Tiger will win again, but when?

It's fair to say now that I was wrong about how much his scandal would affect Tiger Woods on the golf course.

As in, way wrong.

At the time I didn't grasp the depth of his transgressions, or that it would ultimately cost him his family.

But that's not why he hasn't won since.

What he's lost in the process is his swing plane and his confidence, two things that were automatic before and should have been after, and two things no player can possibly play well without.

And that's all happened not because he was humiliated off the course — an idea so simplistic as to be dim — but rather because of decisions he made off the course.

Had Woods stayed the course last year he almost certainly would have been back in form and winning again, but amid the turmoil he had a falling out with Hank Haney and made a terrible decision by parting ways with his coach.

Now, I'm not a huge Haney fan and what he teaches, and Woods' swing was perfect before the switch from Butch Harmon.

In fact, Woods' swing was nearly perfect when he met Harmon, and all he did was tweak Woods a bit.

He went to Haney and the swing change because he wanted to take advantage of the newest technology, and in order to be even better than he was — which was already the best in the world — he felt he needed a change.

It cost him at least a year if not more while he adjusted, but when he finally put it together Woods got what he wanted, which was to be even more dominant.

By the end of 2007 he had split the difference between the upright Harmon swing and the flatter Haney swing, and from the British Open 2006 through the BMW Championship in September 2009, he went 4-for-12 in majors with four seconds, and overall won a ridiculous 25 of 46 starts.

That's 54 percent. That's insane. That's impossible.

So like Haney or not — and some swear by his style — it worked with Haney, and when Woods split with his swing coach last season after missing an entire off-season of work, he struggled on his own to the point where he began working with yet another coach, Sean Foley, in the days leading up to the 2010 PGA Championship.

Now, after a winter with Foley, Woods looks like a guy still trying to find it, which is normal under the circumstances. It takes time and reps to get comfortable enough to rely on muscle memory, not thought process, in crunchtime.

“All of (the swing changes) have been challenging,” Woods said Wednesday in Miami. “They've all been hard because changes to motor patterns take time.”

And time it is taking again.

So it was odd but not shocking to see Woods at the Match Play in Tucson on the first extra hole taking practice swing after practice swing like a man with no confidence in his driver.

When he needs to find the short grass, he finds himself stuck between four different swings, unable to count on the most current method.

Sure enough, he missed the fairway and lost the hole and the match.

And so it goes.

Woods — who's won three times at Doral, where he tees off Thursday at 10:51 a.m. — may struggle more while he gets used to a new swing and there will be many more predictions suggesting he's completely finished.

But it says here he will find it eventually, maybe even this season. He may never dominate again as he once did but he will start to win again and he will catch Jack Nicklaus for the most majors ever.

It's only a question of time — and confidence.

Ohio State

The first reaction here whenever these stories come out is to be angry and frustrated with the contradiction that is college sports and the living, breathing hypocrisy that is the NCAA.

And within seconds I shrug my shoulders and think, what else is new?

I can no longer be shocked by any disclosures or stunned that a coach isn't fired, not after Bruce Pearl kept his job last year.

So schools continue to make hundreds of millions off “student-athletes” and we're supposed to be mad that Terrelle Pryor sold rings and awards that belonged only to him.

Sorry, but I find that the least distasteful part of this story.

Ivan Boldirev-ing

Glenview native Al Montoya has found his game since being traded from Phoenix to the Islanders a month ago, going 6-2-2 with a 2.02 goals against and a .927 save percentage. The 26-year-old goaltender was originally taken sixth overall by the Rangers in 2004.

Jake Peavy

Another superb outing Wednesday for the rehabbing White Sox starter. Peavy is making it difficult for even the most skeptical among us to quell our excitement.

The hurt pool

E-mailer Dan Marich: “The way teams in the Central Division are losing players, and ultimately helping the Cubs, maybe you need to start a squares pool guessing who will be next to go down. I'll take Joey Votto for $5.”

Best headline

Sportspickle.com: “The Big Ten's one good team obviously cheating.”

And finally ...

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, to the Miami Heat: “Big boys don't cry. But if you're going to do it, do it in the toilet where no one can see.”

brozner@dailyherald.com

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