Tiger Woods in worst ever "slump"

Tiger Woods claims he's not in a major championship free fall.

His results might show otherwise.

After winning The Masters in April, Woods has failed to finish in the top 10 in the year's final three majors, finishing 12th at the U.S. Open, 25th in the British and tied for 30th in the PGA Championship on Sunday.

He wore his traditional final-round red shirt, but Woods' flashy game wasn't around in the final round at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Instead of gunning for his third straight PGA title, Woods was just struggling to stay below par, with more groans and moans than roars from those following the golfing great.

Woods took yet another off week in stride.

"If you want to play this game for a long period of time, and I may be playing this game as long as Arnold (Palmer) has been playing - into my 60s and 70s competitively - I don't think you can beat yourself up over every single shot and over every single round in every single tournament.

"What you can do is learn from it," Woods added. "That's what I've done in the past and I will continue to learn more from my good and bad - more so when you play bad."

Woods has now finished out of top 10 in five straight tournaments - a first for the game's all-time money leader.

"I've been blessed to have played as well as I have for two years, and on top of that I've had a lot of good breaks," Woods said. "When you get the breaks going your way, they seen to accumulate and you seem to take advantage of them."

Woods, who needed two long putts Friday over his final few holes just to make the cut, began the day at 1-under par and teed off three hours behind the final pairing of David Toms and Phil Mickelson.

Still, the crowds built to 10-deep along the first fairway, many hoping to see Woods make some kind of charge. A sign hung around one man's neck that said: "Woods for President."

"I came out to see him shoot a 60 so everybody will know they're never safe no matter how far they are ahead," said Fred Alley of Greensboro, N.C. "If he shot a 60, it would scare the whole field."

No dice.

After driving it in the rough on No. 1 and saving par, Woods bogeyed No. 2 and it was clear no low round was on the horizon.

He finished the front nine the same place he started - at 1-under. Woods then hit his tee shot in the sand on No. 11 and threw his club after his approach shot fell 30 yards shy of the green and he bogeyed.

Some in the stands surrounding the 18th green saluted Woods anyway with a standing ovation as he walked around the lake on his way to a 1-under 279 finish.

But this was no tournament for Woods to shout about, even though he says his game is not that far off.

Normally long and accurate off the tee, Woods had only one of those components the last four days. His average driving distance was 316 yards, but Woods managed to hit just 32 of 56 fairways, a 57 percent clip.

Woods is well aware that won't cut it in most tournaments, let alone a major. He also averaged 31 putts a round - way too many to win the big one.

In fact, Woods rolled up 33 putts Sunday.

"I just didn't have the feel on the greens that I did the last two days," he said.

However, Woods refused to say he was in any kind of slump.

"It's part of playing sports," Woods said. "You can't have everything going your way all the time, especially in this sport. It's pretty fickle."

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