James Lawton: Never say die is Tiger's cry as game eludes him

(REUTERS)

Tiger Woods said he had fought harder than ever before to get a score, which just goes to show that even a genius isn't always guaranteed success. A run of three birdies on the back nine took him to four under, but that still left him seven shots outside the lead after a fine, nerveless save on the last hole. It also just happened to be precisely where he had started the day.

In the morning he was asked: "Is seven strokes do-able?" Woods' response could hardly have been more cryptic. "Yeah," he said. But then to say his mood was sour going into yesterday's third round would be epic understatement. The fact is, only one thing is functioning at anything like optimum level.

It is his fundamental belief that however the odds are distributed – even if they are piled as highly against him as they appeared to be at the end of a third day of bone-deep frustration – there may just be a way through them. It has been an unswerving principle of Woods' astonishing career but as he walked blank-faced to the clubhouse it had rarely looked so fanciful. It took him eight holes to wipe out the disaster which came on the first when he hit a tree and then three-putted.

But, as he said, it was hard rather than inspired labour and when he made his second bogey on the 11th hole his body language again spoke of desperation. A beautiful chip failed to restore a stroke at the 12th and for the second successive day he fell to his knees.

The more he fought, the more elusive seemed a place on a leaderboard ruled by the plutocrat mediocrities Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry. Mediocrities? It may sound harsh when you check out the records of the Texan Campbell and Perry, the Kentuckian who pulled out of two majors in order to enhance his chances of playing for the United States in last year's Ryder Cup in Louisville. Both men have been cashing cheques – big ones – for years on the US tour but neither is likely to lift too many hearts this afternoon.

Pushing the odds against Woods still further was the fact that between him and the leaders were two men who had already proved they could stand up to the pressures of the last day of a major tournament, US Open winners Jim Furyk and Angel Cabrera.

Tiger, of course, remains outside most form-line considerations. He is still about infinite possibility. Bt the facts had been increasingly transparent here. No aspect of arguably the most fabulous golf game ever assembled was working properly. His driving has, on critical occasions, been a matter of chance and speculation. His putting, so long the anchor of his challenge to Jack Nicklaus's all-time mark of 18 major titles, has been jumpily erratic.

Extraordinarily, in the course of two days on fast but softened greens, the Tiger has managed just seven birdies, though he did glean five more yesterday.

"There's no doubt I have to do better if I'm going to win," he said before the third round. "I have to make quite a few more putts and generally clean up my round. If I can play smart, real smart, well then I may just have a chance."

Many hard judges believe that only the Tiger could seriously contemplate a major title win on his current foundation: three tournaments, and one win at Bay Hill, the mildest of challenges alongside Augusta. Certainly the winning touch that worked in a routine tour event was looking increasingly elusive in the tournament in which he first announced his capacity to dominate the whole game.

With four Green Jackets in the wardrobe, most pros would follow the great Walter Hagen's advice and sniff the flowers on a stroll back to something like maximum efficiency. After that shattering opening, there was not the slightest chance of it happening. The Tiger was living from one taut moment to another. "Is a philosophical acceptance of defeat do-able?" Nah, a thousand times nah.