Hopefully, the lasting image of Tiger Woods that will be carried in the minds of professional golf fans will not be the one of him hobbling around the course at Torrey Pines, California as he limped his way to victory in the 2008 U.S. Open, where he needed to endure a playoff with journeyman Rocco Mediate.
Also, hopefully, it will not be the image of Woods some serach engines chose to accompany search results for the 2008 U.S. Open-that of Woods booking photo when he was found passed out behind the wheel of a running car in Florida.
In the current age of instant notoriety, a fall from grace is a fall like no other, as trolls by the millions seek to gain their own redemption at the expense of a fallen celebrity.
Woods pled not guilty to drink driving charges when he was arrested in May and not alcohol was found in his system. Case closed, right?
Maybe not. He apparently was unconscious due to a combination of a prescription painkiller and an anti-insomnia drug. He should have paid heed to the warning label of the amber plastic bottle that said, “Warning, do not drive or operate heavy machinery while using this medication.”
Woods plans to enter a rehabilitation program later this year, something that is commonly offered to first-time drink driving offenders in Woods’ Palm Beach County of residence. Given that no alcohol was detected in his system, and one would hope that Woods, if anyone, was smart enough not to combine alcohol with the Vicodin and Xanax he admitted to using to cope with the pain from his fourth round of back surgery in April.
At 41 years of age, Woods’ talent may permit him to resurrect his golf career, hopefully to provide us with a parting image of him raising in triumph the award for winning at least one more of golf’s Majors.
