But there is a kinder way to break the news to his colleagues. To Woods' credit, he attached a grade to his effort only after he was asked to rate his performance. And further to his credit, he was correct. The Tiger Woods who won the Byron Nelson was nowhere near the Tiger Woods who won the Masters. That's a scary thought, and it's probably not a good idea to rub it in the noses of other players.
Great players win all the time without their best game.
That's what makes them great players. When Nick Price was on his roll in 1993-94 he always pointed out that the key to winning was making one's inevitable bad round in each tournament a 70 instead of a 75. And Ben Hogan said he never played a round in which he hit more than a handful of shots exactly the way he wanted to hit them. Golf is not a game of perfection, and maybe some of the new fans Woods has brought to the sport don't know that. And what Woods has to realize is that the perfect golfer he envisions does not exist and never will.