AKRON, Ohio -- Sunday's dreadful round of 77 was in the dubious record books, and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational was mercifully behind him.Tiger Woods, the world's No. 1 player at least for the rest of the day, had just finished next-to-last in a tournament he had won seven times in 10 starts. He was itching to leave, but he briefly stopped to answer questions anyway.
Next stop was Kohler, Wisc., where he would begin his preparations for next week's PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. With any luck, he'd be there before Sunday's champion at received the Gary Player Cup.
"Not tomorrow, I'm out there today," Woods said firmly. "I could probably play 18 and still watch the guys finish."
Woods' round of 7 over Sunday on the South Course was his highest final round ever and the cumulative total of 18 over for the week over was his worst in a 72-hole event. He failed to break par in four rounds for only the fourth time in his career, too.
"Shooting 18 over par is not fun," the grim-faced Woods said. "I don't see how it can be fun shooting 18 over, especially since my handicap is supposed to be zero."
There really weren't any positives -- except that Woods said he stayed "patient and unfortunately, that's not enough." The progress he'd shown at the AT&T National and British Open had been negated in a flurry of missed fairways and struggles on the green.
"I was hitting the ball really well those two weeks," Woods said. "I was driving it great. I didn't drive it at all this week. My irons weren't very good again, and I made nothing."
Indeed. Take a look at the numbers. Woods ranked 80th of 80 players in fairways hit (22 of 56), 77th in greens in regulation (35 of 72) and 69th in putts per round (118).
Whether the performance was an anomaly or a potent of things to come remains to be seen. Woods likened it to his first swing overhaul with Butch Harmon at the end of the 1997 season and "it took me two years to get it back before I started playing well."
Asked if he thought he needed a break, Woods said only that he needed to be ready for Thursday's opening round at Whistling Straits, where he'll play with Vijay Singh and defending champion Y.E. Yang. But there are many who wonder whether his legendary focus on the course has been eroded by his personal issues off it in what he repeated called a "long year" on Sunday.
Next up for Woods in a normal season would be The Barclays. But Woods earned just .830 of a FedExCup point this week so he remains safe only for that first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup -- and with two weeks remaining to earn points, that could change, too.
The Ryder Cup may not be a certainty, either. He went into the week ranked ninth in the standings and given his performance this week is likely to fall. The eight automatic qualifiers will be finalized at the end of the PGA Championship and Captain Corey Pavin makes his four picks a month later at the end of the BMW Championship.
Woods hedged on Wednesday when asked whether he would accept a Captain's Pick, saying three times he planned to play his way onto the team. On Sunday, when someone inquired whether he even wanted to play Woods' answer was even more telling.
"Not playing like this, definitely not, not playing like this,'" he said. "I wouldn't help the team if I'm playing like this. No one would help the team if they're shooting 18 over par.
"I think I can turn it around, but we've got a lot of time between now and then, which is good."
Anthony Kim, who played with Woods on Sunday, said he can't imagine Pavin not picking the man who has been No. 1 in the world for the last 269 weeks.
"I think in match play and events like that it's about who wants to win more and who's going to suck it up and grind through bad golf shots, tough situations and sometimes could be hostile crowds," Kim said. "I know he wants to win and I would love to have him as a teammate if I make the team."
Kim, who was playing in his first event since he had surgery in May to reattach a ligament at the base of his left thumb, said Woods was clearly struggling on Sunday. But the 25-year-old was quick to say that he didn't think his playing partner had given up.
"I can tell you he's trying to make birdie," Kim said. "... There's something about golf where you just have to let go to play better sometimes. I've gone through tournaments where I've made some poor golf swings and gone up to the next one and hit without a practice swing because I wanted my mind to be free and let my body move with just a relaxed state of mind and not worry about anything.
"People can say he threw in the towel or whatever yesterday but I don't think that's the case. I think he's trying to find something. He's obviously not driving it well which is a tough thing out here because the fairways are so narrow. He's definitely giving it what he's got. It's just not all there."
