March 17, 2008 -- Leading into every Arnold Palmer Invitational the talk is almost always about the golf course. The Bay Hill course is in my opinion one of the greatest and most importantly the fairest tests of golf on the PGA Tour. It allows the likes of Sean O'Hair to move up the leaderboard with a spectacular round of 63 on Saturday but will punish someone like Vijay Singh who made a double bogey 7 on the 6th hole Saturday that eventually lead to a front nine 40 and put the likes of Tiger Woods in serious contention.

Once again Tiger led the way, capturing his 64th PGA Tour win and his fifth win at Bay Hill. (Wireimage.com)

However, this year the talk leading into the event was not about how wonderful Bay Hill is, but about the condition of the greens. At the beginning of the year the greens at Bay Hill were attacked by a Nematode, which is basically a fancy name for a worm that damages grass. While the PGA Tour sent in an entire team of specialists to try and improve the conditions of the greens, the Tour eventually posted a notice prior to the event stating that the greens were improved but would not be ideal. Tiger Woods was quoted early in the week saying that "They are not very good. It's going to be an interesting week on them. You're going to see a lot of guys hit good putts and they're going to go weird ways, unfortunately. But, hey  we've all got to deal with it." Ironically, at the end of week it was Tiger Woods who sank a 24 foot putt on the final hole to beat Bart Bryant by one and capture his 64th victory tying Ben Hogan for career victories

So, what can we learn from Tiger's performance this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? Well, in my opinion what won Tiger his 64th career tournament was patience. After opening rounds of 70-68 Tiger entered the weekend seven shots behind 36-hole leader Vijay Singh. Tiger opened the third round by making birdies on three of the first four holes and eventually posting a 66 while the rest of the field dealt with gusty conditions in the afternoon. At the end of Saturday Tiger found himself tied for the lead at 6 under. On Saturday Tiger never seemed to force any shots. He played conservatively on the difficult holes and attacked the pins when he could.

On Sunday Tiger, after making bogey at the 10th hole, found himself in a tie for the lead with Bart Bryant. The awesome thing about Tiger's final eight holes was at no time did he try to force making birdie. Johnny Miller made the comment after Tiger's approach to the 16th green that it was the most conservative he had seen Tiger play. Tiger had just hit his approach to no.16, 30 feet right of the pin, in the large part of the green and away from the water hazard on the left. Tiger went on to hit a great putt that just missed on the left side. On no.17, Tiger again hit a wonderful approach shot into the middle of the green and just came up short with his birdie putt. But the end result? He was standing on the 18th tee still tied for the lead. He was staying patient and was avoiding any mistake that could cost him the tournament.

Tiger hit a perfect drive onto 18th fairway and with Bart Bryant in the clubhouse at 9 under, Tiger knew he needed to make a par to tie and force a playoff, or a birdie to win outright. However, no. 18 at Bay Hill is not the hole to try and force birdie. A shot that is hit at the back right pin location -- if not hit perfect -- can easily find the water guarding the entire front right side of the green and cost you the tournament. So, the safe shot for Tiger was to the left of the pin right in the heart of the green. But the one drawback to playing it safe was that Tiger had gone through 71 holes in this tournament and not made a putt over 18 feet. Still, Tiger remained patient and hit a perfect shot to pin high, 21 feet left of the hole. A two putt would guarantee him a share of the lead and put him in a playoff with Bart Bryant -- and a one putt would give him his 64th career win. Tiger is the leader in putts per green in regulation and everyone knows that when the pressure is on there is no one better than Tiger. He remained patient and gently rolled in the perfect putt to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

So, my advice to you when you go out and play your next round is to play with patience.

1. Try to always hit to the middle or safe side of the green

2. When you hit an errant shot don't try for the miracle, get yourself safely back into play and avoid the big numbers

3. On the green, you will not make everything. Don't try to force yourself to make putts. Trust your stroke and be patient, if you are hitting good putts they will go in.

4. Most importantly, remember that everyone is playing the same course as you. If the conditions are not ideal remember they are the same for everyone and at the end the best player will come out on top

Hopefully, you will be as fortunate as Tiger and make the putt when it counts most. But if not, be patient and your turn will come.

Sheldon Buytenhuys is the PGA Director of Instruction at the Lowes Island Club in Potomac Falls, VA. Before Sheldon joined the Lowes Island team he was an instructor at the Faldo Golf Institute in Orlando, FL. Sheldon has been fortunate enough to work with LPGA Tour players and some of the best amateur players in the Mid-Atlantic. He has been nominated the past two years for the Middle Atlantic PGA Teacher of the Year award. Sheldon can be reached at 703-444-4802 or at Sheldon@lowesisland.com.