Tiger's fault that his foes are better

AUGUSTA Ga.

If Tiger Woods does not rally from his current tie for 24th place, if he does not come back to win this Masters, if he never does regain the invincible aura that he had for more than 10 years, it's his own darned fault.

And that's not only because of the reason you're thinking of -- the personal scandal that sent his life and game into turmoil. His invulnerability started taking a hit even before that bizarre Thanksgiving-night SUV crash. His secure place at the top started wobbling because he was so good, everybody started imitating him.

Younger golfers -- and some who weren't all that young -- followed his lead into the gym. They began staying longer on the driving range. They worked at the sport, which became a lot less nerdy, thanks to Woods.

Ricky Fowler, the 22-year-old American Ryder Cup player, said Thursday: "A lot of my friends back home, guys I went to high school with, they're seeing stuff like the Masters and the Ryder Cup and they're realizing that it's a pretty cool thing."

Rory McIlroy, 21, who played alongside Fowler and took a share of the lead by shooting 7-under par 65 (six strokes better than Woods), said, "I could tell you nearly every shot Tiger hit in '97."

Woods said the other day that he takes it as a compliment when gifted athletes choose golf. Guys such as Dustin Johnson, he pointed out, can dunk a basketball (for the record, Woods said he can get it over the rim with a tennis ball).

So it was only a matter of time before he would take it on the chin. Other guys grew so good at golf they believed they could beat the man who got them interested in the first place. Woods did help them out by complicating his own life. But there is no denying the trend began before that. Months before TMZ discovered Woods, Y.E. Yang went head-to-head with him down the stretch of a major and beat the unbeatable golfer.

Yang, the 2009 PGA champion, is still at it. The weightlifting 39-year-old from Korea shot 67 Thursday, tied with countryman K.J. Choi, two strokes out of the lead.

"First of all, winning a major is not a privilege but more of an honor, really. And with that honor comes a lot of confidence whenever you head out to the field," Yang said through an interpreter. "So coming into the Masters, or any other major, it's no longer a dream for you. And it does wonders for you once you know that it's something that you can grasp. With that thought in mind, you no longer think that it's unreachable or it's an extension of your imagination."

Woods played a fine round Thursday, a 71. He made some big shots at crucial times, such as the tee ball on the par-3 sixth that landed within 10 feet and led to a birdie, and the 8-iron on No. 12 that led to another birdie, after two bogeys.

"I hit a lot of beautiful putts," he said, in a familiar refrain. "And they were just skirting the edge, so hopefully they will start going in."

There are so many good, fit, confident golfers now that Woods had better make a bunch of putts, and shoot much better than 71, or he will not win. And if he doesn't, he will have only himself and his success to blame.