Woods No Longer Invincible

Filed in archive Golf News on August 16, 2009

Courtesy: The Guardian

Well, well, well. History has been made; Tiger Woods has been defeated while leading on Sunday, while leading after 54 holes and while leading on Sunday in a major - where he WAS 11-0.

That's all over now. The streak is done. Turn the page.

Is a new era in golf about to begin? An era in which Tiger is no longer feared or revered when walking the same fairways as his fellow competitors?

Hard to say. What we can say - with certainty - is that Tiger's record in the majors this year - : T-6 at The Masters, T-6 at the US Open, missed cut at The British Open and now a blown lead on Sunday at the PGA Championship - is miserable by his standards.

Either his standards are slipping or the standards of other golfers are rising.

I believe it's the latter. How else could a South Korean golfer, Y.E. Yang, in his first full exempt season on the PGA Tour and with only one win at the Honda Classic, take on Woods and beat him straight up in the season's final major to become the first from his country to win a major title in the game?

Talent is one thing and Yang has it in spades. But that mental toughness needed to go head-to-head with the Master of Mental Toughness means there are more golfers than just Eldridge capable of controlling mind and body in clutch moments.

Padraig Harrington showed that last weekend in his exciting finish with Woods at the Bridgestone WGC.

Ironically, it was the same skulled pitch from greenside rough into water that sunk Harrington's chance of defending his PGA crown at Hazeltine that also tanked his chances at the WGC.

A crack in Harrington's armor, perhaps. But the point is Tiger is no longer in a class by himself.

Which should make for very exciting golf in the seasons to come.