Tiger Woods will strong for his failure

Tiger Woods will strong for his failure

"The aura of Tiger Woods, which was the picture of health and the envy of millions for the better part of 15 years, died peacefully over the weekend at the home of the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club."Woods's putting stroke, which produced ugly misses from four feet at the 12th and 15th holes Sunday, and which hasn't been right for years, performed last rites on the aura. It took its last wheezing breath when Woods, having tied for the What Is Wrong With American Golfer lead with a front-nine 31, shot even par on the back and had his doors blown off by Adam Scott, 30, Jason Day, 23, and finally Charl Schwartzel, 26."If anything, Tiger's impressive charges showed us that the aura is still alive and well, that he's still capable of striking fear into opponents. For proof, look at the leader at the start of Sunday's final round, Rory McIlroy. The only thing that really changed on the leaderboard from the start of McIlroy's round, which was solid, until he fell apart worse than Terrence Cody's diet at an all-you-can-eat buffet, was Woods. Suddenly, he was charging. Suddenly, the crowd had a buzz to it. "Here comes Tiger. Rory's toast; Tiger's going to blow by him."

Sure, Woods didn't win the tournament, but we all expected him to win it. Sure, his putter's still wonky, but he's got from now until the U.S. Open to figure it out, because the rest of his game was pretty much flawless. Plus, Woods has never been good at comebacks in major tournaments. Ever. He's never won one from behind; it's his ability to keep the field at bay on the final day that makes him so scary. How does failing to rally from a five-shot deficit on Sunday mean that Tiger's lost it for good?