Tiger Woods hardly a safe bet at US Open
There may be only one man on the entire planet who can get away with shouting, "Tiger Woods, you suck!" at Augusta.
He is Tiger Woods, and right now, he does kind of suck. Nonetheless, at the time of writing he's still among the favourites to win this year's US Open. Time to make with the lay bets?
Well, perhaps. Woods is coming back from both physical and psychological woes, the world No. 1 playing like a man desperately short on confidence before he quit the Players with a neck injury. Since then he's played the Memorial Tournament, tying for 19th place, but the 34-year-old appears to have downsized his expectations in recent months.
After the Memorial, Woods expressed relief that he'd succeeded in the humble accomplishment of completing all four rounds at Muirfield Village. This is not your grandfather's Tiger Woods - more like some hopelessly shonky knock-off.
Back when the news filtered through that Woods was to make his comeback at the Masters, most pundits were adamant there was no way he could possibly return to winning ways right off the bat. While those hypotheses proved correct, Woods' play on that first day at Augusta did suggest his golf seemed largely unaffected by the helter-skelter machinations of his private life. For a few hours it was possible to believe the man was capable of pulling off the most remarkable of comebacks.
That first day's play might have flattered to deceive, and since then Woods has certainly played to diminishing returns, missing the cut at Quail Hollow. But we can't believe the man is done just yet. He finished fourth at the Masters, his best performance of the year, and that suggests the golfer is capable of ramping up his performances when it really counts.
The US Open is the second major of the year, but more pertinently it takes place at Pebble Beach, the venue where Woods enjoyed one of his greatest-ever wins. He triumphed here 10 years ago in preposterous style, beating the field by some 15 strokes to claim his first US Open, and while he's surely nowhere near capable of playing to that standard this time, a mauled Tiger may still have the moxie to compete when a major is up for grabs - even when his game is letting him down.
See that fourth place finish at Augusta for proof of the man's ability to finish well, regardless of whether he's playing well. Don't be surprised if Woods' sheer will to make his presence felt results in another strong finish this weekend.
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