Tiger both disappointed and encouraged

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Not the old Tiger. No way. Not talking about progress instead of victory. Not tossing aside a legitimate chance to win his 15th major, his fourth U.S. Open, before the front nine of the final round was done.

Too much history around here for Tiger. Ten years ago, he won the Open here with a record score, 12 under par, and by a record margin, 15 shots. And even though he's changed - greatly because of the accident and the recriminations - and Pebble Beach has changed, thoughts inevitably turn to the past instead of the present.

Woods, indeed, had a chance to win this 2010 Open. "Our game plan,'' he said Sunday, "was if we just shot under par for the day, we would win.''

But he shot over par, 4-over 75, and came in at 3-over 287 - interestingly, the score for the men who tied for second in 2000, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez - and tied for fourth, three shots back of champion Graeme McDowell.

On Saturday, Woods shot 66 and indicated he was back. But 24 hours later, he had four bogeys in the first nine holes. Literally, he was way back.

"It's disappointing,'' Woods said, "because I started off so poorly again and left myself above the hole. Every putt I missed was above the hole. [Saturday], I made everything because they were all below the hole. Below the hole takes a lot of break out of the putts.''

Woods equaled the fourth place he had in the Masters, his return tournament after months away because of the vehicle accident and the "infidelities,'' the latter sending him to rehab. His finish Sunday was thus both encouraging and discouraging.

"I feel like I can play now,'' Woods explained. He was relaxed after the round, although showing emotion while he battled atop the bluffs along Carmel Bay, where Pebble is located. "Yeah, I got a feel for my game, my shaping of shots. What I'm working on. Two major championships, and I had a chance to win them both. So it's not too bad.''

By the standards of others, or the current standards of Tiger Woods. But a year ago, Woods would not have felt satisfied with merely contending. "I play to win,'' he repeated so often. "Otherwise why enter a tournament?''

He hasn't won any of the last six majors he's entered, not since the 2008 U.S. Open, after which he had ACL surgery on his left knee. There are two more majors this year, the British Open at St. Andrews in July, the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in August, and maybe Woods gets one of those.

"I feel like I put some pieces together this week,'' Woods said "It's a process. It's a long process, but I've put some of it together, and I hit some shots this week that I haven't hit in a long time.''

Even if under the pressure, he couldn't hit those shots the last day of this U.S. Open.