Tiger Woods will never get back his ‘aura of invincibility’, says Oz golfer Thomson

LONDON - Australian golf legend Peter Thomson has said that Tiger Woods, the 14-time major champion, will never regain his aura of invincibility.

Woods failed to win a tournament in a calendar year for the first time in his 14-season professional career in 2010 and retains only a fingertip hold on the world No.1 ranking.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Thomson said that Woods’ broken marriage and the public humiliation he underwent after his serial adultery was exposed, has shattered the 35-year-old’s confidence.

“His golf peers are not afraid of him anymore and there seems to be a new crop of players coming up and the Tiger era is already finished,” Thomson said.

“At the time, he was flying high on his ego and that was the difference between him and numerous other players who are equal in ability. This time, of course, he is deflated and, as we have seen with his record since he has come back, he can’t get near the lead. So I think the lustre is gone,” he added.

Like last year, the Victorian state government would reportedly again pay Woods a 3.06 million dollars appearance fee to contest the JBWere Masters next month.

Thomson, who is a long-time opponent of appearance fees for golf tournaments, believes that this may be the last time Woods is able to command such riches to show up in Australia.

“I would think that after this one, that will be the end of it because he won’t be the dominating figure and he won’t win,” the five-time British Open champion said.

Woods won last year’s Masters at Kingston Heath in the days before the pace of his life and career slowed down following the first revelations of his off-course transgressions. (ANI)