March 12, 2008

For Tiger, four years of way too much bay at Bay Hill

By Steve Elling | CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Last year, Tiger Woods hit rock bottom.

At least, we're presupposing that's what lies at the bottom of Arnold Palmer's famous lakes, bays and ponds. It might actually be a mix of sand, duck droppings and the occasional deceased bass.

Whatever the case, a few of Woods' golf balls are down there, too.

In what ranks as the most forgettable recent stretch of his world-bashing career, Woods staggered off the course at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year, finishing with a bogey, double-bogey and triple-bogey in succession, depositing balls in the water on the last two holes of the final round.

After finishing off a 43 to match the highest nine-hole score of his pro career, Woods showed up the following week at the World Golf Championships event in Miami wondering if he was caught in an escalating trend where things were really going to get ugly.

"I was pretty worried about it when I played my next event, hoping I didn't make a quad on the first hole," he laughed.

That's shorthand for quadruple-bogey of course. As for Woods' record-setting quadrilateral at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, it seems as though it happened eons ago, since his abrupt reversal of fate at Arnie's Place represents the biggest head-shaker in an otherwise unassailable period of strong play.

Tiger Woods' explanation for his recent Bay Hill troubles: 'I just haven't played well.' (AP)

The past four years at Bay Hill represent his longest active stretch in which he has failed to finish better than 20th at any single event.

"I just haven't played well," Woods said Wednesday of his hometown slump. "No ifs, ands or buts."

He was knocked on his butt and limped off last year, furthering the questions about how a player who had so thoroughly dominated an event had become an also-swam, dunking balls in ponds and losing years of positive mojo. The skid aside, sports website GolfOdds.com has listed Woods as a 10-11 favorite to win this week -- that's less than an even-money proposition, which isn't altogether unreasonable given that the world No. 1 is seeking his sixth consecutive worldwide victory. In the minds of many, including his own, Woods is playing better than ever.

Yet this week, a Bay Hill layout that has experienced trouble with substandard putting surfaces all winter presents the biggest obstacle he'll face in the next couple of months, he conceded.

"Definitely, definitely," he said. "Especially with what we have to putt on this week. It will be quite a test."

Been that way for four years, actually. In his winning streak, Woods averaged 67.9 strokes, a tally that has jumped by 3.5 shots per round from 2004-07.

When the Woods wheels fell off, they truly rolled into yonder swamp. As the four-time defending champ in 2004, Woods opened with a 67, then belly-flopped, finishing in a season-worst tie for 46th. A year later, his 23rd-place finish was his third-worst of the year. In 2006-07, he logged in at 20th and 22nd, both representing his second-worst finishes of the season.

From clear first to personal near-worst, just like that? Woods said he still enjoys the sightlines and framing of the course and has felt that way since he won the U.S. Junior Amateur title at Bay Hill in 1991, the biggest victory of his career at that stage.

"This has always fit my eye since the junior days," he said. "I just haven't played well, and on this course, you have to play well in order to win.

"You can't go out and slap it around and shoot something in the mid-60s here."

The course has slapped back before. Back in '91, Woods was 1 up on the 18th tee when he hooked a ball out of bounds to lose the hole, though he eventually prevailed in a playoff. When Woods won the Bay Hill crown in 2001, he was one shot behind Phil Mickelson with one hole to play, and he again yanked his tee shot well left on the 18th, where it hit a spectator in the neck, keeping it from sailing out if bounds. He made a memorable 15-footer for the clinching birdie, which still marks the last time Woods birdied the 72nd hole to win by a stroke.

Two years later, in one of the most amazing performances of his career, Woods spent most the final round at Bay Hill with the dry heaves and battling a case of food poisoning, yet still closed with a 68 for a record 11-shot rout.

When Stewart Cink was bulldozed by Woods in the Accenture Match Play Championship three weeks ago, he was asked if there was a course in existence that Woods couldn't handle. Cink thought for a moment and then volunteered, "Riviera?"

It was a valid answer, since the famed Los Angeles club represents the lone site where Woods has never claimed a victory despite almost annual attempts. But he has skipped Riviera the past two years. Thus, Bay Hill would have been a logical nominee, too.

The whys and wherefores behind the turnaround are more difficult to pinpoint. Most of it falls under the notions of broad theory or anecdotal assumption.

"I'd have to charge that to 'just one of those things,'" said NBC analyst Roger Maltbie, who has witnessed both the good and bad runs of Woods at Bay Hill. "I'm sure he wants to win them as much now as he ever did then."

NBC's lead analyst, Johnny Miller, believes Woods just hasn't holed as many putts over the four-year drought, and the numbers back him up. He's averaging 2.2 more putts per round since the winning streak came to a halt.

"He's just putted so-so, like a normal human being," Miller said.

As Woods said, Bay Hill isn't a course where players can get away with sloppy play, unless they are a little lucky.

"I have always liked this course," England's Lee Westwood said. "Poor shots are not rewarded."

His four-year mystery notwithstanding, the way Woods is playing at the moment might supersede any residual bad vibes, assuming there are any, he might feel. His O-Town O-fer might not last much longer.

"I think that right now," Palmer said of Woods' game, "he's got it by the neck and he's choking it."