Tiger Woods: The fall of an empire

A time long ago, before the Cadillac Escalade with the busted passenger windows crashed into a fire hydrant in the magical golf world known as Isleworth, there was a golfer whom all other golfers across the globe feared.

This golfer was not subject to any of the rules that governed other players. He could hit any shot and make any putt through the mere act of will power, which he possessed in unlimited supply. This golfer could win any event he decided to play in, and for more than a decade he did, collecting trophies at almost as fast a pace as he would later be accused of acquiring mistresses.

He was untouchable on Sundays, especially when he had the lead. He walked the fairways more like an NFL linebacker than a plaid-wearing putter, and he would arrive on the last day in his customary red shirt with a stare that let us know the tournament was his.

That man, whom we call Tiger Woods, was a shot off the lead this weekend entering the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, a tournament he'd won two of the last four times he'd played in it. He bogeyed two of the first three holes he played on Sunday, and then double-bogeyed his final hole to fall all the way to 20th place.

"I still feel I can win golf tournaments," Woods told reporters after the event. "I'm not that old. I figure I've got some years ahead of me."

Is this the same man who showed up for the 2010 Masters, the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, after a four-month layoff and said his goal was to win the tournament? It can't be.

"There were quite a few positives this week, but a couple of glaring examples of what I need to work on," Woods said. "It's like anything. All my old feels [for the clubs] are out the window when the winds blow. That's the thing when you are making change. It's fine when the wind is not blowing. But when you have to hit a shot when the wind blows ... the new swing patterns get exposed."

Tiger's right, a cold wind has left him exposed. But it wasn't the one blowing in Dubai. Reported extra-marital flings in the hundreds and rumored addictions to sleeping pills, pain killers and sex ... each media report has taken a chink out of the tightly woven red shirt that at one time could barely contain the golfer's most important physical attribute -- his heart. Forget the bulging biceps and chiseled chest; what other golfers feared about Tiger most was what they couldn't see.

Tiger's track record made him appear to be so dedicated to winning that he made other golfers doubt whether what they were doing to get better was sufficient.

Every runaway victory was a stinging blow to his competition. "What is he doing that we're not?" they must have been asking themselves. "How can he be so much better than us?"

The truth is widely known now: The golfer who existed before the Cadillac Escalade crashed into the fire hydrant will never exist again. Tiger's athleticism has faded with his 35 years and every one of his four knee surgeries. His trust in his swing has also diminished with every coaching change. But golf fans have to remember one thing -- he's still the greatest ever to play the game.

As crushed as his image and ego have become, there's a certain confidence that can never be destroyed in a golfer who dominated his craft for so long. In the not-so-distant future, we'll start to see glimpses of the old Tiger, and then we'll even see him win. But in the golf world that he once ruled uncontested, no one will ever fear him again.