The prospect of Tiger Woods winning a record 19 majors is getting frustratingly distant, if not impossibly dim, after the world’s top golfer endured his fifth year without a big one under his belt.
After his dazzling seven-shot victory at Firestone in the week preceding the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, the 14-times major winner had given his fans hope that his troubles of the past were well and truly behind him and that he was ready for another tilt at world domination.
But after Woods finished in a share of 40th to match his worst 72-hole professional result in a major from last year’s Masters, one spot worse than his share of 39th at the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, questions are being asked yet again if he would ever be the player who during his heyday – if one may use the word for a 37-year-old – literally drove his rivals to despair with a near-brutal dedication that was unmatched on the golf course before he invaded the scene.
Woods’ absence from the major roll of honour since winning the 2008 US Open in sudden-death playoff with Rocco Mediate after an 18-hole playoff has now entered the sixth year, with his next shot not due until April next year at the Masters in Augusta.
But the credentials he has accumulated over the years mean nobody would dare to totally write him off either. After all, he still managed nine top-10 finishes in the 18 majors since his US Open triumph at Torrey Pines in 2008.
Critics will point to Woods’s barren run at the majors since his US Open triumph in 2008 as a sign that his best golf is behind him, but the world number one has nine top-10 finishes in the 18 majors he has competed in since then.
That includes a tie for fourth at the Masters in April and a share of sixth place at last month’s British Open, results that convince Woods he has no reason to panic about his form in the top events.
“Is it concerning? No. As I’ve said, I’ve been there in half of them. So that’s about right,” Woods said.
“If you are going to be in there three-quarters or half of them with a chance to win on the back nine, you have just got to get it done.”
Woods got it done in brilliant fashion at last week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, romping to a seven-shot victory that made him an overwhelming favourite at Oak Hill, site of the year’s final major.
But surprisingly, Woods was essentially out of contention by the midway point of the PGA Championship, where he failed to break par in any of four rounds.
If one forgets the majors though, it has been yet another great year for the 37-year-old world number one, who is the only player with five PGA Tour wins this season.
Any other golfer would give his right arm to be in his position. But when you are talking about Tiger Woods, it seems comparisons with mere mortals just won’t do.