Tiger Woods isn’t quite back yet, falling five strokes off lead

-Follow Devil Ball Golf all weekend long for the best in U.S. Open coverage on Twitter at @jaybusbee and @jonathanrwall. Join the conversation at #USOpenChat.-

Let's hold off on the re-coronation of Tiger Woods for a little bit.

It's OK to feel a touch let down at Woods' performance on Saturday, just like it was OK to start thinking Woods was truly on his way to winning his 15th major. But on "Moving Day," golf's traditional name for a tournament Saturday, where everyone moves into position for Sunday, Woods moved in decidedly the wrong direction.

[Related: Gallery sings to B-day boy Phil Mickelson after his so-so round]

He began by bogeying four of the first eight holes after bogeying just five holes the first two rounds. A birdie at 9 calmed him down, but he gave away another stroke on the 16th, and chunked an ugly shot out of the greenside rough on 18. He finished the day +4, five strokes behind playing partner Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell.

On Saturday, Woods started to show flashes of the inconsistency that's bedeviled him in almost every tournament, certainly every major, since the scandal: drives that wandered into the rough; approaches that fell just short; and, most devastatingly, putts that just didn't drop. Where Woods was darn near automatic on Thursday and reliable on Friday with the putter, on Saturday he couldn't buy a decent putt. And on a course as treacherous as The Olympic Club, there's absolutely no room for those kinds of preventable errors.

"What they looked and what they putted were two different things," Woods said after the round. "It was just a tough day on the greens."

[Related: Amateur could be missing out on massive payday at U.S. Open]

One of the most oft-quoted stats about Tiger in recent years is that he's never come from behind to win a major. Until very recently, he never had to; he had many of his trophies wrapped up by midday Saturday. But this is a new world, a new Woods, a new field, and nothing again is ever going to be as easy for him as it was before.

Four years ago Saturday, Woods won his 14th major, an all-time classic at Torrey Pines. That tournament, he had to overcome a resilient foe in Rocco Mediate and his own failing knee. So it's not like he hasn't bested adversity in an Open before. But if he's going to take down this U.S. Open -- and he still can -- he'll have to earn it.

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Tiger Woods collides with cameraman after ugly U.S. Open round

After a flat-out horrendous round at the U.S. Open on Saturday, Tiger Woods was walking off the 18th green when this happened:

Now, this is a moving Rorschach-blot test, an opportunity for you to see what you want to see. Was this an example of:

1. Tiger leaning into a cameraman, then making a big deal of a minor injury that wouldn't have happened if he'd been paying attention to anything around him.

2. The overzealous media not respecting Tiger's space and causing him injury that could affect his play tomorrow.

Your call!

[Related: Tiger Woods on the outside looking in after lackluster Round 3]

Yahoo! Sports' Brian Murphy was directly across the walkway from the collision, and gives us this on-the-scene report: "I guess he had no clue Tiger was coming up, and he decides to start picking up his equipment — what appeared to be a TV camera — and back into the path without even looking. Tiger was storming up the hill and — bam! Collision. Tiger's right hand jammed fairly hard against the guy's camera, and the guy appeared clueless as to what happened. Tiger yelped, dropped a profanity, shook his hand vigorously and kept steaming up the staircase. As he went up the staircase, he shook his hand two or three more times." Murphy further notes that "For once, Tiger wasn't the bad guy in an incident with the gallery. He had a right to be pissed."

After the collision, Tiger did a brief post-round interview with NBC's Roger Maltbie, politely answering a question about the speed of the greens. When Maltbie asked him about the hand, Woods gave Maltbie a gaze icier than the waters of the San Francisco Bay and said simply, "It's fine."

Woods was seen practicing on the putting green not long after the incident, so it can't have been too catastrophic. Still, the way that Woods and the accompanying security reacted, you'd think someone had pulled a knife. Good to see that didn't happen, of course.

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Tiger Woods has devoted, if disappointed, fans

Tiger Woods' free-fall down the leaderboard has left many fans disappointed, but perhaps no more than that devoted fan above. We can only fathom that he's got nothing on under that suit; otherwise why put yourself through that misery?

Of course, slavish unrewarded fandom isn't confined just to the gallery. Some of the media got caught up in Tigermania too, like ESPN "funny" "jokester" Rick Reilly:

Reilly probably isn't taking any more bets. Too bad.

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Tiger, Phil, Bubba, Rory: Golf’s biggest guns misfire on its biggest stage

We're in the midst of a golden age of golf parity, an era when anyone within five shots of the lead on the Sunday of a major (which, at one point or another, encompasses pretty much everyone) can bring home one of golf's biggest prizes. And while that keeps hopes of dozens of golfers alive, it's hell on the brands of the sport's biggest names.

This week was one of the most wretched in memory for many of golf's best-known players. Let's take a look at each of them in turn, and see how the Olympic debacle might affect them:

Tiger Woods (+7, finished T21): An unmitigated disaster. After two days, Woods was in prime shape to win his first major in four years. After three, he was rocky but still within striking distance; all he would have needed, in theory, was a three-under performance to force a playoff. But he completely imploded, going +6 over the first seven holes and perpetuating doubts that he'll ever be able to put together four consistent major-level rounds. He should win another major in his future, but Jack Nicklaus' 18-major record looks as safe as it ever has.

[Related: Webb Simpson comes from four shots back to win the U.S. Open]

Phil Mickelson (+16, finished T65): Miserable from the very first shot. Mickelson's vaunted bounceback ability was nowhere to be seen this week. He's had terrible performances like this before, but rarely in majors. Mickelson has an incredible ability to forget his poor play, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him contend at the PGA Championship. (The British Open has almost always bedeviled him.) Still, the window is closing fast on his chances to win the major he wants so badly.

Rory McIlroy (Missed cut, T95): Highly concerning. McIlroy has now missed cuts in four of five events. Congressional looks a long way away now. This isn't the boy wonder who torched course after course; this is a man adrift. Whether it's lifestyle, preparation or just a really bad stretch, McIlroy is spinning now. Fortunately, he could right the ship at the British ... or he could further spiral downward.

Bubba Watson (Missed cut, T73): Unsurprising. Bubba is a household name entirely because of his Masters win, but he's always been a bit of a flaky golfer. Pairing him with Woods and Mickelson was a stroke of brilliance on the USGA's part, but Watson never appeared particularly comfortable at any time on the Olympic grounds. Still, he's very much a product of the 21st century: brilliance one week, catastrophe the next.

And you? Which of the Big Four do you think will get out of the funk first?

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