Tiger Woods

Ahh... Tiger Woods, what an interesting case study you are. In the world of sports, there may be no athlete more scrutinized (actually, Lebron is #1 on that list) than Tiger Woods. The face of golf, the classiest sport in North America, who was caught having cheated on his gorgeous wife (with whom he had two children) with over a dozen women. None of whom were even close to as attractive as his wife, Elin Nordegren.

What a family man (credit)

Was there something going on subconsciously with Tiger Woods, daring him to escape his perfect public image, or was it simply a successful man succumbing to the temptation of numerous women expressing interest? South Park asks, "why would a man who is famous and has lots of money, use that to try to get with many women?" - watch here (it's hilarious and right on point.)

Kenneth Hartline, who wrote a post on his blog entitled Tiger's Intrapsychic Conflict, hypothesizes that on some level, whether unconscious or consciously, Tiger wanted to get caught. Tiger wanted to shed his public image of perfection because that's not who he is. The media often ignores the fact that Tiger's father, his mentor, cheated on his wife numerous times. Of course Tiger knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he also knew that his inspiration, his father, had done this act numerous times before.

Renowned sports psychologist, Dr. Gio Valiant, states "I’m certain that as bad as Tiger feels, on some deep level, he is relieved." Hartline, himself a professional sports psychologists, concurs on this sentiment, and feels that Tiger has had his whole life constructed around him. That from the age of 2, when he was featured on the Mike Douglas Show for his golf talents (below), he has been pressured into being this iconic golf star. His game followed suit, and by age 20 he had millions of fans watching his every move. He had endorsers who had invested millions into his public image. He was the man with the mental toughness to dominate golf who could tell the media exactly what they wanted to hear. In Elin Nordgren, his future wife, he found the beautiful blonde supermodel who would raise his children. For his endorsers and his public persona, everything was going right for Tiger.

However, nobody ever knew what Tiger wanted. And yet, that is where the question lies. Why did Tiger get married in the first place? Did he really love Elin and was committed to her? Or did he feel that he needed to add a wife and kids to his public resume? If only Tiger had never gotten married, he would simply be compared to a lower-class Derek Jeter in the sex department. (For those who don't know, check the link for the reference.) No public black eye for Jeter and his exploits.

To be honest, I'm not even sure where I stand on this. If Tiger wanted to be single, then why did he get married? I think that it had something to do with him continuing his crusade to be the most reputable athlete in the world, while forgetting what he really wanted. It's hard to feel bad for Tiger for what he did, but I don't envy the amount of pressure that he has to deal with.

Will his game every be what it once was? Believe it or not, I'm not convinced that this is a psychic issue. Tiger has not been the same since his knee injury. Besides, his best performance since the "sex addict" fallout was his first one back... when psychological pressure was at it's highest. Tiger has since worked with three different swing coaches and even has a new caddy, a testament to the change in his game. I may be in the minority thinking that Tiger's performance issues are not mental, but there is a huge physical aspect to the sport. When you can't pivot on your knee a certain way, it's hard to swing the way you once did.