Tiger too accurate for his own good

The width of a flagstick is about the same size as the bullseye in darts – and hitting it from around eight feet is a lot easier than going at it with a wedge from a hundred yards plus.

But Tiger Woods paid a heavy price for being too accurate when his ball smashed into the flagstick at the 15th and bounced back into the water.
When things like that happen, you have to wonder if it is going to be your year, let alone your day.
Well, it was clearly not destined to be the day when Tiger Woods finally got to go to bed with at least a share of the lead at the Masters tucked under his pillow.
That has not happened since the third round in 2005 – the year when he won the Masters for the fourth – and so far the last – time.
As it turned out, Jason Day’s late birdie to snatch the outright lead – and Woods’ clumsy three-putt bogey at the last – meant he actually finished three shots off the pace.
But if his ball had missed its tiny target on 15, it would surely have finished close enough to have offered Woods the birdie chance that might have made it a different story.
It was also ironic that the freakish mishap should have happened on a par five, so often the setting for Woods’ victory bursts.
In his 70 rounds at Augusta before this year, Woods was a staggering 134 under par on the long holes – against 29 over for the par fours and 26 over for the short holes.
And no hole has been kinder to the world No 1 than the 530 yards 15th, with 40 birdies and four eagles helping to play that stretch in a combined 43 under.
But what the golfing gods giveth, they can also take away – at least occasionally.
It will be interesting to see how Woods reacts to that heart-rending mishap.
You have to suspect it was still playing on his mind when his putter went off in his hand on 18, and he charged his first effort seven feet beyond the hole.
That led to his first three-putt on the last in 66 rounds, dating back to when he was an 18-year-old amateur, missing the cut for the only time in 1996.
If he continues to brood on that evil stroke of fate, Woods could easily wreck his chances of ending his five year wait for Major title No 15.
But it is far more likely he will be even more determined to show that it does not matter if the whole world is against him – because that green jacket is meant to be his once more.
So often with Woods’ wins, the abiding memory is of a great shot to setup victory – like the holed chip on 16 when he went on to beat Chris Di Marco in a play-off eight years ago.
It would be ironic if Woods finally pulls one off where the most often replayed image is of the one that got away.
But he has to win it first...