Mysterious case of the 'slumping' Tiger

What the heck is wrong with Tiger Woods?

The world's No. 1 has been fallible the past two weeks, unable to mount his customary Sunday charge when two tournaments were ripe for the pickin'. His play has been spotty, his ball-striking notably inconsistent. There's even been (gasp!) big putts missed, something that rarely happens when Woods is his familiar, dominant self.

Panic buttons are being pressed, theories are being shared, comments are becoming critical - NBC's crew at the Players was refreshingly candid - but if you think for a minute Woods is even mildly concerned, think again.

"I'll fix it," Woods said after the Players. "We know what it is, it's just a matter of me doing it. Sometimes . . . playing the game is harder to do on the golf course. I just need to do a little better job of it."

The "we" Woods referred to was Hank Haney, who since 2004 has been Woods's swing coach. With each missed fairway by Woods - and lately there's been a lot - it seems someone else is either questioning the work they're doing or wondering if Haney's spot on Team Tiger is in jeopardy. Woods, given the chance before the Players, did little to calm the swirling storm when asked about the rumors that Haney's days might be numbered.

"That's complete speculation," Woods said. "It has nothing to do with Henry."

In my opinion, we can chalk up the recent stink about Woods's performances to one thing: the ridiculously high expectations he's created by his long track record of stellar play. Because really, how many players on the PGA Tour would like to be asked "what's wrong" while on a stretch that includes 15 consecutive top-10 finishes in stroke-play tournaments? If we simply look at Woods's results from 2009, after he took nine months off to recover from knee surgery, it's still impressive: tie for ninth at Doral, win at Bay Hill, tie for sixth at the Masters, fourth at Quail Hollow, eighth at the Players.

The last two events resonate the most, though, because both times, Woods began the final round tied for second and stumbled, with rounds of 72 and 73, losing ground instead of overtaking the 54-hole leader, like many thought he would, and going on to fist-pumping victories.

Woods has been known to get a little wild off the tee, but that trend doesn't necessarily put him in trouble, because many tour courses don't severely penalize wayward drives. Most weeks, driving accuracy doesn't automatically mean tournament success, and vice versa; players hit it so far, a drive that doesn't find the fairway might mean a wedge out of light rough, which isn't too taxing.

What might be more alarming in Woods's case, though, is that he isn't hitting fairways when he isn't hitting driver. In Sunday's final round, Woods only hit six of 14 fairways, but only used driver twice, on Nos. 2 and 11. His inability to control his 3-wood off the tee, and his ball-striking in general, caught the attention of Alex Cejka, his playing partner.

"He didn't really hit good shots . . . didn't really strike the ball well at all," said Cejka, who had his own concerns, surrendering a five-shot lead in a four-hole span early on the front nine.

Woods also has said that he's still getting back to a competitive rhythm after his lengthy rehab. The Players, for instance, was the first time since his return that he's played consecutive weeks. It stands to reason, then, that consistency might be an issue after such a long layoff.

"I'm not that far off," Woods said. "But I just haven't been as consistent as I was before my injury."

Of course, this could be further proof that golf is a game never owned, and only occasionally borrowed, even by the best players in the world. To his credit, despite poor ball striking, Woods has grinded and plodded and flourished with his short game, salvaging respectable numbers when higher scores easily could have been recorded.

Now he's got six weeks to figure it out before the US Open at Bethpage Black, where he'll defend two titles: the one he won last year at Torrey Pines, and the Open he won in 2002, the only time it's been held at Bethpage. Woods is expected to play one tournament before the US Open, at the Memorial.

"I've got plenty of time," Woods said.

True, but with the US Open's notoriously tight fairways and a premium on accuracy, here's a guarantee: Woods's ability to make the proper adjustments will be one of the most-followed stories of the week.

So it'll be interesting to see if anyone is spotted turning the club around and taking a few practice swings while holding the head of the club, with the grip near the ground, like Henrik Stenson did during the final round at The Players Championship.

Henrik, what's that about?

"I was practicing with a shaft back in November, and it's just basically to - I sort of paint the swing, really paint the path of the swing, and it's easy to do that without the resistance of a clubhead," Stenson said. "I can obviously get the same feel from turning the club upside down, and it just gets me on plane."

His wife, the former Emma Lofgren, played golf at the University of South Carolina. Their daughter, Lisa, was born in 2007.

No Swedish player has won a men's major (Annika Sorenstam won 10 women's majors) and no Swede had ever won a Players title. The most successful Swedish player on tour, Jesper Parnevik, has five wins and more than $15 million in earnings.

He developed such a problem driving the ball straight early in his professional career that he gave up during the 2001 European Open at the K Club in Ireland, walking in after nine holes because he had no confidence off the tee. "That's quite a long time back, and obviously I was in a bad spell there. But I felt like that's way in the past," said Stenson, who hit 26 of 28 fairways during the third and fourth rounds to help separate himself from the field.