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CNNSI.com On Site Do we detect a chink in Woods' armor?
By Patrick Snell, CNNSI.com SOTOGRANDE, Spain -- For the second time in less than a fortnight, world No. 1 Tiger Woods has showed that maybe, just maybe he's fallible after all. Canadian Mike Weir is celebrating after a magnificent victory Sunday at the World Golf Championship at Valderrama Golf Club. The 30-year-old from Ontario steadily kept his nerve when others -- including Tiger -- were double bogeying or worse at the notorious 17th. It's probably Tiger's least favorite hole in golf right now -- three times in four rounds here did he find the water with his approaches to the green. The consistent Weir managed to par it and despite a bogey on 18, he finished with a total of 11 under. In the end, he was four clear of Tiger and two ahead of runner-up Lee Westwood. There's no disputing Woods has had a phenomenal year. His dominance -- in particular of the majors -- has taken his sport to new heights. His achievements, presence and all-around aura on the course without doubt intimidate some of his fellow professionals. Obviously, no one can win every event they enter, but Woods, near the end a long hard season, has maybe given just a glimmer of hope to his rivals. Duffy Waldorf beat him to claim the Disney Classic at Orlando last month and now once again within a couple of weeks, the Californian maestro has been nipped at the post after determined efforts from a number of players. Their spirited performances in southern Spain prove that when they can get near the best golfer in the world and the pressure's on, perhaps they detect a slight chink in his armor. The public airing of his beliefs over image exploitation attracted massive exposure and while Tiger stressed continually his need to focus on his game, maybe his comments could have come at a better time. Tiger remains in a league of his own, but maybe the gap's closing just a tiny bit.
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