They're starting to gang up on Tiger

It began a week ago with Rick Reilly's column at espn.com, beneath the headline: Tiger needs to clean up his act.

A few days later came this column from Patrick Reusse in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, beneath the headline: Tiger lost so much more than his game.

Then came this, from Lorne Rubenstein of the Toronto Globe, with this headline: Time for tamer Tiger.

And this, from Oliver Brown in the Telegraph, with the headline: Tiger Woods remains under the spotlight ahead of Buick Open.

Each of these columns takes Tiger Woods to task for his behavior in the wake of errant shots in the British Open in Turnberry. Reusse talked to Reed MacKenzie, a past president of the USGA regarding Woods' behavior at Turnberry. Asked whether Woods was out of line, MacKenzie replied, "Yes.

"The only thing missing with Tiger Woods is the kind of decorum you see from Tom Watson on the golf course," Mackenzie told Reusse. "Watson had a bad bounce with his second shot on 18. No dramatics; he simply played on. That's an example for any player, including Tiger."

Brown wrote in the Telegraph: "...Tiger Woods, cowed by the terrors of Turnberry in the wind, started hurling his irons like a Hungarian hammer-thrower...A sustained criticism of Woods since his February comeback has been to do with charm, or lack of it."

-- John Strege