Martin Dempster: Improved Tiger stuck between a Rock and a hard place

IT HAS just dawned on me, but Tiger Woods has put himself in a no-win situation for the rest of his career due to the aura he once possessed on a golf course.

In the end, it didn’t matter that the former world No 1, no longer lunging at the ball as he was for a while, produced some outstanding golf over the first three days to get himself into contention in the HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

What has been picked from the bones of that event is the fact he didn’t win after sharing the lead heading into the final round and, more to the point, was beaten by a journeyman in Robert Rock.

Sure, the Woods of old would never have let the title slip from his grasp, but let’s cut the guy some slack here. To see him back contending again should do for starters when you consider how poor his game and physical state had become last year.

There are many things I don’t like about Woods – sit through his boring press conferences and you’ll understand where I’m coming from – but a tournament always becomes a lot more fascinating when his name is on the leaderboard.

Perhaps he is no longer invincible when he pulls on that red shirt on a Sunday but, based on what we saw from his performance in the Middle East, it won’t be long before Tiger is winning again.

Even then, you can rest assured that someone will be determined to put a negative slant on it.