The secret to Tiger Woods' return to Golf?

As you'd expect with the PGA tour's #1 draw and one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, speculation continues as to the timing of Tiger Woods' return to competitive golf. I'm not going to add to the speculation, but offer an observation about what might determine whether that return is successful or not.

Tiger Woods has been a man in apparent control since he arrived on the scene. His image has been closely managed, and he's managed to retain an air of complete authority on the golf course (most of the time - contrast what's happening now with this blog on tiger's psychology). So, I'd hypothesise that being in control is important to him.

I'd argue that, if the allegations are true regarding his private life, that he's managed to create a false sense of control. Somehow, perhaps with a lot of help from his management team, perhaps through charm, perhaps through financial incentive, the women that he is alleged to have "transgressed" with have kept quiet. Until now.

That cat's out of the bag and life is never going to be the same for Tiger. Tiger never was in complete control, though. He just believed that he was. Now I expect he knows that he's not. I'd also hypothesise that this is highly stressful for Tiger.

In my opinion, the only thing that Tiger Woods can now do is fully accept that he's not in control of his image, over allegations that might appear, and how people might talk about him. If he does this he can stay in control over what he does with a golf ball, and if he can realise that (for his career, if not his marriage) that's all that matters, then he can get to winning ways.

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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com