Too Little, Too Late for Tiger Woods

They say you can't win a golf tournament on the first day, but you sure can lose it. Tiger Woods is usually the best in the business at that, meticulously plotting his way on Thursdays to avoid shooting himself out of the tournament early.

This week at Bethpage Black, Tiger couldn't do that, and it probably will cost him this championship. A second round 69 was improvement, but not nearly enough to get himself back in a U.S. Open that, if you weren't paying close enough attention, is playing more like the Bob Hope. Woods hit the ball a lot better in his second round which concluded at 2:54 PM ET on Saturday, but he couldn't get any putts to drop, including a par putt on his last hole that went begging. It was the second straight day Tiger bogeyed his final hole, which is, for lack of a better term, un-Tiger like.

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With Ricky Barnes at 8-under and safely in his hotel room watching the action, Woods needed something like Mike Weir's opening 64 or Lucas Glover matching that same number in round two, but it wasn't there, and lately when Tiger doesn't have it, he can't find it.

Woods seemed to be able to grind it out in the past when he didn't have the game, but his latest move is to roll the eyes, grind the teeth and never find the magic. Say what you want about Tiger still having a chance this week, and it would be great television, but if you've watched him at all during major championships you know not to expect a Tiger comeback. He either has it or he doesn't and this week, he hasn't been able to find it. Sitting 11 shots back, it sure doesn't seem likely we will see a smiley Tiger holding any trophy whenever this marathon tournament concludes.

Tiger picks his golf tournaments very methodically over the year, only playing in the events with the best fields on the toughest tracks in golf. When courses start yielding low numbers, it almost works against Tiger's psyche, since he has convinced himself how great par is at a U.S. Open. This week, par is good, but birdies are there, and he can't seem to find enough to get back in this tournament.

Weather is moving in at Bethpage (or so Al Roker tells us), so no word on how much more golf we will see on Saturday. It was Tiger's tournament when the week began. Now, it might be Mother Nature's.