JACK Nicklaus' insistence that there were too many great players around for Tiger Woods to navigate an entire season without losing a single tournament was proved correct at Doral yesterday as the former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy won the weather delayed CA Championship by a stroke from fellow major winners Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk.
In spite of being some way below his best form and making fewer putts than usual, Woods was as unyielding as ever and signed off with 68 and the 15-under– par total of 273. After winning seven consecutive events, Tiger's streak came to an end simply
because he didn't hole out as well as he usually does.
Woods conceded that he'd struggled to read the lines at Doral over the past week of competition and had found the grain on the putting surfaces something of a mystery. He'd three-putted on four occasions and accepted he made too many mistakes to win. That said, finishing in a share of fifth, two strokes behind Ogilvy, was no cause to hang his head in shame. He will still arrive in Augusta next month as the overwhelming favourite to land the first major title of 2008.
Woods' first taste of defeat in six months can be traced back to a glimpse of his mortality in the third round when the world No1 only managed a single birdie and couldn't better the par of 72. It was a reminder that in golf even the most dominant champions are human and lose more often than they win.
Surrounded by talk of a perfect season before this World Golf Championship event got underway in Florida, Woods was widely tipped to run away with the tournament on a course where he's looked unstoppable in the past. The notion of winning every event you enter, of course, is absurd. What was truly remarkable was that this was the first time in eight events since September of last year that Tiger didn't win.
If he was irked by certain aspects of his play, Woods was understandably satisfied with the determination he'd shown. Even when he's stuck in second gear, Tiger never gives up and can still challenge the best. Should he have required any consolation for this loss, his cheque for $285,000 took Tiger's career earnings in America through the $80 million mark.
"I think it's a great sign, what happened this week, to make that many mistakes and only be two back (of the winner]," reflected Woods. "You want to always win every one you play in. So you've just got to get ready for the next one."
Tiger has never hidden the fact that luck as well as skill plays a part in winning events. This was a week when the force wasn't with him.
"People don't really understand, you need to have something happen, a positive thing happen to you out there in order to win tournaments," he added. "I heard Geoff bladed one in the hole for par. That's what you need to have happen. Those are the things that have happened to me, and things weren't going that way this week."
It's safe to assume, if Woods wins the Masters and embarks on a quest for the Grand Slam then no-one will spend too much time fretting over this mishap in Miami. After all, how remarkable is it that when someone doesn't win a golf tournament it's regarded as headline news?
For Ogilvy, on the other hand, winning for the first time since he thwarted Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson at the US Open in 2006 was a welcome fillip.
Carding 71 for 271, the Australian looked to be in trouble on the par-3 15th when he missed the green on the left and fluffed his wedge from the long grass. When it looked as if he would do well to escape with a bogey, he chipped in from the collar of rough surrounding the green – though not before rattling the pin first. If Ogilvy's aggressive shot hadn't been swallowed by the hole, it might have gone ten feet past.
"That was moving," he smiled. "That's why you have to hit it on line. The flag gets in the way."
Meanwhile, there was no late revival for Montgomerie and the Scot's faint hopes of returning to the world's top 50 and earning a spot at the Masters were extinguished as he carded 73 for a four-over 292 and a share of 65th place.
Putting problems have been at the root of Monty's recent stretch of poor form and the winner of eight Order of Merit titles is thought to have asked Woods for advice in search of a key for improvement.
The full article contains 797 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
