大象传媒

Following up a low round with another is one of the hardest tasks in professional golf.

it was one of Tiger Woods's many strengths and it helped set him apart from the rest.

This is no longer the case, as he showed in his on Sunday, when he surrendered a share of the overnight lead to finish joint third.

Woods's disappointing closing 72 was nothing new and continued a trend that has been a feature of his game for the last couple of years.

During his , commentators and pundits claimed we now had confirmation that the 14-time major champion was back to his best. It was a premature assessment.

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With all due respect to South Africa and its latest golfing sensation Branden Grace there is an overwhelming feeling that the 2012 golf season starts in earnest this week.

Grace deserves plenty of respect after he secured a brilliant double when he won the Champions tournament on the Links at Fancourt on Sunday. The recent Qualifying School graduate beat big-name compatriots Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in a play-off to claim his second title in seven days.

There was a time when those two South African giants were - with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh - members of the game's "big five". But this is no longer the case and the waning Els and Goosen have shifted to the periphery of the big-time stage.

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Watching served another reminder that putters will continue to be one of the biggest talking points in golf.

Although Wagner wielded a conventional short stick to stab home his winning two footer (he nearly missed) the leaderboard was peppered with players using all manner of implements to negotiate the greens.

Most striking was Matt Every's BlackHawk putter with its oversized head that resembled the top of a shoe box attached to a conventional length shaft. It proved highly effective for three rounds and downright ugly on all four days.

"It gets my hands in the same spot every time," said Every, who entered the final round tied for the lead. "I just feel a lot more square over the putt. It's the first tournament. If I start playing well with it, maybe it will catch on."

If it does become popular with the pro's it may improve putting stats but will do nothing for the aesthetics of the game and much the same could be said of the plethora of belly putters and broomhandles that seem to be growing ever more popular.

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In 2008, the European Tour were shouting from the top of Dubai鈥檚 skyscrapers about the news of a massive cash injection from the Emirate that would bring 鈥渁 new dimension鈥� to their schedule.

This year, that most lavish of launches has been replaced by a low-key email telling of a reduced bonus pool available for this year鈥檚 Race to Dubai.

It is a sign of the current economic times that the Tour鈥檚 top golfers will not be able to cash in on their ability this year to the extent they have in previous ones.

Three years ago, just as the 鈥淩ace to Dubai鈥� was being launched, the world economy crashed.

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