Players Championship 2012: Bad First Round Proves How Far Tiger Woods Has Fallen

A terrible first round at the The Players Championship on Thursday in which he shot two-over par proves how far Tiger Woods has fallen in the sport of golf.

Judging by his performance Thursday, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see him miss the cut at the Players Championship.

Woods played badly at the Wells Fargo Championship last week and missed the cut there, and it seems that there has been little to no improvement in his game or any effective adjustments made since then.

Woods talked about his first round, via USA Today:

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"It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots, and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots," Woods said. "It wasn't certainly the most positive start. Any kind of momentum that I would build, I would shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole."

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That's exactly what's wrong with Woods' game right now. Once he starts to build momentum and plays well in a tournament, he struggles for weeks at a time.

When Woods was on top of his game, he was able to build on good performances and not let mini-slumps or poor rounds bother him, but now, he rarely put together good tournaments in a row.

One of the more impressive parts of Woods' time as the game's best player was that he was so consistent and that in every tournament he played in, he was the guy to beat and put fear into his opponents.

Right now, no one fears Woods whether he's struggling or playing well. Woods' inconsistency has made his aura of invincibility disappear.

His challenge going forward is to play well consistently and build confidence over a long period of time. He's never going to be a great golfer again unless he becomes more consistent.