A Year To Forget for Tiger Woods

Image via WikipediaTiger Woods has had a lousy year.  He ended it by losing the Chevron World Challenge--an unofficial event that benefits his foundation and invites a few select professional golfers besides himself--in a one-hole playoff to U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, who out-Tigered Tiger by erasing a four-stroke deficit in the final holes.

Things have changed since the night Woods rammed his SUV into a tree outside his Florida home, with wife Elin following close behind ready to whack him with one of his golf clubs.  We learned that the perfect golfer with the perfect life had a bevy of mistresses (real or alleged).  Most of his sponsors dropped him.  His actions became a textbook example of how not to respond to a crisis.  As a result, Woods' golf suffered.  He performed poorly in the few tournaments he entered, even at the majors he was supposed to dominate, not just win.

Now Woods stands before us with a life that's no longer perfect.  Elin has divorced him.  TV networks are mulling over whether to renew their contracts with the PGA Tour, since Tiger is no longer the ratings magnet he used to be.  And his hopes of overtaking Jack Nicklaus in winning the most majors in a career are fading fast, as he's getting older and new competitors--such as McDowell--are no longer intimidated by him.

But Tiger Woods is still an elite golfer, and he can still get back on top if he continues to play the way he did this weekend.  It just won't be so easy any more.

More Wisdom From The Weekend

• LeBron James' return to Cleveland Thursday, responding to an arena filled with angry fans that resembled a typical Tea Party rally in the only way he knew how.  He dropped 38 points as his new team, the Miami Heat, made short work of the overmatched Cavaliers.
• Ron Santo, longtime player and broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs, died Friday at the age of 70.  On Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" program that night, he named the Baseball Writers of America as his "Worst Persons In The World" for not selecting Santo as a Hall of Fame inductee while he was still alive.  Could it be that part of the reason Santo didn't get in during his lifetime is because he played for the Cubs?
• Auburn and Oregon will play for the BCS national championship in January.  Not who you thought would be there at the beginning of the season, right?  It kind of validates the BCS' decision to switch its games to cable.