Can He Go From Cut to the Chase?

The good news for Tiger Woods is that it would have taken him only about an hour to get home to Isleworth, Fla., on his private plane Friday night.

Wonder how he would have spent the weekend. You’re Tiger Woods, you come close to missing the cut at a tournament for the first time in four years and you’re probably sort of lost.

Maybe he would have spent a few minutes looking for his golf game. The one he pretty much lost in the heat, humidity and heavy air of Atlanta Athletic Club.

Forget Phil Mickelson and his mission to win his first major. Tiger’s tangled troubles were the major issues Friday in the 83rd PGA Championship, which very nearly went Tigerless for the weekend.

The situation was borderline unbelievable. Tiger wins the PGA Championship two years running and now he nearly misses the cut?

If he hadn’t made two monster birdie putts at the 15th, from 50 feet away, and the 16th, from 30 feet away, Tiger would have had the weekend off. The only people more upset than he would have been were the ones with “CBS” on their jackets. In their eyes, Tiger missing the cut at a major is reality television at its worst.

At this point, there can be no more denying it: Woods is in a slump. It’s a real slump too, a nagging, doubt-ridden, bothersome bogey man. It’s not at all like the phony version earlier this year, when Woods played all right but didn’t win.

No, this time Woods is struggling, big-time. You can’t cover it up when you’re scuffling along, trying to make the cut, instead of contending for the lead.

Considering the circumstances, Woods’ struggle was nearly historic. The last time he missed a cut was 73 tournaments ago, at the 1997 Bell Canadian Open. The last time he missed a cut at a major was in 1996, when he was a 20-year-old amateur playing the Masters.

It’s probably worth noting here that although what Woods is going through is new to him, it’s certainly nothing new among elite golfers. Even Jack Nicklaus, the player to whom Woods is most often compared, was not without his major problems. Nicklaus missed the cut at the 1967 Masters, after having won it in 1963, 1965 and 1966.

What’s wrong with Woods isn’t clear, although there is evidence he’s having trouble harnessing his swing. It’s true he isn’t getting as many putts to fall as he has before, but that’s not the worst part of his game. Move back to the tee box. From there, Woods is finding the rough about as often as the fairway.

When meteors fall, when earthquakes hit, when Tiger is having trouble with his game, people start searching for clues for what’s going on and who’s to blame. The search goes on. But it’s unusual for Woods to go this long without finding something to cure his swing, and for some reason, swing coach Butch Harmon hasn’t been able to help.

Harmon has been with Woods since his amateur days and remains the only close advisor who was there at the beginning.

Insiders point to friction simmering between Woods and Harmon since the British Open, where Woods tied for 25th. That was his worst major finish since he tied for 29th in the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot.

After opening with a 73 on Thursday, Woods headed off to the driving range to get things straightened out. Harmon wasn’t there. He was busy working his other job at Sky TV.

Just wondering, but would Harmon have that job if it weren’t for Tiger?

Woods doesn’t appreciate his associates being too public--remember caddie Fluff Cowan popping out of a suitcase in a commercial?--but he hasn’t objected publicly to Harmon’s “outside” work.

Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, but Woods isn’t planning to attend Harmon’s wedding later this month. Maybe he’ll send a gift anyway.

Right now, though, he has some other business to take care of over the weekend. Luckily for him, it’s playing golf.