Saturday 6 June 2015 22:03, UK
Sir Nick Faldo has cast doubt on the prospect of Tiger Woods returning to the top of the game following his career-worst round of 85 on the third day of The Memorial in Ohio.
Faldo believes the problems afflicting Woods are more in the mind than technical or physical, and that the decline in his mental state was first evident ahead of the 2013 Masters.
Woods made the cut with nothing to spare after holing a clutch four-foot putt for par on Friday, but he could have been forgiven for wishing he had the weekend off midway through the third round at Muirfield Village.
The 14-time major champion looked a shadow of the player that had won the tournament five times as he put four balls in water over the last 10 holes, finishing with the ugliest of quadruple-bogey eights that featured a drive into a creek and two duffed chips.
Woods' previous worst round as a professional was an 82 as he finished joint-last at the Phoenix Open in his first appearance of the year, but his third-round card in Ohio was three strokes worse and he has now fired as many rounds in the 80s as he has in the 60s this year.
"For me, this has been going on a while," said Faldo during commentary for the Golf Channel. "Three Masters ago, I was on the (practice) range watching Tiger hit beautiful fades and draws. He was hitting the ball fabulously. Then he walks to the first tee, two snap hooks.
For me, this has been going on a while. he's not comfortable, he's starting to fear shots
"From that day on, I thought to myself, he's not comfortable, he's starting to fear shots. When you are fearing a shot before you hit it, we're all in serious trouble."
Still searching
Woods, who appointed biomechanics specialist Chris Como as his swing coach after splitting with Sean Foley late last year, showed signs of a possible return to form at Augusta in April when he finished tied for 17th.
But Faldo insisted that the Woods swing was far from the finished article, and the pair were still searching for a winning formula during practice ahead of The Memorial.
Faldo added: "One of the players playing a practice round with Tiger heard him say four times (to Como) 'OK, what am I trying now?' So they are just searching. It just doesn't look right.
"Shooting 85 here is a sledgehammer to the side of the head. Tiger is going to walk away saying to himself 'what am I going to do next? How do I pull this back?' I'm not too sure how much more he can handle in all of this."
Meanwhile, Woods' shocking performance did not dampen the spirits of PGA Tour rookie Zac Blair, who insisted he enjoyed the experience of playing alongside the former world No 1 for the first time.
Blair, whose creditable four-birdie 70 was 15 shots better than his playing partner, said: "I've always wanted to play with him. As a little kid, that was kind of my dream growing up. But it was unfortunate to see him not play great.
"I thought he handled it great, and he never got super outwardly emotional. But I don't think he ever got disrespectful out there. And he was always super courteous to me and friendly. It was nice to see that.
"He's one of the best players to ever play. It was nice to meet him and I enjoyed playing well. It would have been nice to see him play a little bit better, but he's working through some things. He'll get back playing good."
