Dan O'Neill

Imagine if defensive boxing master Floyd Mayweather had Mike Tyson’s devastating punch, if junkballing Jamie Moyer had a Nolan Ryan fastball, if Adrian Peterson was built like Earl Campbell.

If you can, you can imagine what it was like to watch Tiger Woods at The Memorial two weeks ago. The No. 1 player on the planet, he of dogged determination, he of remarkable recovery, he of deadly flatstick from 10 feet in, was in total control of the only part of his game that has not been in total control — his tee shot.

On Sunday, the sometimes-wayfaring Woods hit every fairway he pondered, all 14 of them. Throughout four days of the tournament, he landed 49 of 56 strips to rank second in the field.

Put it this way, it is roughly 1,100 miles from Woods’ home in Orlando, Fla. to Farmingdale, N.Y., site of the U.S. Open. The way things went at Jack Nicklaus’ Joint in Dublin, Ohio, Woods would be crazy to fly to Long Island; he should drive.

Criticizing Woods’ driver has become fashionable in recent times, if not entirely fair. S’true, his majesty’s metal has been unstable. Woods was 148th in driving accuracy when he pulled into Muirfield Village and he has not finished higher than 139th in that department over the past three years.

Among the cache of smart weapons caddie Stevie Williams lugs for his sharp-shooting employer, the driver has been the Napoleonic musket, unpredictable and prone to backfire. That said, the same club is elusive for almost every player who grips it, PGA Tour caliber or otherwise.

Padraig Harrington, who won two majors last year, finished 154th in driving accuracy. Angel Cabrera hit 58.18 percent of the fairways at Augusta in April, finished 48th out of 50 players who played the weekend. He also won the Masters.

David Toms currently leads the Tour in driving accuracy with a fairway-parking percentage of 74.55. Ten years ago, Fred Funk led the Tour at 80.2 percent. In 1990, Calvin Peete was the most accurate driver with a rate of nearly 84 percent. Do you see a pattern here?

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So let’s be honest. Picking on Woods for an unpredictable driver is kind of like singling out one rock star for rehab, or ripping one major-league outfielder for not using two hands. At the same time, it’s understandable. Woods has nurtured such nitpicks.

When a player is as close to money as the sport has ever seen, you have to find something to gnaw on, some flaw in the fabric to analyze. You have to fill space, create conversation, sell papers, stay regular. How do you comprehend it otherwise, how do you process what Woods is doing?

Since returning from his eight-month layoff for knee reconstruction, the Sultan of Swoosh has played in six stroke-play tournaments. He has won two and finished in the top 10 in the four others. Since a tie for 12th at the 2007 British Open, he has played in 17 stroke-play events. He has won 10 and finished in the top 10 in the seven others.

And until this recent fairway-finding epiphany, we were all saying, "Yeah, but geez, if he could only straighten out that driver..."

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