woods’
sunday;swoon

it was all going so well. tied for the 54-hole lead with englishman robert rock in the abu dhabi hsbc golf championship, tiger woods appeared to be on track for what would be a first victory on one of the world’s golf tours since november 2009. an immaculate third-round 66, six under par, in which he hit 16 of 18 greens and 10 of 14 fairways, seemed to be the surest indication that the 14-time major champion was finally approaching something like his peerless best. but he wasn’t. as if by magic, the control over what he insists on calling his “traj” (the trajectory of his shots), disappeared as woods was transformed in the final round—and not in a good way. only twice did he find the short grass off the tee; only six times did his approach shots find the putting surface in regulation. it all added up to a closing 72, a tie for third place with graeme mcdowell and thomas björn, and, no doubt, yet another trip back to the old drawing board. at least on this evidence, the questions of technique that have plagued woods over the last two years or more remain unresolved. —John Huggan (@johnhuggan)