ESPN.com - Golf - US OPEN 2003 Columnist

Saturday, June 14

Tiger still Tiger, just not this week
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN The Magazine

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. -- Tiger Woods is in discomfort (allergies), in love (hottie Elin Nordgren), and most of all, in Barney (as in Rubble ... trouble) after shooting a Shrek-ugly 5-over-par 75 Saturday at Olympia Fields. But he absolutely, positively isn't in a slump.


	Tiger Woods won't win the U.S. Open on Sunday, but that doesn't mean he's slumping.

Of course, don't take my word for it. Ask Tiger.

''I've won, what, three tournaments out of seven events I've played this year and you're telling me I'm in a slump?'' he said, smiling and seething all at the same time.

The lovely Nordgren has as good a chance of hoisting the Open trophy Sunday as Tiger does, which is to say none at all. Leader Jim Furyk would have to shoot even-par during his final round while Tiger would have to post a little 58 to even think about winning this thing. El Tigre is good, but he's not that good.

So Woods isn't going to win the Open. And he didn't win the Hootie Open, otherwise known as The Masters. And he didn't win last year's PGA Championship. Or the British Open, either. For a guy who judges himself by how many majors he collects, that sort of sounds like a slump, doesn't it?

This is how much Woods has spoiled us: He wins the Buick Invitational fresh from knee surgery. He ties for fifth at the Nissan. He wins the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He wins at Bay Hill. He finishes tied for 11th at the Players, tied for 15th at Augusta, and tied for fourth at the Memorial. He's already cashed checks for more than $3 million this season, and that doesn't even count the $2-mil guarantee he got for playing in Germany not long ago.

Can I have a slump like that? Please?

Here's what a real slump looks like: Mike Maroth and his 1-11 record for the Detroit Tigers. Sammy Sosa's May and June. Sales of the George W. Bush instructional jogging video.

Sure, Tiger hasn't taken 75 or more hacks in a U.S. Open round since 1996. And, yeah, he took it in the shorts during the final round of The Masters (remember the awkward silence between Woods and his caddie Steve Williams after the mess on No. 3?). But a slump? A lull is more like it.

Even during Saturday's unattractive 75, Woods said he hit the ball well. But Olympia Fields, which grew some molars for the third round, kept him off-balance on the greens.

''I made nothing,'' Woods said.

Woods couldn't figure out the right putting speed and kept leaving everything short. He also couldn't figure out why some knucklehead in the gallery would whistle at the exact moment he began his downswing on his second shot at No. 1. He skanked the iron into a bunker and left the hole with a bogey and anger management issues.

There are three reasons why Woods isn't going to win this major: no putting magic, no driver, too much Furyk.

Woods has made ''nothing'' all week. Plus, he can only pull the headcover off his driver on one hole: 18. ''That's it,'' he said. And Furyk has been hotter than one of the Metra train engines that blow by this place every few minutes.

Tiger is still Tiger, just not as often. Maybe his arthroscopically repaired knee still hurts a little bit. Maybe MJ keeps bugging him about buying the Milwaukee Bucks. Maybe that Tony Tiger headcover keeps talking during his backswing. Who knows?

Or it could be as simple as this: He's human. Olympia Fields isn't, as George Clooney says, his particular brand of vodka. And those PGA Tour commercials are true: These guys are good.

Earlier in the week someone asked Woods if he's been in a slump.

''No,'' he said.

A slump, he said, is when your game goes completely south. Tiger's game is still far north of the equator. A slump is when you miss a cut. Tiger hasn't missed a cut in more than 100 tournaments.

Tiger won't win Sunday. But I'll take him against the field at Royal St. George's in July. The loser can never use the S-word again.

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.