The 2012 British Open: Tiger Woods winless streak in the major championships increased to 13
The 14-time major champion Tiger Woods remained in contention for his fourth British Open victory at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, until he triple bogeyed the par-four sixth hole during the final round on Sunday, July 22, 2012.
Woods started off his final round campaign five strokes behind the 54-hole leader Adam Scott. On a difficult course like Royal Lytham, anything could have happened and the five-stroke margin was a realistic lead to achieve.
Scott stumbled early in the round and went two-over. As a result, the lead reduced and Woods’ chances of catching the Australian on top of the leaderboard increased.
However, his second shot on the sixth hole found a greenside bunker. There, he tried to make a chip shot that bounced back after hitting the bunker-wall.
Thereafter, he once again had to play the shot from the bunker, which he successfully chipped out to the green. Yet, his problems did not end, as he had to three-putt for a disastrous triple bogey.
"The game plan was to fire into the bank and have it ricochet to the right and then have an angle. Unfortunately, it ricocheted to the left and almost hit me. Then I tried to play an interesting shot after that and ended up 3-putting".
Woods’ winless streak in the major championships has now increased to 13 events. However, he is not too worried about it, as he has solid reasons behind it.
"We all go through these phases. Some people it lasts entire careers. Others are a little bit shorter. Even the greatest players to ever play have all gone through little stretches like this," Woods said. "When playing careers last 40 and 50 years, you're
going to have stretches like this".
According to Woods, he did not plan to go very low in the round because of the course conditions on the final day. Therefore, his main focus was to stay calm and keep the score at least at level par.
However, a triple bogey and three bogeys in a row staring from the 13th hole spoiled his day. Otherwise, he could have been in a great position to win the 15th major title of his career.
In the meantime, Ernie Els took the title home with a seven-under par tournament score after Scott faltered on the final four holes and record four straight bogeys to settle for a six-under par overall score.
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