Woods sidelined until November

Golf:Tiger Woods is back on the golf sidelines after just six rounds of his latest comeback — not because he is injured again, but because his game is not good enough. Missing the cut by six strokes at the USPGA Championship in Atlanta means Woods will not qualify for the FedEx Cup play-offs starting later this month.

By the time he comes back — his next confirmed event is the Australian Open from November 10th-13th - he might be outside the world’s top 50.

Asked if he could consider playing in Europe, he said he might, but the fact that he laughed as he said it was a clear indication that it is not in his plans.

“I think I was in nearly 20 bunkers in two days and had four or five water balls [it was four],” Woods said after his worst performance in a major. “Now I’ll have nothing to do but work on my game. That’s going to be good.

“Sean [Sean Foley, his coach for the stop-start past year] and I haven’t had the opportunity to really sit down and do a lot of work, so this will be our time.

“I think this is a step back in the sense that I didn’t make the cut and I’m not contending in the tournament, but it’s a giant leap forward in the fact that I played two straight weeks healthy.

“That’s great for our practice sessions coming up. I showed signs that I can hit the ball exactly how I know I can — unfortunately I just didn’t do it enough times. The changes I’m making, I’m hitting the ball further and that’s something I have to adjust for.

“My cut shots don’t cut as much and my draws don’t draw much. You think it would be pretty easy, but I’ve played for years a certain way. I have way more power now, so it’s just a matter of doing the work.”

If it is November when Woods returns it will be 24 months since his last tournament victory anywhere in the world — and of course, the same time since his life was turned upside down by a sex scandal. The last of his 14 major victories will have been nearly four years in the past by the time next April’s Masters comes around, and he will be 36 by then.

Too soon then to say that his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s record 18 majors is doomed to failure — Nicklaus was 38 when he captured his 15th title and 46 when his haul ended at the 1986 Masters. But while he will hope there are still golden moments to come, the present is a real concern.

And not just for Woods.

Fred Couples is captain of the United States team for the Presidents Cup in Australia on November 17th-20th. Woods will not be among the 10 who qualify automatically, but Couples has two wild cards to hand out on September 26th. To go with a player in freefall would surely be a huge gamble.

His five double bogeys were the most Woods has had in a tournament, his 116th position his worst in a major.

For a while yesterday it looked as if he might recover from an opening 77 to survive the cut. But then came a six on the par-four 11th — he was in two bunkers and a lake — and a seven on the long 12th, where he twice hooked horribly into the trees.

Woods was in another lake on the last, but by then it was all over. Not just for the week, but possibly for the next two months as well.