Filed under: Golf & Tennis
It was roughly one year ago today that Tiger Woods' life changed for the worse. On November 25, 2009, the National Enquirer set to run a story about Tiger having an affair with a woman. That night, he ends up in the hospital after his wife uses a golf club to "help get him out of the car."One year later, the National Enquirer is in bankruptcy court, Tiger it out $100 million after his divorce, and Woods hasn't won a tournament for an entire year. Life has been interesting.
As Woods prepares for the Australian Masters, he's hopeful that he can find a way to recapture the greatness that made him the highest-paid athlete on the planet. He also hopes to regain his number one world ranking, which he has also lost since the scandal.
"I think I'm just here to defend the title," he said. "I'm here to play a great golf course and play against a great field. And that's how I'm looking at it."
Over the past few months, Woods has worked to renew his commitment to being the greatest golfer in the history of the world. He got rid of his swing coach, Hank Haney and started working on his own. But this didn't go very well, as his swing simply got worse. So, he hired Sean Foley to work on his swing again.
Tiger Woods is at an interesting place in his life. He's 34-years old, as rich as he needs to be, and a single man who's already developed an established legacy. At this point, I would imagine that Woods is struggling to redefine himself, given that he has already done more than most of us could do in 10 lifetimes. I quietly wonder if Woods still has the same sense of purpose that drove him to become the great man that he is today. If he doesn't have a sense of purpose and a set of goals to get him through the next decade of his life, he could find himself in some very unproductive situations. I expect that the story of Tiger Woods is going to be interesting, and I really wish him the best.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.