Tiger Woods' stint in Australia spells out his season

In the third round of the Australian Masters, the uber-famous golfer in the fitted Nike golf shirt and flawlessly clean golf shoes walked to the first hole hoping to make up some ground. He hit two good shots on the first hole and was hoping to make birdie for the third straight day, but missed a 5-footer. Then Tiger Woods three-putted the second hole, and so on, and so on, until he was in the clubhouse with a disappointing 71, falling 10 shots behind a leader nobody's heard of.

That is the thing about Tiger this season. Like a basketball player that loses his legs, or a baseball player that doesn't have the same pop on his throws to first, we don't totally grasp what is happening until it has happened for a long, long time. Finally, we collectively realize they aren't the same player anymore, a "doh" moment that happens to the best of athletes (think Michael Jordan on the Wizards). Do we want to keep seeing them perform? Of course, they're legends. Is it a JV version of what they used to do? Absolutely, no chance that guy would make varsity.

All season, I've been a big advocate for Tiger being fine, just needing a season to find his game, get his life back on pace, and work everything out with his new instructor. But, the past couple of weeks have made me doubt my stance, and this week has been the cherry on top to my thinking. Maybe Tiger won't ever be the same. For golf, that's a scary thing.

Look at just a few of the obvious factors in this. Tiger is currently tied in a tournament with names like Aaron Townsend, Paul Sheehan and Kurt Barnes. At an event he won last season by two strokes, Tiger isn't even in the hunt.

He will end 2010 without a win for the first time in his career. It's the first season ever that Tiger didn't win a World Golf Championships event, dating back to their inception in 1999. This is only the second time in his career that Tiger finished outside the top 20 in the last two majors in a season.

But all that you know. He has had a HORRIBLE year, probably the worst of his life. He's been called names, heckled, divorced, berated, and for the first time in his career, questioned.

Still, when you see this Tiger walk the golf course, it just isn't the same guy. His confidence seems shot. His ability to let the round come to him seems gone. He is grinding like a guy that knows it isn't there. He doesn't seem like he even believes he can do it anymore.

Tiger will turn 35 at the end of next month, and while he keeps hiding behind the fact that Ben Hogan didn't win all his majors until after 34, the fact is, it isn't 1946 anymore, and Tiger isn't the most dominant golfer in the game like Hogan used to be. He has become just another good golfer, that has the ability to woo audiences with his shot-making, yet crush our hearts with his missed putt that would have taken his round from good to Tiger-y.

I expect on Sunday, Woods will close with a good score in Australia, just like he opened with an impressive number in the first round at Augusta, which seemed like a decade ago. He will toy with us once more, make us think he found something, and possibly leave us from competitive tournaments for the season with a taste in our mouth like he could be back in 2011.

But what if he's not? What if he's done? That's scary, but for the first time ever, I'm talking myself into it.

UPDATE: Australian Stuart Appleby won the Australian Masters at 10-under. Tiger Woods shot a 6-under 65 and finished three shots back.

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For the first time ever, Tiger Woods will end a season winless

Here are some astonishing facts about Tiger Woods since he turned pro in 1996; he has 71 PGA Tour wins, including 14 majors. He has finished a season with nine wins (2000) and just one win (1998). He won twice his rookie season, despite turning pro in September.

All of these things are incredible impressive, and might be the foundation of a career bettered by no one, but 2010 will not be one of those seasons we will talk about when praising Tiger.

This week, at the HSBC Champions, Woods opened with a 68. Talk of him getting back to his tireless practicing regiment seemed to be very true, and he was back in the hunt at an event he has finished second in twice. But, much like his season has gone, it was only a glimpse of the old Woods.

Tiger made five bogeys in his second round, and four more in the third round, after a birdie on the opening hole looked like it might help vault him up the leaderboard.

Unless a typhoon blows in on Sunday and wrecks the leaders chances, Tiger will not be a winner on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career, and as sad as that is to think, it really should be the way it is. Tiger has never looked comfortable all season. Not with the press, not with his game and never when he was in the hunt.

