By Willie Ellison

It has been nine months since Tiger Woods’ personally guarded life spilled out into the driveway of his Florida home. For days his friends, fans, golfing peers and even the media could only speculate what took place.

All that was known was Woods had a minor accident, he was apparently unconscious in his neighbor’s front yard and somehow

the back window on his SUV was busted. Again, it took weeks of speculation, but not even Tiger Woods and his closely guarded private life was able to silence what would eventually come to light. And no one was expecting the story that eventually played out on every news station, late night talk shows and entertainment stations.

After the dark that came to light, Tiger was forced to hold a press conference to tell the world of his indiscretions, deal with the media and eventually deal with his sponsors, some of which stuck by his side and some have chosen to go in another direction. Nevertheless, during the time when the Tiger Woods drama was front page news to the present, his popularity never really took a hit and although he kept a low profile and stayed out of the public eye his celebrity never really took a hit.

After announcing he was taking some time off from golf to work on his marriage, his personal issues and spend time with his family, the golf industry suffered tremendously. After hearing of Tiger’s future absence from the PGA Tour ticket sales to events and television viewership dropped by 50%. Not saying that Tiger is bigger than the game of golf itself, but the world’s first billion dollar athlete did have a huge impact on the game.

The effect of Tiger’s absence was so great that the head of the Masters Golf Tournament and PGA requested that Tiger return sooner than he anticipated in an attempt to boost ticket sales to the event and also help with negotiations for a new television contract.

After his stint in rehab for an alleged sex addition, Tiger returned to the course to compete in the Masters. Despite all that was going on in his life he finished in a respectable fourth place. Phil “Lefty” Mickelson won the green jacket, but Tiger saved the day.

However, since that performance and one other, Tiger has been falling deeper and deeper into a golfing slump. Every athlete in every sport has experienced one, but to see Tiger fall so far from grace is hard to witness. Nevertheless, even with less than sub-par performance Tiger still has a shot at being the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world. His golfing buddy and rival Mickelson had a chance to claim the No. 1 spot, but saw his chance fade slightly after shooting a 78 at the Firestone Tournament recently.

Woods didn’t fare much better, which opened the door for Mickelson to take over the No. 1 spot. Woods shot his worst round of golf as a professional at the Firestone course recently. He started off as a 6-1 favorite, then quickly faded. He eventually ended the day shooting a 77, 18 over par and finished 78th. However, even with that poor performance he is still booking at 12-1 to win the PGA championship, Mickelson is the favorite at 10-1 and the rest of the field is 15-1.

A number of things can be attributed to Tiger’s sudden fall from golfing grace. Many blame his swing, since he has been without a swinging coach since May when he parted ways with Hank Harvey. Even though Tiger has been going it alone, if the problem were simply something physical he would have corrected it by now.

In the past Tiger was known for putting off business to focus on golf and golf only before any tournament. However, at the present, Tiger is not the master of his universe. With that being said, he has more distractions, less time to practice and less time to prepare for tournaments. Now that time is spent dealing with lawyers, working on child custody matters, living arrangements, separating assets and trying to get through his $750 million divorce with as little public fanfare as possible. Not to mention a few of his alleged mistresses still trying to hold on to their 15 minutes of fame, so, yes, Tiger has his mind on other things than just golf at the present.

Tiger is hoping his game will improve so he can automatically qualify to be a member of the USA Ryder Cup Team. The top eight players qualify on points; Tiger is currently in 10th place behind Lucas Glover who is currently in the eighth and final position. During the PGA Championship Tiger has a chance to pass Glover on points and move up to the eighth position, but the old Tiger has to show up.

For the past 10 years Tiger has probably been the most mentally tough athlete in any sport. Now with the distractions, less time to prepare and practice, along with the losses and poor performance, Tiger is in uncharted waters. Some say he should take the rest of the year off to focus on his personal life and come back when his divorce is final; others say he needs to play through it and push through the distractions.

Golf is a mental game. Tiger will slowly regain his form one swing at a time. When that happens remains to been seen, but he has a lot of golf left in him. However, until the golf becomes his sanctuary once again, a place where he is calm, relaxed and in control and full of confidence, we won’t hear Tiger roar.