Golf: All eyes on Tiger's driver

There was a moment, just a brief glimpse really, of Tiger Woods' only possible failing at this week's PGA Championship, the final of the four majors. It came on the 12th hole during his majestic procession to his 50th win on the PGA Tour.

It's the one hope that his rivals cling to - that Tiger might forget himself and haul out his biggest cannon (his driver) and shoot himself in the foot.

Last week's win at the Buick Championship vaulted Woods even further up the list of golfing greats. Few would bet against him beating Sam Snead's seemingly unsurpassable record of 82 tour victories and that of Jack Nicklaus in winning 18 majors. Unless, that is, Woods gets 'driving sickness'.

For that was the moment that gave his rivals hope. At the short par-four 12th at the Buick, Woods arrived at the tee in great shape. He was comfortably ahead of the field and in front of him lay a par-four hole which could be reached off the tee.

Out came the driver and Woods gave the ball such a smack that he did one of his trademark knock-himself-off-balance hops after he hit the ball. As soon as he had done so, he threw a tantrum. Swishing his club in annoyance as the ball headed left, Tiger made it clear he wasn't best pleased.

With himself. He had surrendered to the old urge to send the ball into orbit. He sacrificed accuracy for power - and paid the price. Macho had triumphed over smarts.

He bogeyed the hole and then sent his next tee shot into difficult territory as well - a sign that the field still had a show if the errant shots had sparked an ongoing mental lapse.

However, Woods' mental strength reasserted itself and he shot his fourth straight 66 to win by three strokes. It was a useful rehearsal for the PGA Championship but, more than that, it was a confirmation that the world's best golfer just might be about to continue the run of "smarts" that has accelerated him from being the best golfer to the best-performed.

That moment of 'driver-itis' at the 12th is what his rivals will need to get anywhere near Woods in this mood. Tiger gets testy if he is questioned too closely about his errant driver - the only club in his bag that he has not tamed with his new swing - but there is no question that he is a better golfer when he leaves it in the bag.

His British Open triumph was a masterly game plan where he hit irons off the tees, allowing the bigger hitters to club it way past him before he sliced up the course with magnificent iron shots. Before the Open, Woods had only a 58 per cent record in hitting fairways. When he abandoned his driver at the Open, he hit 82 per cent of the fairways at Royal Liverpool.

He used pretty much all sorts at the Buick - occasionally hitting the driver and a three wood as well as irons off the tee and was the longest hitter with an average of 316 yards. More importantly, his average for fairways hit at the Buick was 66 per cent - well up on his season average.

The Medinah Country Club - the venue for the PGA - is long and tough and Woods will not be able to hit irons off the tee as he did at the Open. However, he may settle for lesser woods than driver.

He is the world's most formidable iron player - by a mile. Even if he hits it in the rough, he's still capable of scoring well with his strength and technique.

He's 150th in the US PGA driving accuracy statistics but first in greens in regulation. During the Buick, he silenced everyone with a 197-yard nine-iron shot out of the rough to the green.

And that's where the hopes of his opposition will also lie this week. The Medinah course (where Woods won the 1999 PGA) has been lengthened and toughened and apparently will play differently to the 1999 version.

Also, PGA tradition dictates that the first three major winners of the year play together for the first two rounds. That means Woods will be partnered with Masters champion Mickelson and US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, who has not finished lower than 16th in a major this year.

There's no love lost between Woods and Mickelson who earned Tiger's (unspoken) ire when Mickelson talked last year about how his new clubs meant he could "bomb it" past Woods.

Ogilvy is also a big hitter who has learned to channel his power for more accuracy. If Woods is tempted into a driver duel with these two, he could be risking his tournament.

In fact, he is leading the other two in distance and greens in regulation this year although Mickelson is close behind in terms of being a player able to hit greens - and birdies - even after a wayward tee shot.

It will likely come down to a mental tussle. Who would back against Tiger in that? He was always the best in the world. Now he's smarter.