looks a mess, in the water three times on the last two holes but he's now stood on the 17th at Sawgrass with a chance of victory twice and he's failed once.

He claimed afterwards that he hit his tee-shot, "a little too soft" and I'm prepared to go with that over claims that he bottled-it. Yes, he could have played it 20 feet left of the pin as the commentators claimed he should have done and maybe he was daft to go at such a dangerous pin but let's not forget that he went for it before, back in 2008, and it paid off handsomely.

The state of the game
Adam Scott's playoff victory at the US Masters is by some distance the highlight of the year so far but we desperately need a few more good news stories, and soon. There's something not quite right with the game's equilibrium at present.

There's the constant debate over the long-putter for starters. Then Dropgate at Augusta did the game no favours and now it seems, we have Dropgate take two! The body language between Sergio and Tiger on Saturday and their squabbling didn't exactly set a shining example and the decision by Woods, not to wear pink yesterday was as disappointing as his victory was impressive.

It was Mothers Day in the States yesterday and in support of breast cancer, the players were encouraged to wear pink. Tiger appeared the only player that failed to do so and for me, it was extremely disappointing and it took the edge off the win somewhat.

I'll be back tomorrow with the first of my three previews. It's a busy week, there's the Volvo World Match Play Championship and the Madeira Islands Open on the European Tour and in the States, it's the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter