Paramus, New Jersey - The dominance of Tiger Woods becomes even more defined when he can’t beat anyone at all.
In the years when he wasn’t winning a major or three, Woods compensated by winning at least five times on the US PGA Tour against some of the strongest fields on some of the toughest courses.
He won 31 times and six majors in the previous five years.
The only time during that span that Woods did not win USPGA Tour player of the year was in 2008, when he made it through only half the year until his knee gave out.
Padraig Harrington captured the last two majors to win the award. He won four times in six starts, including a US Open.
The FedEx Cup playoffs get under way this week at The Barclays, and Woods is at No. 112 in the standings, right between Bob Estes and Cameron Beckman.
Dominance has given way to parity.
Five players have multiple victories this year — Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Justin Rose and Hunter Mahan — yet none of them has more than two wins, and none of them won a major.
Why has no one filled the void?
“That’s how good Tiger Wood is — that’s what I make of it,” Adam Scott said on Tuesday.
Golf is bunched up at the moment, at least on the US PGA Tour.
“No one has separated themselves,” Mahan said. “Tiger hasn’t won five times. You’ve got a bunch of guys who have won twice.”
In its first three years, the FedEx Cup has provided four great tournaments after the majors were over, and the list of winners backs that up — three wins for Woods; two apiece for Mickelson, Stricker, Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas; and Heath Slocum as the outsider, but only after beating Woods, Stricker, Harrington and Els on the last hole.
This year — thanks to Woods — it’s a little different.
The four playoff events over the next five weeks will likely decide who is the best player on the US PGA Tour this year. Not only is there no clear-cut favorite for player of the year, it’s hard to determine the front-runner.
Winning the FedEx Cup might be all it takes for Els to be voted player of the year. Then again, it’s mathematically possible for him to do that without winning another tournament. Can a guy get voted best player with only two wins and no majors?
The defining shot of this goofy season was the 6-iron Mickelson hit through the pines on the 13th at Augusta National when he won the Masters.
He is the only major champion in the FedEx Cup because the other three — Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer — were not US Tour members.
For the eighth time over the last three months, Mickelson will have yet another chance to replace Woods atop the world ranking. It should have happened by now, as poorly as Woods has performed. Trouble is, Mickelson hasn’t been much better.
He has not finished in the top 10 in the four tournaments he has played since the US Open.
Mahan won in Phoenix, got engaged to a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, then won his first World Golf Championship title at Firestone. He would get consideration with a victory or two in the next month, plus the $10 million prize for the FedEx Cup.
The same holds true for Stricker, Furyk and Rose. Someone needs to separate themselves from the pack.
“I guess there’s a lot of people in the mix,” said Dustin Johnson, who recently lost the PGA Championship for grounding his club harmlessly in a bunker. “But whoever has a good playoffs will probably be the top candidate.” (Doug Ferguson)
Associated Press
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