Goosen's gaffe

How much of a fool must Retief Goosen be feeling right now?

Not a player you’d usually associate with shooting his mouth off, the South African this week chose to question the extent of the pain Tiger Woods was feeling every time he winced in agony at the US Open at Torrey Pines.

It took Woods 91 holes to finally end the challenge of plucky veteran Rocco Mediate, and Goosen about 91 minutes to give his views.

The question was asked of the two-time US Open champion whether he thought Woods had been ‘faking’ the knee injury.

Goosen replied: “I think so.

“You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and shouting ‘yeah’, his knee wasn’t sore.

“Nobody knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured, and I believe if he was injured he would not have played. But it was a great win.”

Goosen then retracted his statement the following day, saying: “I was being light-hearted.

“No one but Tiger knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn wouldn’t he?”

Now though we all know the real extent of Tiger’s injury.

Out for the rest of 2008 while he undergoes reconstructive surgery on his Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

It has even emerged - after Goosen’s gaffe - that he won the US Open not only on a dodgy knee but also with a double stress fracture of his fibula.

He’d not played competitively since the final round of the Masters, and while the gamble on his fitness paid off in the short term, it could be damaging in the long term.

But what an amazing competitor - to still claim victory in one of the toughest tournaments must rank as one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time.

And what an amazing mistake by Goosen.

He must be looking for the nearest beach to bury his head in the sand.

Whether Goosen was being light-hearted - as he later stressed - or not, he can considered himself ostricised from Tiger Woods’s Christmas card list.

Woods - who will be an irreplaceable loss for the sport over the next six months - does not suffer fools gladly.

Butch Harmon was the coach who guided him through his early years of world domination, but one small criticism on television saw the Sky Sports pundit out of a job.

Other players have crossed Woods and regretted it.

Woods is the kind of competitor who uses criticism to his advantage, it gives him yet more of a psychological edge over those he already has the beating of before he steps up to the first tee.

Goosen beware - and all those who doubted him.

Tiger will be back in six months, better than ever, and out for revenge.