Another year of major championship golf has passed without Tiger Woods hoisting the trophy above his head. It has been four years now, and he has to be getting anxious to get one to reaffirm his standing.
Last weekend, Woods crumbled over the weekend – again — after leading the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island after two rounds. Saturday is called “Moving Day” in golf, and Woods moved in reverse, while eventual champion Rory McElroy took leaps forward.
Remarkably – remarkable in an unbelievable way — Woods said he falter on Saturday because “I came out with probably the wrong attitude,” Woods said after a final-round 72 left him 11 shots back of McElroy, tied for 11th place. “I was too relaxed, and tried to enjoy it, and that’s not how I play. I play intense and full systems go. That cost me.”
Not saying that’s a bunch of hogwash, but that sounds like a bunch of hogwash.
It wasn’t as if Woods was out there slapping high-fives with folks in the gallery or chatting it up with his playing partners. What, exactly, does “too relaxed” mean in Tiger Woods world?
“I was trying to enjoy it, enjoy the process of it,” Woods said. “But that’s not how I play. I play full system go, all out, intense, and that’s how I won 14 of these things. That’s something I rectified (Sunday) and I played a lot better because of it.”
Better was only even par, which was hardly enough to challenge for his 15th major. Woods began the fourth round five shots behind McIlroy and finished 11 shots back. You do the math.
He shot 74 Saturday and 72 Sunday, meaning this year he did not break 60 on any of eight weekend rounds of the majors. That’s so unTiger-like.
Woods has four top-five finishes in majors; he’s played well enough ot contend, not well enough to win.
“The thing is to keep putting myself there,” he said. “I’m not going to win them all and I haven’t won them all. I certainly have lost a lot more than I’ve won. But the key is putting myself there each and every time and I’ll start getting them again.”
