Tiger's Blood: Can He Regain Momentum?

Tiger Woods laughs it up with his new caddy, Joe LaCava.

Talk all you want about Rory McElroy. Keep telling yourself that golf is ushering in a new era. The talking heads continue their semi-hopeful babble about the bright new future of the sport. The fact remains: golf's best shot at regaining its former glory is for its fallen leader to reclaim the throne he vacated on a chilly November night in Orlando two years ago.

Tiger Woods has consistently been in the headlines for the last two years, even while injured. Out for the last two months due to a knee injury, Woods is set to make his much-anticipated return to the PGA Tour.

On September 25, he chose to hire Fred Couples' longtime caddie, Joe LaCava, to replace the bitterly-departed Steve Williams. LaCava, who originally approached Woods about the vacancy, will be on the bag as Tiger tees off tomorrow in the Frys.com Open outside of San Jose, Calif.

"I contacted Tiger and Mark (Steinberg, Wood's agent) because this is a unique opportunity to be part of something very special. Tiger and I have been friends for a very long time, and I know what he can do."

You hate Tiger, I hate Tiger, women hate Tiger, everyone hates Tiger. Whenever his guilt-ridden face flashes on the TV, my sister groans and mutters, "ugh, he's such a prick." But there are two sides to Tiger Woods. They've been there as long as we've known of him, a lurking symbiotic connection bridging the gap between the two. There's Tiger Woods The Man and Tiger Woods The Golfer. The fearless, calculating, cold-blooded Golfer won championships. The subversive, morally degenerate Man cheated on his wife and violated the trust of his family. The Golfer was the poster-child for an entire sport. The Man was a poster-child for home wreckers. The Golfer held the reigns until 2009. The Man has been in control ever since.

People want Tiger Woods The Golfer back. The record holder for the most consecutive weeks at number one, Tiger has slipped all the way to 51st, sandwiched between Aaron Baddeley and Jonathan Byrd. Having witnessed true greatness for nearly a decade, the media and fans can't help but scrutinize every twist and turn along the route of his "comeback."

If he aims to intimidate his opponents, this is not the right look.

And it's not like he hasn't been trying to re-light that flame. In the wake of a year of disappointing results, recurring injuries, and facial hair experimentation (and swordplay), Tiger has taken it upon himself to give his game a complete overhaul. In a recent press conference, Tiger discussed some of the steps he has taken, including 36 hole-a-day practice sessions with his new coach Sean Foley, in his two-month absence from the PGA Tour.

"I've done all the work. Now it's just fine-tuning. And that's going to be day-to-day, shot-to-shot. And that's part of golfing, that's part of the challenge. But, understanding the principles that Sean wanted me to implement and then getting the reps in, I've done all that now...I've done all that legwork, now it's time to play."

Tiger lost millions upon millions in sponsorship money (Gatorade, AT&T, and Gillette, among others), and it seems unlikely that he'll ever regain that kind of outlier financial status. But things are looking up. Rolex just announced a new sponsorship deal with the troubled star, demonstrating their faith that he'll recapture some of his former glory.

"Rolex is convinced that Tiger Woods still has a long career ahead of him and that he has all the qualities required to continue to mark the history of golf."

In Forbes magazine's list of sports brand values, released today, Woods sits on top. So, for a man that "lost it all," he still has more than all of his peers. In addition to Rolex, Tiger is sponsored by Nike and EA Sports, among others. He signed a multi-year deal with Nike in 2006, the terms of which reportedly netted Tiger in the neighborhood of $100 million. His EA Sports deal likely earns him a healthy chunk of change as well. While his value plummeted from $82 million in 2010 to $55 million in 2011, he still holds a $29 million edge over the second-ranked athlete, tennis star Roger Federer.

Just plain and simple: no one is as exciting as Tiger Woods.

Also, in a recent poll taken among 40 PGA players, Tiger Woods was voted one of the most inspirational figures in golf. Key phrase: in golf. In another allusion to his dual identity, Tiger Woods can simultaneously be hated and totally revered.

But there's one more thing many people have yet to realize: his personal issues are no longer at fault for his struggles. He's a crummy family man, but two whole years have passed since his fateful car crash. He simply has not been performing. His future in the sport is very much in doubt, as his knee injuries have been severe enough to seriously affect his game.

Golf is a mental game though (ironically, as Tiger Woods has demonstrated), and with a new man on the bag, a new swing, a new practice-first mentality, and a clean bill of health, the overhaul is complete. Perhaps he will put his demons to rest. One thing is for sure, much like the end of the Brett Favre will-he-or-won't-he saga, when Tiger Woods finally snaps his losing streak, we'll all breathe a sigh of relief. What happens from there on out is anyone's guess.


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Dean Karoliszyn is the Editor-in-Chief and cofounder of Jabroni Free Sports.