As he (reportedly) continues his treatment for sex-addiction at a clinic in Mississippi, Tiger Woods remains the talk of golf – although, for just about the first time since he plowed his car bonnet-first into a fire hydrant outside his home in Florida, the talk just now centres around his golf and not his infamous “transgressions”.

During last week’s Abu Dhabi Championship, the first leg of the European Tour’s three-part Gulf Swing, Sergio Garcia was asked about what impact an absent Tiger might have on this year’s USA Ryder Cup team.

Were he to miss the match at Celtic Manor, it would be the second straight Ryder Cup without him after his ruptured knee ligament forced him to miss the most recent instalment at Valhalla in 2008. Read more…

So, Tiger has tucked his tail between his legs, admitted his philandering ways, and taken a hiatus from golf to “focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.”

A sensible move, not to mention the right one. Tiger clearly has significant personal issues which he needs to resolve without the distractions of professional golf getting in the way.

Here’s hoping that he returns better for the break, too, both as a man and a golfer.

Until such times as he makes his comeback, however, golf will have to muddle on without him and the prospect of a Tiger-less season raises some interesting questions and possibilities. Read more…

The people who have spent the last fortnight fighting Tiger Woods’ somewhat tedious fight for privacy in the wake of revelations about his “transgressions” are missing one very important point – he has made fools of them, too.

In fact, there are few people that the world No.1 has not let down with his alleged misdemeanours. Obviously, some have been let down more than others – none more so than his wife and family – but, if the rumours about his private life are true, everyone who has followed the 14-time major winner in his career has been the victim of a major hoax.

We have all been led to believe that Woods is a man of honour, integrity, class. We’ve been fed stories of his virtue, his fortitude, his general magnificence. Read more…

After the crash, the fall.

Tiger Woods might be in one piece physically after the now infamous 2.30am car accident outside his Florida home ten days ago.

But his reputation, his squeaky-clean image, his obsessively-sculpted identity is in ruins

Woods, if reports are to be believed, has been marking a few more birdies on his scorecard than is a married man’s privilege.

The mucky maelstrom all started two weeks ago when the National Enqurirer reported that Woods had been having an affair with New York socialite Rachel Uchitel. Read more…

Something was always going to happen one day, wasn’t it? After all, the career of a golfer is too long for their professional and private lives not to transcend at least once, even more so when the golfer in question just so happens to be, arguably, the best player ever to grace the game.

In that respect, Tiger Woods making the front page of the newspapers and gossip mags at some point before his career was out was an inevitability.

However, just as foreseeable was his reaction to the fall-out from his frankly bizarre car accident last weekend – and the wounds from his handling of the whole sorry, peculiar mess may take longer to heal than his “facial lacerations”. Read more…

As the fallout ensues surrounding Doug Barron’s suspension from the PGA Tour, we are, again, being treated to the well-versed dispute as to whether golf, like athletics and cycling, will see the benefit of drug testing.

Tiger Woods is in no doubt.

“I heard about it [Barron's ban]. It’s unfortunate, but that is one of the reasons why we have the policy to make sure no-one does anything that’s improper for the game of golf and I think that it is great that we have the policy in place,” said the world No.1.

“I don’t know if he tested for performance-enhancing or recreational, but the whole idea is to keep our sport clean and that is why we created the policy and it has been executed and unfortunately one player didn’t obey the policy.”

Supportive as he may be of golf’s foray into the prevention of substance misuse, he alludes to one fact that throws into perspective the credibility of what is a damning indictment of journeyman Barron. Read more…

 The climax to the US PGA Championship heralds what is, for many avid golf followers, the bleakest period of the year: a near eight-month stretch without a major to look forward to.

It’s a long wait from the US PGA until the Masters. Fans feel it, those of us in the media feel it and the world’s top players feel it. And, perhaps this year more than any other, you can count Tiger Woods amongst the latter.

It has been a tough year for the world No.1 as far as golf’s big four goes and you can bet your bottom dollar that he will be a restless, troubled soul over the coming months as he seeks to banish the painful memories of going a full season without a major win. Read more…