It is more than a bit self-serving—John Novosel sells a book called Tour Tempo: Golf’s Last Secret Finally Revealed—but his article in Golf suggests that Tiger’s problem is that he’s lost his tempo. Novosel says that virtually every top flite golfer maintains a 3-1 tempo of backswing to forward swing. Tiger, Novosel says, once had the best tempo in golf, but now is among the worst.

I think Novosel is on to something. One thing I’ve noticed about Tiger’s swing lately is just how awkward it looks. That’s probably the tempo I’m seeing. (I’m quite musical, and my parents are both music teachers, so I know I have a more innate sense of tempo than many). Of course, as Tiger gets more comfortable with whatever it is Sean Foley is trying to get him to do, he should be able to return to a better tempo.

I reviewed Tour Tempo here some time ago.

Tiger apparently is in danger of falling out of the top 50 position needed to qualify for the Chevron Challenge. If he does so, he’ll need a sponsor’s exemption to play in his own Chevron World Challenge.

Two years ago, who could have imagined this?

Tiger’s going back to the minor leagues of the PGA Tour. He announced Monday that he’ll play the Frys.Com Open in October.

I guess that was part of the deal for Fred Couples preemptively putting him on the President’s Cup team.

He’ll be the favorite there for sure. But what if he doesn’t win, place or show? I still stand by my prediction that he’ll never win another major—and that its unlikely he’ll win a regular Tour event. I’m not sure how a Fall Series event fits into that bill.

AP Writer Jim Litke says the GolfBlogger is right.

Well, not in so many words, but he’s jumping on the bandwagon that the GolfBlogger has been driving for a couple of years. The headline of his NY Times column says:

Woods Done As King of the Hill, Maybe For Good

Litke writes:

It’s premature to pronounce Woods “done,” even for this calendar year. At the latest, he will be back on the golf course by November, in the Australian Open. Maybe sooner. And if he’s desperate, Woods could still pick up a tournament round or two stateside or somewhere in Europe.

But his reign as king of the hill is over, maybe for good.

Everybody will eventually get on the GolfBlogger bandwagon on this one. Those who are still walking alongside the road do so only because Tiger has been their meal ticket for so long that they don’t want to face the possibility.

I am, however, hedging my bets on this one a bit. I don’t preclude the possibility that Tiger backs into another Major victory. In a week when he plays well, and the other Major level talent doesn’t, he could steal another. But his days of dominating and intimidating and winning as a matter of course are long gone. There is too much young talent out there.

The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins says that Tiger is “lost.”

This hopey-changey thing is not working for Tiger Woods. He’s changed his swing, fired his caddie, switched his reliable old putter, and even tried to alter his looks, via that patch of scruff on his chin. These aren’t the hallmarks of stability, much less of a winner. The only thing recognizable about Woods as he enters the PGA Championship is his same old glacial arrogance.

Woods is on a search party to find himself and he doesn’t seem close to meeting himself in the mirror yet. He continues to insist he is just one small breakthrough from greatness again, when in reality, “He’s well below what he used to be,” says Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee. His performance last week — a tie for 37th in a field of 76 with a score of 1 over par in the Bridgestone — wasn’t much better than it seemed, despite Woods’s avowal that he was “encouraged.” Certainly, unevenness was natural after a layoff. But mostly what we saw from Woods was the same consistently inconsistent play that has plagued him for two years now: sprayed tee shots and three-putts. It’s to the point that you wonder if this is the real him. Maybe Woods can turn his game around in time to win his first major since 2008, but it seems unlikely

.

He certainly looked it at the PGA Championship. I wrote earlier this week that he wouldn’t make the weekend, and I’m going to be right. He’s in John Daly mode right now (tied with Daly, in fact)—a shadow of his former great self, displaying occasional flashes of brilliance mixed with pure hackery.

I’ve been saying it for two years now. He’s done winning Major Championships. He may even be done winning, period.

The Japanese are insane.

It’s pretty clear now. Tiger dumped Steve Williams and the caddy is not happy about it. From New Zealand Television and the BBC:

“You could say I’ve wasted the last two years of my life.

“I’ve stuck with Tiger and been incredibly loyal. I’m not disappointed I’ve been fired - that’s part of the job - but the timing is extraordinary.”

“I am extremely disappointed, given that the last 18 months has been a particularly difficult time,” Williams continued.

“With the scandals, a new coach, a swing change, I’ve stuck with him through thick and thin and been incredibly loyal - and then this happens.

“I wouldn’t ditch someone when the chips are down. I’ve stuck by Tiger and put myself and my family in a difficult position.

“I, along with a lot of people, lost a lot of respect for Tiger [over his extra-marital affairs] and I pointed out before his return at the Masters at Augusta in 2010 that he had to earn back my respect.

“He was starting to do that, but it’s not the case now.”