Tiger Woods: Will He Bomb, Or Will He Find His Way Out of the Woods?

Honestly, has there ever been a more consternated athlete, a more thought-about, written-about, wondered-about, worried-about and gad-about sports star?

A new book about Mickey Mantle, the most celebrated athlete of his day, combs through his sad history. The Mick, however, lived at a time-before-tweets when sportswriters lionized our sporting gods (and politicians and movie stars) but kept to themselves the true, most tawdry secrets of their lives.

So, it was not until much later, post-baseball, that our boyhood idol was shown to be an alcoholic womanizer with morals as low as his athletic skills were high.

Tiger, on the other hand, has had to face his travails both personally and in a very public, global eye. Perhaps only Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan before him have been so well-known and so celebrated.

While Ben Hogan had to return from a devastating car accident that tested his physical and emotional mettle, Tiger must find his way out of a swirling hurricane of scrutiny that perhaps no one in modern sports history has had to face.  What must it be like to go to the Ryder Cup as sort of a struggling alternate who is asked more about his swinging personal life than his swing changes?

Put that together with his creeping age, his desire to break one of golf's most vaunted records, his struggle with his putting and a rising tide of youthful competition and Tiger looks like a pussycat caught in the headlights.

Even in normal times, Tiger would have an uphill battle against the likes of Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Hunter Mahan, Jeff Overton and scores of guys who once would have been happy just to play a round with the Man but who now are looking to pass him in the dust. 

Would D. Johnson be so nonchalant, Rory so confident or McDowell so defiant had they played on a Sunday at a Major in the final twosome against the red-shirted Tiger whose very stare turned his competitors no matter their age or experience into onlookers. Where thousands upon thousands gathered to watch the greatest golfer to ever play charge through the day pounding the ball down the fairway, holing sand shots and making 30-foot putts, setting record after record and going so low so easily that it looked as if he was playing alone?

Most of these guys have grown up copying Tiger - his competitive drive as much as the one off the tee - and now seem poised to take his once untouchable crown. They don't seem to be one bit afraid or intimidated by him, perhaps knowing that their mentor has much more on his mind than a 10-foot two putt to make par.

Today's golfers have Tiger to thank for their ridiculously rich purses. We have Tiger to thank for the purity of his play. Now Tiger enters a new era and we can only watch as he struggles to regain his swing and his crown. Will it be as fun as his glory days?  Will our favorite cat claw back to the top or will he remain in the pack?

It should be a helluva year.