2010's show of morality or is that mortality?

Previous to Thanksgiving weekend 2009, Tiger Woods was an icon. A family man with a beautiful wife, and two adorable children. A consummate professional who showed his joy on the course when he played well. A smart businessman, who turned a talent at golf into a multi-billion dollar marketing empire. We all know how the house of cards came tumbling down that night. After that weekend, the carefully composed Tiger was shown to be fallible. The mistresses came out of the woodwork. One by one, the sponsors backed out, leaving only a few to stand with him as he weathered the hurricane his life became. He took a break from golf, purportedly to get his life back together. But then he came back after a relatively short respite from the game. He tied for 4th at his return to the Masters, and didn't get higher than that all season. In fact, he missed the cut in his second tourney back and posted double digit finishes in each of the rest of the outings this season.

This weekend, Tiger posted his worst professional showing ever. Actually, it was like watching an amateur. The talk has gotten progressively louder about whether or not Tiger's lost it. If the worries of the past 9 months or so has finally distracted him to the point of being unable to play golf the way he used to. Media outlets have made millions of dollars dissecting the odds of Tiger remaining married, or how much he'll lose to Elin in the divorce, where Elin is going to live, and whether or not Tiger will share custody. Is it any wonder why he can't golf? Previous to all of this mess, Tiger had some missteps in his career, like changing his swing coach, switching out various clubs/balls and the occasional vulgarity during tournaments. Nothing like this, of course. So, why didn't he just take the year off? Get the tattered remnants of his life together, maybe play golf for the joy of playing, instead of for the ego boost and the money. I guess the reason he didn't take the year off, is the reason he cheated on his wife. Because he could. Tiger is a control freak. Every single thing that happened as a result of his actions, took the control he held in his iron fist, and wrenched it away from him. Playing golf was the only thing he could still control. . . and it appears he's losing that too.

Tiger was asked about playing on the Ryder cup this year, and said he wouldn't play if he weren't sure he wouldn't hurt the team by doing so. I guess that's the first unselfish thing he's done in the past several months. That being said, Tiger needs to stop and reevaluate his life, his career and his future. I'm not saying he should stop playing golf. But he should stop playing this year. His legacy of being the family man and all around good guy is already ruined. If he takes the rest of the year off of golf, perhaps he can salvage what's left of his legacy of being one of the greatest golfers that ever lived. People will forgive, and may even forget he wasn't a saint off the course. By remaining in the public eye and playing poorly, the public is just feasting off of the carrion that remains of his life. People love to watch a hero become mortal. And they love seeing someone who lost it all, come back in a blaze of glory. Tiger needs to fade away, so he can be reborn like the phoenix.