Tiger Woods was a picture of misery at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, last night as he missed a halfway cut for only the sixth time in a professional career spanning 14 years.
His worst score as a professional was an 81 at the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield, where he was caught in the middle of an horrific squall that washed away his chances. But this was the result of a storm of his own making — a sex scandal that has dogged him since the end of last year and seems temporarily to have robbed him of his aura of invincibility.
Tiger Woods |
The world No 1 had an ugly round of 79 that included only seven pars and barely a fairway found. After reaching the turn in 36, with a trio of birdies, bogeys and pars, he was hovering on the cut line but still expected to make inroads on the inward nine, his swing having deserted him and his short game looking rusty. It was not to be.
It is rare for Woods to have as many as two bogeys on the trot, but from the 10th yesterday he had a run of six holes that went bogey, bogey, bogey, par, double bogey, double bogey. His game was full of errors, three-putt holes, chunked bunker shots and wayward drives. When asked about his round, Woods said: “It is what it is. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good enough.”
But while his rhythm has deserted him, it is what is going on between the ears that seems to have had the most effect. With rumours circulating this week that his wife, Elin, may file for divorce, this great player has never seemed so vulnerable. It is going to take an immense effort in the short run for him to rediscover his hunger and his touch for the game.
Woods finished the day on 153, nine over par — his worst 36-hole score as a professional — and trailing Billy Mayfair, the leader, by a barely believable 17 strokes. In two days he found only six out of 28 fairways, but refused to change his strategy and stuck for the most part with the driver off the tee. One commentator was even moved to suggest that he had given up.
Many had questioned whether the American was capable of maintaining his high standards after returning to the game after five months away. He had seemed to answer that question by finishing equal fourth at the Masters in his first tournament back, but that seems to have been an illusion. He has left North Carolina and headed to Florida to prepare for The Players Championship, at Sawgrass, next week.
For the first time, many of Woods’s fellow players believe they have found a weakness they can exploit. If ever there was a chance to kick a man while he was down, then now is the time. Which would explain, perhaps, why around a quarter of 71 of Woods’s fellow professionals said in a Sports Illustrated survey published yesterday that they believed he has used human-growth hormone or performance- enhancing drugs. A year ago, no player would have dared suggest such a thing.-
timesonline.co.uk |
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