Has Tiger been tamed?

Woods' distance advantage has definitely been minimized

The question was asked far too often in 2003: What's wrong with Tiger Woods?

There were more theories about his so-called "slump" than there were about JFK, the grassy knoll and the Zapruder film combined. Such as ...

Oh, his knee injruy was worse than we thought (Tiger's, not JFK's) and it's still not 100 percent following the offseason surgery he underwent last December. (Except -- oh, yeah -- Tiger won three of his first four tournaments after returning to action in February.)

Tiger spent too much time with his Swedish girlfriend and not enough time practicing. (Even if it's true, that's called "living.")

Phil Mickelson was right; that Nike equipment Tiger plays with really is inferior. (If Phil meant that Tiger hasn't taken advantage of technology the way he and other tour players have by using bigger, hotter drivers and longer golf balls and graphite shafts, then, yes, Tiger has inferior technology. But how many other players won four times in 2003? And how's Phil doing? Oh, that's right, he hasn't won a tournament this year and isn't even among the top 30 on the PGA Tour money list.)

Tiger hasn't been the same player ever since he told teacher Butch Harmon that he no longer needed his services. (It wasn't a divorce, just a give-me-a-little-space move, and reports say that Harmon still works with Woods on occasion, as needed.)

Tiger succumbed to complacency and the old Jack Nicklaus letdown -- that is, once he didn't win the Masters and therefore couldn't capture the Grand Slam, he lost just enough interest to take the edge off his game. (Of course, the Masters is still a putting contest and if you don't have the touch on the greens that week, it doesn't matter how well you stripe it. The U.S. Open was played at Olympia Fields, a course on which some long hitters left driver in the bag and laid up to where the short-hitters drove it, eliminating their length advantage. When Royal St. George's, home to this year's British Open, is firm and fast, it's two parts goofy golf and one part skill, which is a strange way to determine a major. And much-too-long rough at Oak Hill -- which has a great layout that didn't need any, what with all those trees -- was an equalizer at the PGA Championship, where the leaderboard wasn't exactly peppered with the top names in the world rankings.)

So Woods didn't win a major for the first time since 1998, and didn't even come very close to winning one. It's always a bit of a surprise when he doesn't prevail at the Masters but the fact that he came up short at the other Slams, given this year's venues, was not that shocking. If something was wrong with Woods, we would have noticed it during the Bay Hill Invitational where, despite playing the final round while suffering from dry heaves brought on by food poisoning, he crushed the field by 11 shots. In the rain. Don't forget, he's going to win yet another Vardon Trophy, given to the player with the best scoring average on tour, this year.

It's not what is wrong with Woods (which is nothing, by the way), it's what is different with Woods. Feel free to look for infinitesimal changes in his swing (Tiger has reportedly been studying video of himself from 2000) or his putting stroke. I don't think you'll find anything big. But what's different is obvious if you look at the stats.

In 1998, Woods ranked second on the PGA Tour in driving distance, with an average of 296.3 yards, behind only freak-of-nature John Daly. No other tour player averaged 290 (and Ernie Els was 42nd at 275.4). The stats are skewed, of course, because Woods often pulls out 2-iron or 3-wood even on the driving-distance measuring holes, but the plain fact was that in '98, Woods routinely drove it well past just about everybody he played with.

Check the stats before last week's Valero Texas Open. Woods is averaging 299.3, a gain of three yards, this year but he has dropped to 12th in driving distance. The once-average-length Els ranks sixth at 303 (a pickup of 28 yards), and 62 players on tour are averaging 290 or better. A number of tour players have picked up 15, 20 or even 25 yards of distance during the last five years. Not Woods. He's in the passing lane but he's only going 55 mph -- and, suddenly, he's the one who's being passed. Davis Love III improved his driving distance from 281 to 298 but fell from 15th to 18th. Mickelson gained 20 yards and now ranks fourth.

Woods, ladies and germs, has been caught. His distance advantage has been minimized, even more so when he struggles with his Nike driver and resorts to hitting the 3-wood and other clubs more often -- in part, I think, because he lacks confidence in his driver. He even went back to his old Titleist driver in July, thinking the good vibes he got from the club back when he dominated golf as no man before him had done would bring a return to his overwhelming glory days. It hasn't happened and it isn't going to.

Woods apparently is the last man to feel the Tiger Effect, the vortex he created in 2000 when he won major championships with ease, often with record scores. Other players responded to his dominance, which torpedoed a lot of long-standing complacency and contentedness with a win or two every three years along with a few million bucks. His fellow pros practiced longer and harder. They either began working out or increased their workout regimens in order to combat Woods, who is the most fit golfer in the world (with apologies to Gary Player). They capitalized on a technological revolution in which stronger, lighter alloys created longer shafts, larger swing arcs, bigger and harder clubheads, more clubhead speed and longer drives. Launch monitors enabled technicians to maximize loft, clubhead speed, spin rates and shaft kick-points with the best, straightest and longest golf balls ever made. In short, two plus two plus two now adds up to 11. The pursuers have adapted to the new technology. Woods has not, and his gap has been closed.

