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With Jonathan Kaye’s victory today at the Buick Open, Tiger Woods has failed to finish in the top ten yet again. Clearly a win woud have put to rest the talk of his slumping game; but he didn’t win so expect the questions to continue. He can deny the issue all he wants but it wont go away.

Let me give you my take on the whole thing. You know who is to blame for all this talk of slumping? Tiger himself of course. His expectations and accomplishment set the bar so high that anything below that must now be perceived as a slump. We had simply grow accustom to Tiger making a serious run at every tournament he was in. We were not prepared to see Tiger play poorly on Saturday and Sunday when he was in contention. We were especially unprepared to see him fail to get it going on Sunday in a Major. Tiger Woods had defined himself by his relentless pursuit of Major Championships and had been in the habit of winning a couple each year. At one point he held all four majors titles; the Tiger slam. He also built his reputation on intimidating those that played with him. He seemed to will himself to the next level when it really mattered. We were used to other failing by the wayside not Tiger. What we have is Tiger slumping relative to the impossible bar he set for himself. By any other standard this would be a great season: three wins top five money winner, etc.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Tiger’s problem is: he just can’t get the putts to fall. Golf is a mental game. Tiger in the past has fed off his momentum. He would make a long putt and give the crown the famous arm pump and you could see it in his eyes: “I am ready to take control of this game.” Early in the year he was able to put himself in contention and take care of business. Since his win at the Bay Hill Invitational he had played a number of exceptional rounds. He followed a 66 on Saturday at Augusta with a 75. At the Memorial he went the opposite way, shooting a 76 in horrible conditions only to follow it up with a 65 to end up in fourth without really threatening. In the US Open he shot a 66 on Thursday to get in contention only to shoot 75-72 to finish tied for twentieth. This weekend Tiger was in the hunt for most of the tournament but never got anything going and finished tied for 13th. So in nine starts Tiger has three wins, two top fives, and three within the top fifteen. As I said, that is nothing to sneeze at.

If Tiger makes a few more putts here and there at the very least he finishes in the top ten instead of the top twenty and more than likely that would catapult him into winning a few more tournaments. Even Tiger’s powers of concentration are limited. If he can’t get a few key putts to fall then he knows he is out of contention and it becomes hard to focus. At the Nissan and the Memorial he was able to grind out a top five finish but in the others he just managed to hang on. Putting is more an art than a science and the weather and the condition of the greens play an important part. Tiger is going through a rough spot with the flat iron but he hasn’t been off by much. If it weren’t for the ridiculously high standards he has set for himself, we probably wouldn’t be talking about this. Tiger has missed a cut in ages where other golfers who are playing great, like Vijay Singh and Mike Weir, have each missed a couple of cuts. Heck Mickelson hasn’t won a tournament yet. Or better yet look at David Duval – now that is a slump! In other words, if Tiger’s putting catches fire lookout we could have the old Tiger back just in time to win a few majors and put the slump discussion behind him.