Rochester, Aug 19: Tiger Woods has been stripped of one of his key weapons in dominating his rivals - the 'F' word.
Suddenly players have lost their 'fear' of the 27-year-old world number one whose target in life is to shatter Jack Nicklaus' record of 21 major wins.
His failure to seriously challenge, never mind win, a major in the 2003 season has left him still respected by his peers, but not feared.
At last week's USPGA Woods was never in the hunt, finishing with a 12-over par 292 - his worst four round total on American soil since the 1996 US Open when he was a 20-year-old amateur.
When Woods set the golf world alight with arguably the greatest four rounds of golf ever seen as he swept to a stunning 15 shot victory over Ernie Els in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach, the rest of the world's best were in fear of him.



Follow up wins in the British Open and USPGA left them shellshocked. Els was the first to admit that Woods was so far ahead of the rest that he was almost unbeatable.



"Well, I won the championship I was playing in," said Els after coming second to Woods at Pebble Beach. "He is just so good. When he is playing his best no-one can beat him."



Colin Montgomerie, then Europe's number one player and on his way to a record breaking seventh straight European Order of Merit title agreed.


Bureau Report