Tiger Woods has changed.
Today, the world watched Eldrick fail to close strongly in the 2012 British Open. Coming up short in PGA Tour majors isn’t a new development for Woods—it’s become a pattern.
The killer is gone. The most clutch athlete on the planet has been reduced to a choke artist.
Steve DiMeglio of USA Today reported that Tiger talked about his letdown after the tournament. He said:
I was right there. The game plan was to shoot under par going out. And with the wind the way it was blowing, I was right there in position. But I didn't get it done. Overall I'm pleased with the way I played, unfortunately just a couple here and there ended up costing me some momentum, especially today at No. 6.
Woods began Sunday five strokes back from Adam Scott. It would’ve taken an extraordinary effort for Tiger to fight back to win the title.
Key word: would’ve—as in, it would’ve if Scott didn’t generously set him up for a comeback.
Scott shot five over par in Round 4. Woods just needed to go even on the day to force a playoff. Instead, he shot three over.
You know what hurts the most about Tiger failing to take advantage of Scott’s collapse, though? The golfer that did (Ernie Els) began Sunday one stroke behind Woods.
But again, Tiger’s choke job isn't exactly mind-blowing.
In the U.S. Open, Woods bogeyed and/or double bogeyed five out of the first six holes on the final day to take himself out of the running for the Olympic Club crown. At the Masters, five Round 4 bogeys were only the cherry on top of a weekend-long struggle. In last year’s PGA Championship, he didn’t even make the cut.
And the drought continues. Tiger hasn’t won a major tournament in over four years.
He keeps fooling fans into believing that he’s back with meaningless wins in other PGA Tour events. On the grandest of stages, though, when it counts the most, Woods continues to come up short.
David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.
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