Tiger Woods Shut Out of Majors This Season
( 2003-08-18 14:10) (Yahoo)
By the time Tiger Woods started playing well, it was
too late to end all the talk about his major
slump.
The world's
No. 1-ranked player birdied two of his final three holes Sunday, but that gave him a total
of just six for the four rounds of the PGA Championship, leaving him well
down the leaderboard in the year's final major.
"It's time I got something
going and I ran out of holes," Woods said, laughing after his final-round 73
left him at 12-over 292 for the tournament.
It was the first time Woods
failed to win a major in a year since 1998 and stretched his streak to six
straight majors without a win.
Woods was never in contention after an
opening-round 74 on the narrow, thick-roughed Oak Hill Country Club course that
ate up his unusually errant tee shots.
"It is frustrating. But you know
what? I'm so happy I'm done," Woods said. "It's tough. It's hard to get the ball
close. And if you're not as precise as you need to be, it's tough.
"It's
just a brutal test."
He was over par in all four rounds (his best was a
second-round 72), making it the third time in 32 majors as a professional that
Woods failed to break par once.
The last time
that happened was the British Open at Carnoustie in 1999, and he also did it at the
U.S. Open at Olympic Club the year before.
Woods finished in a tie for
39th, his lowest in a major since he turned pro. His previous worst was a tie
for 29th, which he did twice, at the 1997 and 2001 PGA Championships.
As
an amateur, Woods missed the cut at the Masters in 1996, and two months later,
he finished in a tie for 82nd at the U.S. Open.
Woods will now have eight
months before his next major, enough time to forget what happened in Rochester.
He finished with 18 bogeys, most the result of hitting only 26 of a
possible 56 fairways, and only 20 greens in regulation.
"The key is don't
miss it one foot in the rough. And that's what I did a lot of times. I missed a
chip barely in the rough and that's the worst part to be in," Woods said.
And yet he maintained his respect for Oak Hill.
"This is a very fair
test. It's right there in front of you," Woods said. "It's just very difficult.
Woods also managed a few laughs Sunday..
He recalled walking up
the 13th fairway with playing partner Aaron Baddeley, who was wearing bright
pink pants.
"I actually heard one of the greatest lines of the whole week
out there today," Woods said. "Some guy yells, 'It's the Tiger and the Pink
Panther.'"
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