Lessons To Be Learned From Tiger’s U.S. Open

Ernie Els won the U.S. Open, again. Tom Lehman and Colin Montgomerie had heartbreaking near misses, again. So the question everyone asked: What does this mean for Tiger Woods?

One measure of the magnitude of Tigermania was that many fans were surprised Woods did not win at Congressional. The legend has grown so much he is expected to win every week.

That thinking does a disservice to Woods and to the other guys making a living playing golf.

“I am human,” Woods said Tuesday at Westchester Country Club outside New York as he prepared for the Buick Classic. “I wasn’t born on some other planet. I think the way I won at the Masters, people expected more from me.”

Instead, what they saw was how many other great players there are.

Els won the Open because he has the talent and composure to contend in major championships for years to come--and likely win more.

Montgomerie proved why he might be the best player in the world not to win a major championship. His round of 69 on Sunday was good enough to win on most days.

And Lehman might be the toughest man playing golf. For the sixth time since 1993 he played in the final group at a major championship. He never finished worse than third those six times and won the British Open. This man does not collapse.

All three finished ahead of Woods at the U.S. Open on merit. And it will happen again. Woods should not be a prisoner of expectation and the other players should not be victims of neglect.

That said, here is why Woods did not win the U.S. Open:

First, the way the USGA sets its courses with narrow fairways and deep rough takes the driver out of Woods’ hands. That neutralizes his biggest asset--length off the tee.

Perhaps Woods gave away too much distance by not using his 3-wood more often instead of the 2-iron. But ultimately he was hurt by missing fairways. Even driving with his 2-iron, Woods missed 10 more fairways at the Open than he missed at the Masters.

“I’m happy I don’t have to play that course anymore,” Woods said. “It beat me up. You pay the price with bad tee shots and I hit a few.”

And too many times when he missed a fairway he tried to hit the “hero shot” from the rough instead of pitching safely back to the fairway. Three times it led to a 6 on a hole when 5 was the worst he should have made and 4 was still a possibility.

As poised as Woods appears, perhaps at 21 he still lacks the patience and maturity to handle the frustrations of the U.S. Open. He does have a temper on the course and there were times when he seemed to lose his focus.

“The golf course last week takes its toll on you,” Woods said. “It’s going to stress you out. The demands on you are unbelievable.”

Two other chronic problems resurfaced for Woods at Congressional. He missed too many greens long and left and he was inconsistent on short putts. Neither was a problem at Augusta, especially over the final 63 holes when he played near-perfect golf.

“I didn’t execute a lot of shots well,” Woods said. “That’s why my score was the way it was.”

Woods hit 55 greens at the Masters, tied for first, but hit only 49 at the Open, good for 15th place. His 117 putts was 13th in the field at Augusta--where he had no three-putt greens--while he was 41st in the U.S. Open with 123 putts.

If there was one stretch where Woods lost the Open it was on the holes he played Saturday after the rain delay and before the round was halted by darkness.

He made four bogeys in five holes, the final three on three-putt greens where he missed short second putts. After that he was never really in contention.

The U.S. Open probably will be the most difficult of the Grand Slam events for Woods to win because it minimizes his distance advantage. It will be a measure of his greatness to see how he adjusts.

Tiger Woods did not win the U.S. Open, but that should come as no surprise. He won’t win them all.

As good as he is, he still has flaws. As good as he is, there are still others who play the game very well also.