Where Is Tiger Woods Going and When Will He Return to the PGA Tour?

By now we’ve all read the latest statement posted by Tiger Woods’ on his website.

The statement contained 165 words, but only two words immediately caught our attention.

“Infidelity” and “Indefinite”.

One word (Infidelity) answered a question.

As if we hadn’t already solved the riddle of Tiger Woods’ previous statement, we now know with absolute certainty that “transgression” was indeed code for “infidelity.”

The other word (Indefinite) created a whole new bucket of questions.

The word indefinite is defined as being without limit; forever, or until further notice; not definite.

But what has fans, writers, analysts, players, television networks, sponsors and particularly Tim Finchem extremely concerned is exactly what “indefinite” means in the context of Tiger Woods’ statement?

Are we talking about weeks, months, years…longer?

Will we see Tiger Woods in 2010, 2011, or never again?

Workers have been seen carrying boxes from Tiger Woods’ home and loading them onto what appears to be moving trucks.

Woods’ yacht, appropriately named “Privacy,” has been seen docked in Palm Beach with a crew stocking it for some kind of a voyage.

Someone is certainly headed somewhere, but who, and where are they headed?

Is Woods’ wife, Elin, moving out?

Is the entire family going to be boarding the “Privacy” to embark on some kind of extended journey? 

Are they moving to Sweden for a period of time, possibly even for good?   

When (or if) Woods returns to the PGA Tour, are we going to be hearing “Now on the tee from Stockholm, Sweden, Tiger Woods?”

Are we going to be hearing “Now on the tee, playing off of the “Privacy” docked somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, Tiger Woods?”

We can speculate as much as we want about when Woods may return to the PGA Tour.  But, the fact of the matter is that no one has any idea when we will see him again, and it’s probably safe to say that not even Tiger Woods himself knows when he will be returning to competitive golf.

Woods is now dealing with issues far bigger than the game of golf, and for the first time in a very long time, he may not be the one calling the shots.

But one thing is for sure, when the big cat is away, the mice will suffer big-time.

Television ratings will be cut in half, and as a result, networks will see their ad revenue sliced in half.

The PGA Tour’s task of re-signing or securing new sponsors for the 2011 season and beyond will go from difficult to nearly impossible.

Purses that have been rising exponentially for the past decade are likely to remain stagnant for the immediate future.

PGA Tour players may no longer receive those same lucrative sponsorship deals that were commonplace during the ‘Tiger Era.’

Golf fans who couldn't escape their insatiable thurst for gossip over the past few weeks are now facing the very real possibility of a Tiger-less PGA Tour in 2010 and maybe even beyond. 

Tiger’s ship may be sailing (both literally and figuratively) and the rest of us are about to see the path of destruction that will follow.

Golf is bigger than one man, it always has been.  But that's not to say that one man cannot greatly affect the game and everyone involved with it for at least a period of time.

In six months from now, if there is still no sign of Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, many people, fans and gossip seekers included, will be wishing they could go back in time and trade in all that juicy gossip in exchange for Tiger Woods back on the golf course…or at the very least, back in the country.