General / Bill Elliott / 01 December 2009 /

Bill Elliott considers the noise, chaos and rumour of a painful few days in the Woods camp as newshounds hunt the real story of his early hours car crash

So, what will Tiger do next? While a cynic might suggest that he books some driving lessons, the more relevant queries concern his state of mind, perhaps the state of his marriage and, certainly, his focus when, wearily, he gets to 2010.

The news late last night that Graeme McDowell had accepted an invitation to replace Woods at his own tournament - the elite 18 man Chevron World Championship in California this week - added yet more fuel to an already raging media firestorm as well as answering a question that had been batted straight back all day by Woods' protection squad.

Now we have at least the answer to one question but whether we ever get an answer to the bigger enquiry - why on earth was this model husband and doting father driving away from his home at 2.30am? - is, at best, seriously unlikely.

What is beyond debate, however, is the thought that Woods will be hating these moments more than any other he has had to endure since he impacted on a gobsmacked sporting public 13 years ago by taking high octane pro-golf and stamping hard on the game's collective neck.

No high profile sportsman I have ever known - and we may start here with Muhammad Ali, move on to George Best and sashay through to the blessed Seve Ballesteros - none of them has been as prickly and obsessive about their private life as Woods. This, of course, is his right but the more he soaks up the big bucks through worldwide sponsorships and advertising, the more the media wants to know about sport's first dollar billionaire.

And before anyone starts blaming the messenger let me point out the only reason the media wants to know about Tiger is that the public want to know. Until now, however, Woods and his people have only had to deal with the sportswriters and, believe me, we are a bunch of cuddly bears compared to the newshounds who are now camped on Woods doorstep and talking to everyone from cleaners to gardeners about what life is really like in Tiger's previously apparently perfect world.

Somewhere, sometime, someone will crack and a new, salacious story will emerge. It doesn't even matter whether it is true or not because the internet will allow it to take wing and before a denial can be issued it will be everywhere and being read by everyone. In other words, for the first time in his life, Tiger Woods' life is currently out of control. His control, the only control this control-freak desires.

The importance of this cannot be underestimated. The reason Woods is better than anyone else at playing golf is partly talent, but mostly it is his head. If this head now starts getting befuddled and distracted then he loses his greatest weapon. Already punters will be recalculating the odds on him winning a Grand Slam next year and even beginning to think the unthinkable - Tiger not winning a major in 2010.

Meanwhile the odds are shortening on (a) divorce or (b) separation from Elin. Awful, isn't it? But the big point here is that if I know these things then he does too. This is the crappy part of the world we live in and while it may be reprehensible that another human being's personal life is scrutinised in a manner none of us would wish to happen to us it is, I'm afraid, part of the deal Tiger made with the devil called celebrity/success all those years ago.

These are the thoughts that must have tumbled through his mind as he contemplated facing press and public in California. I believed that if he was smart - and, believe me, he is - then he would face the music and get it over with and hope that nothing else crawls into the spotlight in the meantime. The fact that he has opted out suggests that things may be even more serious for him than had been guessed.

Meanwhile this is some elite field, containing, among others, major winners Stewart Cink, YE Yang and Lucas Glover ( oh, c'mon, Glover won the US Open, remember?), Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Martin Kaymer and Steve Stricker.

None of these guys are anywhere near as good as Woods but on the other hand none of them has smacked into a fire-hydrant in the early hours of the morning recently and none of them has ever had to combat the media like Woods.

While the host hides somewhere, they can compete for a first prize worth over a million dollars in a mini competition that now carries world ranking points. It really is a crazy world.

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