Tiger Woods: Time Is Running out for Tiger to Make His Comeback

Here we are, in the exact same place we've been on the Monday after each of the 2012 majors. Once again, we're wondering what happened to Tiger Woods.

The final major of 2012 has come to an end. In each of them, Tiger has been dubbed the favorite to win, and in each of them, he has failed to register anything better than a tie for third.

His most recent blunder came at Kiawah Island this past weekend, where he had to settle for a tie for 11th at the PGA Championship after leading through 36 holes.

On Days 1 and 2, Tiger shot a 69 and 71, respectively. On Days 3 and 4—as has been the case in each of this year's majors—he saved his worst for last, posting his highest scores of the weekend. This time, he shot a 74 in the third round to all but rule himself out of contention for his first major victory since 2008, and he followed it up with a lackluster 72 on Day 4.

Now, we know that either our expectations for Tiger have been far too lofty in 2012, or the pressure is affecting him far more than he's letting on. Tiger certainly hasn't been bad this year, and he has three PGA Tour wins to prove it. He's just been bad on the biggest stages, when it matters the most.

As such, we're now asking ourselves: Is Tiger ever going to return to form? Is he ever going to be the player who's won four Masters, three U.S. Opens, three British Opens and four PGA Championships throughout the course of his illustrious career? Or, is his best golf behind him?

If Tiger was going to win a major in 2012, it seemed like the PGA Championship would be the one for him—and not only because it's been the site of four of his 14 major titles. Tiger has been steadily improving in majors over the course of this year; after a tie for 40th at Augusta in April, he has slowly but surely been showing signs of life.

He tied for 21st at the U.S. Open in June, and then tied for third at Royal Lytham in mid-July. In between and around those steady improvements, he registered wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, at the Memorial and in the AT&T National. The stage was set for his biggest comeback of all at Kiawah Island.

And yet, Tiger regressed. He looked so good throughout the first two rounds last week, but once the rest of the field caught up to him—and rode their own momentum throughout the final two days of the tournament—Tiger ran out of answers. He entered Day 3 atop the leaderboard, but he told the New York Daily News that he became too relaxed and too comfortable, which led to his poor finish:

"

I was right there, and I came out with probably the wrong attitude. That’s not how I play. I play full-systems go, all out, intense, and that’s how I won 14 of these things.

"

So there we have it. Tiger is trying too hard to be the new Tiger instead of the old Tiger. All he needs to do is revert to the golfer he was four years ago, and instead, he's trying to reinvent himself.

But en route to this birthing of a relaxed, worry-free Tiger, the scorecard reads "Old Tiger: 14, New Tiger: 0."

Tiger isn't Bubba Watson. He's not the guy who's going to cruise to a major win, far below the radar and without a care in the world. That's not who he is. He's the perennial favorite, the stoic champion who won't show a shred of emotion until victory is definitively in his hands.

It's time for Tiger to start being the golfer he is rather than the golfer he's not before it's too late.