Tiger bares his teeth

An empty course and a lone figure is seen honing his relationship with his new Nike Method 03 putter. Following a brief flirtation with the 01 model at St Andrews that came to an acrimonious end on day 4; the early signs are that this flat stick may spend a little more time in his bag.

We all know what a difficult year the former untouchable World number 1 has had, but judging by his form at the Chevron Challenge the signs are ominous for the golfing community. It appears that Tiger is back.

Ian Poulter has already noted that Tiger Woods has racked up an astonishing -12 on the par 5's at Sherwood CC and when he is at his destructive best, Woods birdies the longer holes for breakfast. The one bit of solace at Chevron for supporters of the European Tour has been Graeme McDowell's steadfast refusal to allow TW to get away and he remains within four shots of the leader. On this evidence and the rather stunning 'swimming pool par' on 13 G-Mac is going to be a Major contender this year.

Swinging over to South Africa and Sun City the current incumbent at the top of the World rankings has also got off to a bit of a flyer. Lee Westwood has quite simply blown the field away at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and leads the field by five shots going into Sunday's final round. A Woods win and anything less than a top two would have seen Westwood enjoy the briefest of stays as world number 1. By all accounts it looks as though that position will be quite volatile this year, which is great for golf and the sports avid following.

Having spent the bulk of my first year dipping my toes in the warm waters of following the European and PGA tours I'm now ready to take the plunge. I'll be paying much closer attention to both competitions this year and from time to time will share my thoughts with you on the blog. I'd be interested to know your thoughts, but I am envisaging a titanic tussle between the top four this year with Mr McDowell featuring as a regular in the plot line.

The big question is who will top the rankings next Christmas? I think this will be the year Westwood silences his critics and gets a major win under his belt, but with Kaymer, Woods, Big Phil and G-Mac in the mix, not to mention Poulter, Casey and the young guns McIlroy, Fowler and possibly even Matteo Mannassero it's going to be one hell of a year for the European Tour!