To PGA Tour Players, Tiger Woods Is Still as Dominant as Ever

Two weeks ago, Tiger Woods was the clear favorite to win the PGA Championship. He headed to Hazeltine with back-to-back wins, his driving accuracy had gone from abysmal to passable, and his short game was impeccable.

But like the three previous majors, he couldn't put it together for four rounds, Y.E. Yang could, and in the days since we've been subjected to every variation of "It's clear that Tiger choked and his latest collapse signals the beginning of the end of his once-great reign." Or some such.

Never mind that Woods has five wins this year, or that after his Buick Open triumph in early August he told the media that his consistency this season, after taking eight months off to recover from reconstructive knee surgery, was "one of the things I'm probably most proud of."

Unlike the media, however, Woods' competitors don't see the world's best player slipping. If anything, it's just the opposite. Former U.S. Open champ Jim Furyk would kindly ask those folks to shut their traps. Gold Digest's John Strege points to an interesting back and forth between a reporter and Furyk following Tiger's final-round mastery at the Memorial.

Q. "Jim, after Charlotte (The Quail Hollow Championship) and the Players (Championship), Tiger wasn't really himself in those last rounds. Do you feel that there was like a vulnerability about him?"

FURYK: "I wish you'd all quit (ticking) him off. That's about all I have to say about that. Wish you'd just quit chapping him so much and make him come back and keep proving stuff. Tiger Woods is always Tiger Woods. He can't be 100 percent every week, but I'm sure he answered a lot of questions today."

So why, after every major Tiger doesn't win, do we hear that this is proof that he's on the downside of an historic career? Because it gives lazy people something to write about. That's it.

Unfortunately for the rest of the tour it means that Woods will come back with something to prove. It's a silly notion, akin to Rodney Harrison or Tom Brady or Bill Belichick playing the disrespect card as the Patriots steamrolled their way to a 2007 undefeated regular season.

Just in case Woods is keeping score, in addition to Furyk, Camilo Villegas would also like it known that Tiger is just as formidable as ever. Via his Twitter Machine: "Tiger... Human after all... Not really, only for a week."