DUBLIN, Ohio — As Tiger Woods slipped into the driver’s seat of his courtesy car late yesterday afternoon, about to make a beeline to the local airport to board his private jet and clear out of town after a lost week at Muirfield Village, it was apparent this Memorial was anything but memorable for him.
“Just one of those weeks,’’ Woods said after completing his stunning tie for 65th at 8-over par with an even-par 72 yesterday. “It happens. It happens to us all. [I’ll] go home next week and practice.’’
What should we take from Woods’ stumbling and bumbling performance at a tournament he won a year ago and has won five times in his career?
That he is anything but the near-lock to win the U.S. Open in two weeks at Merion that many of us viewed him as entering the Memorial.
Given how successful Woods has been at the Memorial in his career, it seemed he was going back to Ohio for a week of stat-padding to further boost his confidence — which was soaring after having won three of his previous four tournaments.
But instead of leaving Ohio feeling ready for Merion, Woods left with more questions in his golf bag and in his head than he came into the week with. The 20 shots out of the Matt Kuchar’s 12-under-par winning score was the largest deficit of Woods’ career in a full-field event.
What did Woods take from the week?
That he has more work to do before heading to Merion than he thought he might at this point — beginning with figuring out how to putt the way he was putting en route to his four wins this year.
If Woods was smart, he would have taken a detour on his way home to Florida and made a stop in Wisconsin to visit with his buddy Steve Stricker for an emergency putting session in an effort to rediscover his mojo on the greens.
It was an impromptu practice putting lesson with Stricker in March at Doral that propelled Woods to that three-wins-in-four-tournaments stretch he rode into the Memorial.
When I joked with Woods if he might consider a pre-Merion visit with Stricker, he responded sarcastically, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Want to come with me?’’
Woods’ success has always been closely tied to how well he putts, and he looked lost on the greens this week, never adjusting to the speed.
The lasting vision from this week was Woods’ sloppy three-putt from four feet to complete a triple bogey on the 18th hole Friday. Yesterday, en route to a triple on No. 12, he three-putted from 3 1/2 feet.
The last time Woods had two triples in one tournament was at the 1997 British Open.
“I obviously didn’t putt well,’’ Woods said. “I had bad speed all week. I thought the greens didn’t look that fast, but they were putting fast. I could never get the speed of them.’’
Despite the ugly numbers next to his name on the stat sheet, Woods insisted: “It wasn’t like it was that far off. It was just one bad hole (No. 12) that cost me obviously a few shots.’’
If you watched Woods, who started his round on No. 10 yesterday, play his last 13 holes in 4-under par, you could have been fooled into thinking he was actually in contention.
Was the finish a mirage? Should it merely be chalked up to Woods playing carefree, pressure-free golf miles from contention?
Or did Woods find something in those final 13 holes that might help him feel better about his week and, more importantly, better about his chances at Merion?
We, of course, won’t know that for two weeks.
Woods has not won a major championship in five years, dating back to his 2008 U.S. Open win at Torrey Pines. He is stuck on 14 majors, and will never admit it but the drought is grating on him.
Asked what, after this week, he needs to clean up before Merion, Woods said, “Everything. You want everything clicking on all cylinders, especially at the U.S. Open, because everything is tested in the U.S. Open.’’
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com