I was just reading about Tiger's apology and planned return to competitive golf, when it occurred to me that this whole situation is faintly reminiscent of Mike Tyson's problems in the early 90s.
Don't get me wrong, there are huge differences between Mike Tyson and Tiger Woods. Tyson was an immature thug who became a convicted felon. As far as I can tell, Tiger Woods is a fundamentally decent guy who has a very hard time resisting temptation (and, to be fair, didn't seem to be resisting too hard).
But Tyson's sports career began to unravel because of problems in his personal life. Early on, he seemed to be channeling his anger into the ring, with incredible success. But then his marriage fell apart, the anger seemed to spin out of control, and before you knew it he was losing to palookas he would have destroyed a couple years before.
The dynamic with Tiger Woods is clearly different. Anger doesn't contribute to success in golf, but concentration does. This episode seems to be affecting Tiger profoundly, which isn't surprising, when the secret life you've been leading for years suddenly becomes front-page news and threatens to destroy your family.
Will he be able to bounce back with the same mental acuity it takes to excel in professional golf? Obviously, he's a great competitor, but mental distractions take a toll on your golf game. A small loss in focus could lead to a huge decline in performance. My hunch is that if he starts winning fairly soon after his return, he'll get back into the swing of things (ha). But if his struggles go on for a year or two, it's unlikely he'll ever be the same athlete that he was.
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