Tiger Woods: Golf's Newest Choke Artist

Someone actually had the nerve to ask Tiger Woods—on Saturday—if he'd ever come close to choking in a major. 14 for 14 when leading the final round. So congratulations, anonymous jinxer. You won the weekend.

Tiger refused to answer the question, but the seed was planted. Lacking any other obvious story line, people were actually pondering that scenario. Then like some terrible sociology class experiment, the idea turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Tiger Woods lost his fourth major of the year. So now he's exactly like every other chump who held the lead on Sunday and folded like a cheap suit.

Isn't it funny how no one ever gets beat in golf? The story line of most of those 14 wins was usually not about Tiger outplaying his opponent—which he did—but how his "mental toughness" put the "pressure" on the challenger forcing them to "wilt" and "fade." It can never just be that he swung the little sticks better than someone else. Golf is a mental war that requires there to be casualties. Since no one plays defense, if you don't win you have no one to blame but yourself.

So at least everyone is being consistent. (Even the hero worshipers.) Sure, it was tough for some people to admit the Tiger Woods could be the choker, but they came around, because that's the way golf works. The guy who won? Yeah, he's okay I guess. But Tiger blew it. Y.E. Yang was not the winner. Tiger was the failure. It was his fault. What a loser.

Yet, still not the worst choke job of the weekend. That's goes to the Irish bookmaker that called the PGA Championship on Saturday morning—before the third-round even started—and paid out all their bets to those who had Tiger Woods to win. Savvy.

The Yin and the Yang: Woods Choked [Jay Mariotti] Believe it or not: Tiger loses lead in major on final day [CBS Sports] Bookmaker loses 1.5m euros after Tiger Woods USPGA collapse [Daily Record] Tiger Woods showed how hard it is to win 14 major championships by losing one [Golf]