OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Tiger Woods flew out of Olympia Fields yesterday empty-handed and disappointed about an utterly lackluster weekend performance at the U.S. Open.

His failure to defend the title he won last year at Bethpage will not stop him from making his next stop in this week’s Buick Classic at the Westchester Country Club, where Woods will try to win there for the first time in three tries.

When Woods arrives in New York, probably sometime tomorrow, he’ll do so without holding a single major championship for the first time since 1999.

That Woods never really threatened to make a run at this U.S. Open title is rather curious considering he seemed to have put himself in position with a second-round 66 that had him just three shots off the pace entering the weekend.

But Woods tumbled down the leaderboard Saturday, carding a U.S. Open high (as a professional) 75, which was followed by a final-round 72 yesterday, meaning he was 7-over par on the weekend.

“Obviously, I’m a little bummed out that I wasn’t able to stay in contention this week, but that’s all I had this week,” Woods said yesterday. “It was frustrating in general this week because I never got anything going. I was so close to putting it together. It’s not like I’m playing and can’t hit a shot. I’m hitting good shots and it’s a matter of making some putts.”

Indeed, Woods’ putter let him down. He averaged 31.3 putts per round and had as many as 35 Saturday. “I never thought [the game] to be simple,” Woods said. “Anyone who plays the game knows it’s not easy and it’s very fickle.”

Woods said he could have “posted a good, solid number like a 62 or 61, you never know.”

He birdied his first hole of the day and hoped he was on his way. But a four-putt double on No. 9 took all the energy out of his round and the rest of the day was garbage time.

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MAJOR SLUMP

How Tiger Woods has fared in the last four major tournaments:

U.S. Open (2003)

70/66/75/72/283/3 over; Finish: T20

Masters (2003)

76/73/66/75/290/2 over; Finish: T15

British Open (2002)

70/68/81/65/284/Even; Finish: T28

PGA Championship (2002)

71/69/72/67/279/9 under; Finish: 2