You'd be a fool to say Woods isn't still The Man. He is, and I'll be surprised if he doesn't charge out of his latest break by winning the American Express Championship this week, the Tour Championship and anything else he elects to play this season, and finish No. 1, as usual, on the money list. He usually plays his best golf when he's refreshed. Sure, he still has the intimidation factor going for him, but it's not what it once was. The world saw him blink at Hazeltine National during the 2002 PGA Championship, and watched Rich Beem fearlessly outplay him down the stretch. It happened the next week, too, at the AmEx Championship outside Seattle, where Fred Funk and Craig Parry stared Woods down on Sunday.

Despite the four victories this year, Woods has never looked so mortal. When he was driving it straight and 30 yards past everyone, then unveiled the best short game on tour, other players stood in awe of this golfing wonder. It's not that uncommon now, however, for Woods to be the first to hit to the green because the other two players blew it past him. It was all right to be long and a little crooked but medium length and a little more crooked is no way to dominate. And the truth is, nothing intimidates in golf like distance. Woods, for the time being, has lost that edge.

I forget which tournament press conference last year ended with Woods being asked about his plans for the rest of the day, which included a heavy workout in the weight room. When asked why, Woods said it was so he could keep up with all the big-hitting young kids who were coming out on tour. The media types laughed. Woods, it turns out, wasn't joking then ... and he's not laughing now, either.

And now for a long drive ... er, dive ... into The Mailbag:

Has Fred Couples done enough to get into the World Golf Hall of Fame?--Preston A. Hawkins, Chattanooga, Tenn.

As much as I like the Fredster, Hawkman, the answer is no. If you don't have 20 wins or at least two major titles, forget it. Fred has 15 wins, one major, although if Payne Stewart could make the Hall with 11 wins (three of them majors), you can't count Couples out yet.

The only thing worse than The Skins Game is The Senior Skins Game. But isn't complaining about things the primary job of your readers, and not you? I am curious to know what type of event you might suggest to replace The Skins Game.--John Fetkovich, Kokomo, Ind.

Something involving either bowling or stock cars.

Have you played Whistling Straits (the site of the 2004 PGA)? If they push the tees all the way back to 7,600 yards, will they break par considering how windy it normally is in Wisconsin in August? And will they cry if they don't break par?--Fuzz Feltman, Milwaukee, Wis.

MAILBAG MAILBAG Submit a question or comment for Roy Johnson. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Thanks for your eloquence, Fuzzball. I recall stats from my former Milwaukee Journal days that prove Wisconsin is, indeed, much windier on average than that noted Windy City to the south, Chicago. Of course, adding that moniker would make the state nickname unwieldy -- America's Windy Dairyland. No, I haven't played the Straits. Yes, the pros will break par. That's what they do. Length is not an issue. No, they won't cry if they don't break par but they will cry if their courtesy car is one of the smaller C Class Mercedes instead of one of the big Benzes.

Great idea about merging the Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup. Even better: Include golf in the Olympics. Let countries provide their two, three or four best players and have an International Match Play extravaganza! Then, ANY team has a chance. Even Vijay Singh could find some cousin from home and field a competitive Fijian squad!--Ben Pape, Boise, Idaho

The Olympics, which has devolved into a moribund marketing opportunity for television and greed, is beneath golf. Golf doesn't need the Olympics and the only reason the Olympics would even consider golf now (after turning it down in the '90s) is simple: Tiger Woods and TV ratings points.

If some feel that the world should be included in the Ryder Cup, why not make it an event similar to the Olympics where every country can enter? That way no one is excluded and all the great golfers of the world can show their stuff and national pride.--Wayne Proechel, Salinas, Calif.

The California recall election has made you groggy, Wayne. The Ryder Cup is a success because it is match play, head to head, mano a Monty, and so on. You can't hold a team match-play event in three days with 20 teams. You'd have to hold just another boring stroke-play event. They already have one of those; it's called the World Cup. What, you've never heard of it? My point, exactly.

I think that the decline in the level of talent in American women's golf is due to American colleges and universities bringing in so many foreign players and thus not giving the American female golfers the experience and coaching they need. I think that public American colleges and universities should not be allowed to give any athletic scholarships to non-Americans. Look at the NBA and all of the foreign players coming in that have played at American colleges and universities. I'm surprised Martha Burk hasn't taken this issue on. This is a more important American women's golf issue than Augusta National. What do you think?--Mark Nobles, Collierville, Tenn.

You've been reading too much about Woodrow Wilson and isolationism. Come in out of your barns, Nobles, and enjoy the melting pot that is America. Keep foreigners out? Gary Player, Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam and Wayne Gretzky say "thanks a lot." What a totally un-American idea. Consider yourself voted off the island.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to SI.com.