Perhaps a lower expectation for Tiger Woods might work

NEWTOWN SQUARE — Hearing a hint of self-doubt from Tiger Woods is something you never factored into the equation.

But everything has changed for the No. 1 player in the world since November of last year — including his golf game.

In a word, he’s been inconsistent this season — a trend that continued Friday morning on another perfect day for scoring at Aronimink Golf Club.

Is this what we should come to expect from arguably the most mentally tough competitor ever to put a peg in the ground?

“I hit it awesome, putt awful. I putt great, hit it awful,” Woods said after his second-round even-par 70 left him at 3-over par and right on the cut line of the AT&T National.

“It’s always something.”

Excuse me?

For us weekend hacks, “it’s always something” should be our theme song.

You don’t win 14 major championships and 71 PGA Tour events by saying “it’s always something.”

With a largely pro-Tiger crowd in Philadelphia aching for Woods to get back into the picture in this tournament Friday, Woods created an opening but couldn’t close the deal.

With that in mind, perhaps it’s time to lower the expectations for Woods in 2010.

He hasn’t won a major since 2008, has a divorce reportedly on the horizon, is dealing with his addiction “issues” and recently parted ways with swing coach Hank Haney.

That’s a full buffet plate in a game that at every level, as we all know, is more mental than physical.

Woods was clearly running out of answers after his round Friday, where for the second straight day he battled a streaky putter and closed the round heading in the wrong direction.

“When you’re not making any putts, what are you going to do?” said Woods, who dropped two shots to par Friday over his final five holes after losing four strokes to par Thursday down the stretch.

“Yeah, it is what it is. I drove the ball on a string the last two days and haven’t gotten anything out of it.”

Woods is right about driving the ball well. He leads the field in driving distance, and by his recent crooked standards with the big dog his accuracy off the tee is good enough to produce better than 73-70.

His putting isn’t awful — Woods is middle of the pack after 36 holes. But it’s not great, either. Speed on the greens isn’t the issue, it’s been more about finding the right line on tricky surfaces he’s never seen.

“As I said, I’m driving it on a string right now, and that’s fun,” Woods said. “But if you don’t make putts, no matter how good you hit the golf ball, you’re not going to shoot good scores.”

Woods made reference Friday playing the par-5s “absolutely awful” over the first 36 holes. There are only two par-5s at Aronimink, and only the 16th is reachable in two.

It’s not the long holes that are the problem this week, it’s the short ones. Or rather the supposed short ones.

This is a nasty quartet of par-3s at Aronimink. Even the shortest of the four, the 178-yard fifth, is a hole where par is perfectly acceptable.

Collectively, the par-3s check in at 849 yards (212 average), with three of them tipping the markers at 215 yards or longer.

The green complexes on the three-pars are some of the most demanding out here, and a couple of the pins were tucked on little slivers of an island Friday.

They are not easy, but Woods has butchered them for the most part. He’s played the par-3s in 4-over par with only one birdie, a double and three bogeys.

Two of those bogeys came Friday on his final nine holes, after starting on No. 10, when he stubbed a chip at the fifth after attacking the flag and missed a 2-foot putt on No. 8.

“It’s just one of those things where the last two days I’ve gone the wrong direction coming in,” Woods said. “Instead of finishing off the round, I added to it.”

It’s always something, right?

Associated Press