Arrested near his home in Jupiter, Fl. for driving under the influence [DUI] at 3:00 am May 29, golf legend Tiger Woods continues his downward spiral after his ex-wife Elin Nordregen discovered he was a serial adulterer Dec. 30, 2009. Looking at Tiger’s current set of mugshots, you see a shell of the man who once dominated professional golf, winning 14 major championships, the last one being the U.S. Open, June 16, 2008. Since Elin smashed the back window of his Cadillac Escalade with his nine-iron Dec. 30, 2009, Tiger’s career went into a death spiral. Exposed a serial cheater, the once golf billionaire marketing icon lost his endorsements, steadily ostracized as one of the world’s most admired sports figures. Woods took the golfing world by storm turning pro in Aug.1996 at age 20, winning the Augusta, Ga.-based Masters April 13, 1997 by a record 12 stokes at 18 under.
Woods fall from grace was an unprecedented downfall for an athlete controlling a billion dollar advertising empire, unable to accept normal married life with his beautiful Swedish wife and two young children. Beset with nearly constant medical problems since exposed as a serial adulterer, Woods had difficulty explaining the glaring discrepancy between his private and public life to the media and his sponsors. Following the Dec. 30, 2009 incident with Nordregen, Tiger never returned to his prior form as one of the greatest golfers of all time. Looking at his May 29 mugshots shows a disturbed 41-year-old, unable to manage his past emotional collapse, sending him allegedly into rehab for sexual addiction in 2009.at Pinegrove Hospita in Hattiesburg, Miss. More a publicity stunt, Tiger looked to end the fallout from his shocking incident, exposing his dark side for the world to see up-close-and-personal.
Put on a golf course by his father Earl at age two, Tiger was a recognized phenom through his childhood, once appearing Oct. 6, 1978 on the Mike Douglas Show with his father and legendary comedian Bob Hope. From that time on, Woods was raised in the public eye, breaking child and adolescent golf records, until turning pro in August 1996 at age 20. Playing golf in the public eye since age two robbed Woods of a normal childhood, creating an artificially crafted PR image as the ultimate gentleman, representing sport’s ultimate gentlemen’s game. When he was exposed while married as soliciting prostitutes and cocktail hostesses, Woods single-handedly watched his advertising empire go up in smoke. Arrested at 3:00 am in Jupiter, Florida today, Woods was booked at 7.16 am for DUI in Palm Beach County Jail, and released on his own recognizance 10:50 am.
Trying to recover from April 20 spinal fusion surgery to return to professional golf at age 41, Woods has made several high-profile returns to the game over the last eight years. Each time, Woods came up short, unable to recover the pre-Dec. 30, 2009 form that made him one of the compelling sports stories of the 20th Century. Before plagued with numerous back problems, Woods claimed he lost his swing, hiring swing coaches Hank Haney, Sean Foley and Chris Como, all failing to return Woods to his once domination. Considered a shoe-in to break golf legend Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 majors, Tiger’s been passed by a new generation of golfers, once idolizing his game but no longer even close to their caliber. “My surgeon and phisotherapist say the operation was successful. It’s just a matter of not screwing up and letting it fuse,” Woods wrote on his Website.
Woods has been making excuses since Elin smashed his back window of his Escalade with a 9-iron in 2009. Whether it’s his back, knees or swing, Woods could never face how he hit his career with a wrecking ball. Unable to manage the PR nightmare, Woods could never face the loss of approval from his once loyal following. Unable to face galleries at major golf tournaments around the world, Woods could not reclaim his trademark confidence, once dominating the professional tour. “I am walking and doing my exercises, and taking my kids to and from school. All I can do is take it day by day, there’s no hurry,” said Woods, knowing that time isn’t on his side. Instead of focusing only on his physical rehab or golf swing, Woods should get himself into therapy and work on his personality defects. Wrecking his marriage is one thing but wrecking himself is another.
Woods insists he wants to return to professional golf because that’s his life, all that he knows since childhood. But if he expects to ever recover from unresolved issues that resulted in today’s DUI, he needs to spend time dealing with what’s missing or wrong with his personality. “But I want to say unequivocally, I really want to play professional golf again,” said Woods, demonstrating how he wants to deal only with what he knows rather than face himself in therapy. After missing the 2015-2016 season, Woods returned to the tour in December 2016, only to watch his hopes vanquished. More physical rehab or work on his swing won’t keep him away from nightclubs or off the streets when he’s inebriated. Instead of using his DUI as a wake-up call, it looks like Tiger’s making more excuses, focusing on his physical rehab, returning to the golf tour but not growing up.
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