Woods leaves with no regrets

Tiger Woods may have lost, and never really contended, but it proves only one thing: he is human. So, he didn't achieve a five-in-a-row of majors; and he didn't take the next step towards achieving the real Grand Slam of winning all four majors in the one season. History tells us, however, that these things happen.

The most obvious parallel is with Jack Nicklaus. In major championships, even the greatest have bad weeks and, when Nicklaus was at the top of his game from 1965-67, a time in which he won four majors and finished in the top eight three times, he also missed the cut and finished 31st and 22nd in two others.

"To be honest, I played as hard as I could," said Woods after finishing in tied12th place in Sunday's 101st US Open. "I tried on every shot, and there's no regrets. There is nothing wrong with the way I played. I got a few bad bounces, yes. Did I execute the shots I wanted to? No. But I had the right mindset on every shot."

History also tells us that Woods was simply attempting too much at Southern Hills. No golfer had previously won five majors in succession, and few have managed to successfully defend US Open titles. In fact, since 1950, only Ben Hogan and Curtis Strange managed to defend their titles and, since 1991, no defending champion had finished higher than 40th (at least Woods broke that sequence) while three managed to miss the cut the following year.

Woods had been responsible for creating the aura of invincibility. He had won five of his previous six pre-US Open tournaments and, at the Memorial in his last outing, he had come from behind to win by seven shots. At his press conference on Tuesday, it seemed he really believed he was destined to win again. "Would I put money on me? Probably not. Just because I don't think it is a good business decision with those odds. Now, do I like my chances? Yes, I do."

Yet, it all went wrong. From his opening tee-shot which was pushed right - with an iron - into the rough, it was apparent something wasn't quite right with his game. "Mathematically, he was due to play less than his best in a major," pointed out American television analyst Johnny Miller. "He is human, just barely. Guys just don't play at the absolute top of their games at every single major."

There were also technical difficulties. Woods' hips were turning out of the way too soon on the downswing. Butch Harmon has a practice drill to rectify that problem that creeps into his game occasionally but, because Woods resumed his round at 7 a.m. on Friday morning after the previous evening's weather suspension and then had just 40 minutes between rounds before teeing off again, there wasn't time to work it out.

So, his majors streak has ended, and he will head to the British Open at Royal Lytham next month intent on starting anew. "It was fun to win four in a row, there is no doubt about that. I enjoyed, more than anything, giving myself a chance on the back nine on Sunday. That's where you want to be. I've had my share and hopefully I can have my share in the future."

This week, Woods returns to tournament play for the Buick Classic at Westchester and, after that, some fishing in Alaska is planned before he gears himself up for his defence of the British Open.