CADDIES' ROLE: THE DARK clouds built up to the west of the Doral Country Club, Miami, Florida last Thursday evening and the caddies to the top players in the world started to delve deep into their golf bags in search of the rain cover, anticipating a deluge.

The conversation in our little three-ball of relative minnows in today's golfing world of Jeev Milka Singh, Seán O'Hair and my man, Retief Goosen, was about when it was going to rain. Were we going to make it back to the clubhouse dry?

I can safely assume there were similar conversations going on in other low-key threeballs on the Blue Monster course as it is known in the region. There is a conspiracy theory on tour that if there are any breaks to be had during a day's golfing then you had better be around the invincible Tiger Woods, because if there is any good luck going then he is going to get it, they say.

As Tiger Woods was walking off the 18th green at about 5.25pm last Thursday the heavens opened over the Miami area. Our group was huddling under umbrellas on the 16th green as Tiger was signing his card in the dry, scorers room. I was beginning to believe the theorists as the rain seeped through my trainers and tricked down the back of my neck. With the humidity and temperature still high it is too uncomfortable to wear rain gear even in a deluge in this climate.

I remember back in the days when Tiger was in a relative slump and we were trying to figure out what the cut was going to be in the Masters. Tiger was on the cut number and as he finished there was a unanimous agreement in the caddie shack that the cut would drop to Tiger's score. Naturally it did.

Luck plays a big part in golf, as in most sports. The idea of playing four-round professional events is that hopefully the vagaries will balance out for all players. You don't get lucky in golf for four rounds in a row, that is for sure. We have all hit putts and chips at the wrong pace and somehow they have ended up in the hole. We recognise this as good luck just as we whinge and moan about ending up in a bad lie in a bunker or the ball defying physics of bouncing right off a left-sloping hump.

I am beginning to believe the conspiracy theorists that Tiger always gets the right side of the draw or the best lies in the rough. Of course it's only a light-hearted theory, as we are all prone to remember the bad and let the good slip by unannounced. This is where the mind mechanics come into force.

Tiger was on a quest for eight events won in a row. For any one player to dominate in a game such as golf where you play the field is outstanding. But just as the mood gripped in favour of Tiger winning his seventh event on the trot in Bay Hill last week, the odds of continuing to hole putts of reasonable length at the crucial denouement of a tournament seem to have lengthened.

Whether the experts tell us it is a technical issue or not, there is of course an element of chance when it comes to holing putts over 15 feet in length. It is highly unlikely that you are going to continue do so repetitively even if you are Tiger Woods.

The mood in Doral was that Tiger's phenomenal streak is coming to an end.

This does not mean failure for the "chosen one". The fact that he has won seven in a row is exceptional and it is not reasonable of even the most expectant fan to expect such form to continue.

So we all lingered in Doral on Sunday as thunder clouds surrounded us, threatened to burst and then decided to move on. We were on and off the golf course five times and still we did not complete the final round.

For a player who was nervous then there is no doubt that the final Monday finish would have calmed them considerably. It was more relaxed than a casual Monday practice round, there were virtually no spectators as we teed off .

The Tiger streak ground to a halt yesterday on an understated finish to the CA World Golf event. There was a sense around the caddie shack and the locker-room that Tiger could not maintain his incredible run.

In fact even the sports editorial of this newspaper sensed the end of the Woods rampage. Not that he played any different, or the field played any outstanding golf in the final round, the run just ran its course.

Even the law of averages applies to the inimitable Mr Woods. His consecutive wins have been enthralling to experience and of course none of us would be surprised if he got on the right side of the draw at Augusta in a couple of weeks' time and started another winning streak.