He got people chattering at the Masters when he played solid to start, but for every good round Woods pieced together, a nasty, frustrating one was lurking in the shadows.

This season was never going to be about his golf, as weird as that seems. It was always about his personal life, and his marriage, and his kids and the mistresses. We spent way too much of our time analyzing things we knew nothing about, and as glad as we are that this season is soon to be over, I'm sure Tiger couldn't be boarding his private jet quicker when his final competitive putt drops and he can sneak away for a few months.

Nobody will look back at 2010 as the year of Tiger's failed wins, it will be about all his losses both on and off the golf course.

(And yes, we know he has two events left to play, but neither count as PGA Tour wins.)

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Tiger Woods stint in Australia spells out his season

In the third round of the Australian Masters, the uber-famous golfer in the fitted Nike golf shirt and flawlessly clean golf shoes walked to the first hole hoping to make up some ground. He hit two good shots on the first hole and was hoping to make birdie for the third straight day, but missed a 5-footer. Then Tiger Woods three-putted the second hole, and so on, and so on, until he was in the clubhouse with a disappointing 71, falling 10 shots behind a leader nobody's heard of.

That is the thing about Tiger this season. Like a basketball player that loses his legs, or a baseball player that doesn't have the same pop on his throws to first, we don't totally grasp what is happening until it has happened for a long, long time. Finally, we collectively realize they aren't the same player anymore, a "doh" moment that happens to the best of athletes (think Michael Jordan on the Wizards). Do we want to keep seeing them perform? Of course, they're legends. Is it a JV version of what they used to do? Absolutely, no chance that guy would make varsity.

All season, I've been a big advocate for Tiger being fine, just needing a season to find his game, get his life back on pace, and work everything out with his new instructor. But, the past couple of weeks have made me doubt my stance, and this week has been the cherry on top to my thinking. Maybe Tiger won't ever be the same. For golf, that's a scary thing.

Look at just a few of the obvious factors in this. Tiger is currently tied in a tournament with names like Aaron Townsend, Paul Sheehan and Kurt Barnes. At an event he won last season by two strokes, Tiger isn't even in the hunt.

He will end 2010 without a win for the first time in his career. It's the first season ever that Tiger didn't win a World Golf Championships event, dating back to their inception in 1999. This is only the second time in his career that Tiger finished outside the top 20 in the last two majors in a season.

But all that you know. He has had a HORRIBLE year, probably the worst of his life. He's been called names, heckled, divorced, berated, and for the first time in his career, questioned.

Still, when you see this Tiger walk the golf course, it just isn't the same guy. His confidence seems shot. His ability to let the round come to him seems gone. He is grinding like a guy that knows it isn't there. He doesn't seem like he even believes he can do it anymore.

Tiger will turn 35 at the end of next month, and while he keeps hiding behind the fact that Ben Hogan didn't win all his majors until after 34, the fact is, it isn't 1946 anymore, and Tiger isn't the most dominant golfer in the game like Hogan used to be. He has become just another good golfer, that has the ability to woo audiences with his shot-making, yet crush our hearts with his missed putt that would have taken his round from good to Tiger-y.

I expect on Sunday, Woods will close with a good score in Australia, just like he opened with an impressive number in the first round at Augusta, which seemed like a decade ago. He will toy with us once more, make us think he found something, and possibly leave us from competitive tournaments for the season with a taste in our mouth like he could be back in 2011.

But what if he's not? What if he's done? That's scary, but for the first time ever, I'm talking myself into it.

UPDATE: Australian Stuart Appleby won the Australian Masters at 10-under. Tiger Woods shot a 6-under 65 and finished three shots back.

Related: Tiger Woods

Email Devil Ball Golf Buzz up! digg add to facebook delicious Twitter

« Prev Sergio Garcia, relaxed and rolling once again

Next » Check out Tiger Woods' sparkly new $50 million bachelor pad

Golf Poulter takes 2-stroke lead in Hong Kong Woods posts first message on Twitter Mallinger leads by 1 at Pebble Beach Clearwater wins at Champions Q-school More Golf News 97 Comments Post a Comment

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