Now That He's Back, What's the Next Step for Tiger Woods?

He may have come up a putt short of winning $9 million on Thanksgiving during “The Match,” but 2018 has still been a great year for Tiger Woods.

Despite not winning a major, Woods was revitalized on the course this year and improved from 1,199th in the world at this time last year to 13th now.

On the verge of turning 43, Woods may be the favorite to win it all at the 2019 Masters and even has an outside shot of challenging for No. 1 in the world again.

That said, it is tough to predict exactly what 2019 will bring for Woods and if he will be able to build on all the progress he made this year.

Hank Haney, who was Woods’ coach from 2004 to 2010, thinks he will.

“My expectations are that Tiger is going to play really, really well,” Haney said. “I said before this year that he was going to win a tournament. And I think he’ll win another major. Now, I think he’s going to do better than that.”

A major win in 2019 would give Woods his first in 11 years and 15th overall.

“I would look for him to do better,” said Sean Foley, an instructor who worked with Woods from 2010 to 2014. “The one major difference is just the amount of players at the elite level. There have always been great players, but right now as Tiger manages his business, his family, his career, his health … these kids are playing 30 tournaments and playing all day. And there are more of them. They don’t have nearly the fear factor. There is just more competition at the top, and you can see that by the way No. 1 keeps changing.”