Tiger Woods Takes Another Step in Silencing Critics

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Tiger Woods has the most wins on the PGA Tour this season with 3. He's done that over his last 7 starts. For the season, he's 3 for 10. For most guys, three wins is a solid career. For a post-scandal Tiger, that's still not enough for a lot of people to concede that maybe he's close to getting back to where he used to be.

Many pundits refuse to say that Tiger is Tiger again until he wins a major. It's Woods' own fault for setting the bar so high during his ridiculous ten-year run of utter dominance when he won 14 majors.

Robert Lusetich points out on Foxsports.com that Tiger's 3 wins this year are the same amount Phil Mickelson has had since 2009, as well as the same amount of career wins for Rory McIlroy on the Tour. So why are so many people still wondering if 'he's back?'

LeBron James wasn't considered clutch and people wondered if he would ever win an NBA title. Then he won one this year, and those critics were largely silenced. Tiger is number one in the FedEx Cup standings, has won three times already but yet his critics aren't willing to admit that, yeah, maybe he's not as finished as they thought. Tiger said as much during his press conference yesterday.

I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again. That was, I think, what, six months ago? Four months ago? Here we are.

And where we are is back to thinking that Tiger can catch and pass Jack Nicklaus on the all-time major championship list. Tiger just surpassed Jack on the all-time wins list with his 74th over the weekend.

Tiger has two more chances to win a major this year; The Open Championship starts on July 19th at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in the U.K. Following that, the PGA Championship begins August 9th in South Carolina.

With his game looking the way it is, and Tiger sounding a little cocky, it's hard to think he's not the favorite for both.