Tiger WoodsCharlie Riedel
JOHNS CREEK, Georgia - Tiger Woods, struggling with injuries and trying to rebuild his golf swing and his private life following the breakup of his marriage, can contend for this year's final major, according to British Open champion Darren Clarke.
Woods, who played a quick practice round at the Atlanta Athletic Club Tuesday afternoon, is a four time winner of the PGA Championship but hasn't won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open.
However, Northern Irishman Clarke believes Woods showed enough form last week in Akron, Ohio to indicate he could be a genuine contender come Sunday.
"I thought his game last week in the first two rounds was pretty good," said Clarke, who played alongside his good friend Woods for the first two days. "I thought he hit an awful lot of really, really good golf shots.
"To come back after a long layoff, you can practise as much as you want, but until you get into competition and actually put yourself back into a competitive arena, it's totally different.
"He got last week under his belt ... great to see him back competing again ... and I'm sure this week, if Tiger plays the golf he can play, I have no doubt he can be in contention this week," Clarke added.
Woods, who has had four surgeries on his left knee over the years, has not won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open nor any tournament worldwide since 2009 and British world number one Luke Donald does not expect that to change this week.
"From what I heard, he found a lot of positives in his game, but obviously it's not where he wanted to be," Englishman Donald said of the American's performance in Akron. "He wanted to win that tournament. That was his goal.
"It's going to take some time, I think. It would surprise me if he went on and won in the next couple of weeks, just because coming off that injury, personally, for myself was very difficult, and I think everyone's going to feel the same way."
Donald's 2008 PGA Tour season was cut short after he had surgery on his left wrist.
"It is very difficult to come off a layoff from injury," the Briton added. "When I did it, when I injured my wrist, getting back into competition was completely different to hitting balls on the range.
"You can feel very comfortable on the range, and getting back into that competitive mode is tough. It might take a little bit of time."
Gloating comments made by Woods' former caddie, Steve Williams, last weekend brought mixed reactions from players in Atlanta.
While many understood the frustration felt by Williams after being abruptly fired by Woods on July 3, others believed he unfairly took the focus away from a superb triumph by Adam Scott on Sunday.
Williams described Scott's four-shot victory as the most satisfying of his career and hardly mentioned Scott in a post-tournament television interview, saying "I feel like I'm a good front-runner when I'm caddying" as he spoke mainly in the first person.
"I think Stevie was given the opportunity to talk and he had the right to say what he wanted to say," said Donald.
"The only disappointing thing that I found personally from it was there was no talk of how pleased he was about Adam winning. It was a little bit deflecting away from Adam winning.
"Obviously the caddie does play an important role, but I think if he had mentioned something about Adam, this wouldn't have been an issue."
Second-ranked Briton Lee Westwood described Williams' comments as a "good dig" at 14-times major winner Woods.
"I thought there was no relevance to the interview other than to have a good dig at Tiger Woods in the ribs," Englishman Westwood said after playing nine holes in practice on Tuesday.
"It's blatantly obvious that he's a fantastic caddie because he's won with all different kinds of players. I just didn't see the point in putting him on TV," he said.
"There's obviously a bit of friction there," Westwood added, referring to the fractured relationship between Williams and Woods. "So, what's the point?"
U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy felt Williams had gone a bit too far while speaking "in the heat of the moment".
The Northern Irishman added: "I definitely think it took away from Adam's win. It was a phenomenal win -- he played unbelievable all week.
"Adam's the one hitting the shots. Stevie's obviously had a good influence on him the last four weeks or whatever it is, but Adam's the one who ultimately gets the ball in the hole."