ROCHESTER, New York, 20 August 2003 — Tiger Woods has been stripped of one of his key weapons in dominating his rivals — the ‘F’ word.
Suddenly players have lost their ‘fear’ of the 27-year-old world No. 1 whose target in life is to shatter Jack Nicklaus’ record of 21 major wins.
His failure to seriously challenge, never mind win, a major in the 2003 season has left him still respected by his peers, but not feared. At last week’s USPGA Woods was never in the hunt, finishing with a 12-over par 292 — his worst four round total on American soil since the 1996 US Open when he was a 20-year-old amateur.
When Woods set the golf world alight with arguably the greatest four rounds of golf ever seen as he swept to a stunning 15 shot victory over Ernie Els in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach, the rest of the world’s best were in fear of him.
