LEMONT, Illinois, Sept 14 (Reuters) – World number one LukeDonald does not recall declaring the Tiger Woods era over butthe Briton did not rule out that possibility after his practiseround at the BMW Championship on Wednesday.
Backtracking slightly from comments made recently, Donaldsaid Woods has a steep hill to climb to reclaim the mantle ofgolf’s dominant player but hedged his bet adding that he wouldnot wager against the 35-year-old American winning again.
As Woods’s struggles continue, more of his fellow golfers,including U.S. Open champions Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell,have felt emboldened enough to step up and declare the 14-timemajor winner no longer a force to be feared.
“Whether the Tiger era is over, I don’t know,” Donald, toldreporters. “I don’t recall ever saying Tiger era is over.
“Obviously there’s a lot of great young players coming upand showing a lot of talent but certainly I would never benaive enough to write Tiger off.”
While Woods’s future is open to speculation there is littledoubt his era at the Cog Hill Golf and Country is over.
A five-time winner of the BMW Championship, Woods is nothere this week after failing to qualify for the season-endingFedEx playoffs and, with the event not scheduled to return toCog Hill, is unlikely to ever be seen again on the suburbanChicago layout.
Woods has been a shadow of his former dominant self sincethe end of 2009 while trying to rebuild his golf swing andprivate life following the breakup of his marriage.
His world ranking has slipped to 46th and he has not won atournament since the 2009 Australian Masters.
“I’ve certainly said in the past, I think it’s tough tocome back from physical injuries,” said Donald.
“I’ve had some and obviously being away from the game forso long, it’s certainly not going to be easy for him to getback to where he was.” (Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this storyemail )