First The Fat Boys Break Up And Now This...

Aaron Baddeley won the Northern Trust Open this weekend at storied Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. What was interesting however, were the names of those chasing him down the stretch. Names we haven’t heard in seemingly forever…Fred Couples and Vijay Singh. Both are supremely accomplished elder statesmen that are long past their primes and no longer a threat to contend for titles on a regular basis.

You know who else is now in that group? Yes, him.

Tiger Woods.

While most people have been content to speculate on when he will get back to his old form, let me definitively state right now that Tiger is done. Finished as a dominant golfer. Finished as a golfer feared by other golfers on tour. Finished as a golfer that made 10 to 15 foot pressure putts appear mundane. Finished as a golf’s greatest threat to Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major championships.

Just finished.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Tiger won’t put it all together every now and then to win an occasional tournament. I am saying that the days of Tiger being a dominant athlete are long gone. In fact, I am willing to predict that he may be in jail before this golf season is out. I understand that is an outlandish prediction, but follow me for a few minutes.

Let me summarize a career for you. What if I said to you that there would be an athlete so dominant in his particular sport, that it was clear he would be the greatest of all time. Every event he participated in would be must see television. That he would change the culture! Then, what if I told you that he simply would be unable to maintain that level of excellence. He became just another athlete to his sport. It either was too high a level to maintain (possible), or the world around him made it impossible to maintain said level (more probable). We started to see the demise, but we couldn’t believe our eyes. Then there is a signature moment and it all came crashing down. We wanted to believe that it was not the end, but our fallen hero couldn’t ever seem to muster the skill and mystique that he once had. And sadly, it came to an ugly, caricature like end.

My friends, that is the story of Mike Tyson. Go back and look at the career and remember that the wheels were already coming off before the Barbara Walters interview. To me, the arcs are eerily similar.

Tiger is 60% of the way there. The wheels were coming off of this SUV long before Elin went wreckshop on his grill (not the car). Remember, when the TMZ story broke, we were 3 months beyond a WTF moment when Y.E. Yang caught Tiger from 4 strokes back on the final day of the PGA Championship. Apparently, something was already going wrong; we just refused to believe it. Y.E. Yang!!!

Now, Tiger just plays for a check. He routinely collapses late in tournaments to fall out of contention. Primarily because his short game is an atrocity! We could point to any number of issues, and most will point to swing changes that he is currently going through. I will point to the three other technical issues.

1. He doesn’t make putts anymore and he seems concerned over every short putt. I have always believed that once doubt creeps in with putting, it is over. You don’t get that back.
2. Tiger never adjusted to PGA rules changes affecting the grooves on clubs. His short game has suffered tremendously as a result
3. With the exception of Jack Nicklaus, there hasn’t been a golfer to have a run of dominance of more than 6-8 years. Ever. And Jack did it long before this era of pop culture sports.

Add to these the fact that players aren’t fearing him anymore (in fact, some that we have never heard of before are mocking him), and well, you see my point.

Now, about this jail thing...

Two things are certain about competitive people: 1) They play only to win. However, once one learns how to quit, it becomes much easier each time you do it; and 2) competitive people compete at everything. EVERYTHING.

While these points seem contradictory, they are not. Tiger has learned how to mail it in on Sundays and collect a check. Or, quit. This does not bode well for one of the greatest competitors of the last 15 years. The more you watch, the more you realize that he loses interest when his game starts to go south. Regarding his competitiveness, he still appears unwilling to lose even small insignificant battles. Especially with Elin. This is where he will get into trouble. If there is even a shred of truth to this article, Tiger is going to do something really stupid soon. Think Tyson, Jim Brown , or God forbid, OJ Simpson.

I hope Tiger figures this all out and proves me wrong. If not, get ready for the next great pop culture sports story.