Tiger takes defeat in his stride

All of a sudden, he has stopped walking on water, and can't turn water into wine. What's gone wrong?

After a year when Tiger Woods stockpiled one major trophy after another until such time as he had all four on the coffee table of his Florida home, the past month has seen two of them escape his grasp.

Yesterday, the requirement to raid the wine cellar became less of a problem when the claret jug, the oldest trophy in golf, was delivered into someone's else's hands, to follow the US Open trophy that had already found a new home with South Africa's Retief Goosen.

But Woods isn't the type to beat himself up. Shortly after signing his fourth round card for a 71 that brought his week's work to a one-under-par 72-holes aggregate of 283, so far away from championship contention that he had changed back into his street shoes almost three hours before the final pairing walked up the 18th fairway, the world's number one golfer was politely explaining his failure to impact in the 130th British Open.

No excuses, no recriminations. Woods, white teeth flashing so brightly that you had wished that sunglasses had been packed as a fashion accessory, stands on the other side of the wooden rail that separates golfing stars from the media scrum.

He tells you matter of fact-like that he's "not thrilled that I wasn't able to contend down the stretch. I wasn't able to swing the club this week the way I would have liked . . . my mechanics were a little bit off."

So, Tiger didn't bring what he calls his "A-Game" to the championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes, but there was a realisation that you can't win every time you tee it up.

"You're not going to play well every week, and anyone who plays this game understands that. I grinded the best I could, actually got a lot out of my scores - thank goodness my chipping and putting was so good. If I had managed to drive it the way I did today for the first three days, I would probably have been a lot closer."

Woods, in fact, believes his ball control, trajectory and spin were all below the required level for the first three days, although he struggled to put his finger on the reason why that should have happened. But he insisted he loves playing links golf, and that his traditional pre-championship visit to Ireland is an integral part of his preparations.

"I know the different demands that links golf places on you. That's why I come over a week early and play a lot of links courses to get adjusted. It's a different type of game, but a lot more fun.

"It is a lot better than playing the target golf that we're used to in the States where the balls plug. Here you've got to create shots, manoeuvre it around and that's the beauty of it." Learn anything, Tiger? "Well, I learned that I tried my best. I'm obviously disappointed that I haven't managed to get into contention down the stretch but I am not overly disappointed. I did try hard this week, and you can't ask more of yourself than that."

Such self-soothing words, of course, come from a man who knows that there will be many more Sunday's when the adrenalin will be flowing and the pressure unbearable. He may have gone two majors without winning. The thing to remember, though, is that he has won four of the last six.