Tym Glaser - Sport Spotlight FOR THE first time in seemingly infinity, or at least since 1998, Tiger Woods failed to win a Major championship this year.
Instead, two very good players, Michael Weir (US Masters) and Jim Furyk (US Open), and two virtual no-names, Ben Davis (British Open) and Shaun Micheel (US PGA Championship), walked away with the four most coveted prizes in golf.
The 27-year-old Woods must now sweat out another seven months before chasing Major crown No. 9.
Poor old Tiger, what went wrong?
Actually, despite what the naysayers and tall-poppy trimmers say, nothing?
Winning a golf tournament, let alone a major, is one of the most difficult sporting accomplishments in the world.
To say 'El Tigre' is in a slump is a little ridiculous as he has still won four tournaments on the US PGA tour this year - equal most with Davis Love III - and has run his streak of making the cut to 110, just three behind the all-time record.
Woods' problem is that his profound skill and unrivalled early success has set expectations way too high of a young man who has still banked almost US$5 million in earnings this season.
Those same factors have also led to two other causes for his apparent on-course mortality this season:
1) he raised the bar and other players have chosen to follow.
2) club managers have opted to Tiger-proof their courses.
The first came from the simple deduction reached by the players after Tiger started to run away with the game. Woods had set a benchmark for hard work - on and off the course - which had to be at least emulated for them to be close to par with him.
The second came from tournament hosts who saw little value in long-driving Woods carving up their courses on the way to record scores. Hence narrower fairways, deeper roughs and, lately, more tricky greens.
An odd by-product of all this in 2003 was the fact that unknowns like Davis and Micheel were able to reap the benefits while better-known players like Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Love were not.
That just goes to show the depth of men's professional golf.
Davis and Micheel may never win another tournament, let alone Major, but they have some very fancy silverware and a nice cheque for their efforts this year.
Tiger, meanwhile, is probably licking his wounds, but watch out! When you catch a Tiger by the tail, make sure you don't let go.
