Still undisputed number one in the world, Tiger Woods was again golf's top money winner this season. Yet in a year when victory in the US Masters gave him possession of the four major championships, Woods was deemed to be a failure - by the leading television networks.

Not only did he fail to win the US Open, British Open and the USPGA Championship, he was inconsiderate enough not to be in touch with the leaders when each of those three championships headed into the weekend. The upshot was that weekend viewing figures for those events, were 21 per cent down on the previous year.

Ideally, broadcasters want to see regular confrontations between Woods and David Duval. And the absence of such rivalry is blamed for the fact that by the end of September, with most of the season complete, figures for the year were about five per cent down on 2000. So, we had the first decline in audiences since Woods turned professional in August 1996.

In televised sport, it seems that all good things must come in twos. Like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier; Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Astonishingly, being the best golfer of his generation and possibly of all time, is not enough.