General / Tareq Quiroz / 09 November 2009 /

A poor final round from Tiger in Shanghai on Sunday was far from an isolated incident, could it be that many punters' favourite money-making machine has lost his edge?

The HSBC Champions event stepped up a gear this year and was rewarded with was a great final round in which Phil Mickelson somehow scrambled his way to yet another victory.

But while the maverick American celebrated success, his arch-rival Tiger Woods was left licking his wounds after a dismal final round.

With six wins to his name this year he is clearly in as good as nick as ever. If anything at times he has looked better than ever. However, the weekend in China was another indicator that he isn't as comfortable seeing out a tournament as he once was. After 44 holes Tiger was 13-under par and trading at well odds-on to notch up another WGC win. Cut to the end of the tournament and he finishes on 12-under par and outside the top five.

If this was just a one-off this year he could be forgiven, but I am afraid it is not. Tiger followers and odds-on backers won't have recovered from his other collapses. Anyone remember the USPGA Championship? Sorry, I know it still hurts. He had a two shot lead over YE Yang going into the final round, but 75 shots later he was soundly beaten by the Korean. That hurt for a lot of punters but it wasn't the end of their pain.

At the Barclays just a couple of weeks later Tiger missed a seven footer on the last that would have got him in a play-off. Sure, that wasn't a gimme, but the Tiger of old wouldn't have missed. Admittedly he did win by eight at Cog Hill a week later but just when you thought you could pile in again...what happens? You guessed it, disintegration. This time it was at the Tour Championship. There was a point in the second round where he had the field scattered and was playing beautifully. Needless to say at this juncture he was once again very very short odds indeed. All of a sudden he just started to miss short putts and he spluttered his way home.

You can go back down the years and Tiger has plenty of seconds and other placed finishes but it is the manner of these recent ones that is disconcerting. He looked embarrassed on Sunday when he was four over through seven holes of his final round. People can quote stats all they like but nothing beats actually watching a player. Quite simply, Tiger's short putting is way below his (high) standard. Fact.

This isn't to say Tiger is in decline, but make no mistake the easy money made from backing him at odds-on isn't quite the prospect it once was. If you are going to get with Tiger you are much better advised getting on pre-tournament. From a golfing point of view this questioning of Tiger could seem like a harsh and many would say I am nitpicking at the all-time greatest golfer. From a punting view, however, there can be no argument. He isn't closing the deal like he was and the message is clear...approach an odds on Tiger with extreme caution.

* Tiger tees it up at the Australian Masters this week and trades as the [2.56] favourite to win. To visit the market click here.

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