After Tiger Woods' third and fourth round blunders at the 2012 U.S. Open, one thing is for certain: We're never going to get the "old" Tiger back.
Long gone are the days of dominant tournament performances and major victories. Tiger has come back down to earth after his 2008 knee surgery and November 2009incident.
The days of Woods needing to scrap out a victory have arrived. While he is still one of the most talented golfers on the planet, he's not the clear-cut best player in the world anymore. He's the biggest draw in any tournament, but he's never going to amass the following that he had back in the early 2000s.
That's because many people have realized that this isn't the same Tiger. He doesn't have that killer look in his eyes when he is walking down the fairway on the back-nine on a Sunday afternoon. Surely he still cares about what he does and wants to win at all costs, but it doesn't look like he has that same drive that he once did.
It can't come as a surprise that this has happened, though. He and his wife are now divorced. Tiger lost a reported $750 million in that settlement, but this isn't about the money. According to that Fox News report from June 2010, Woods no longer has custody of his children either.
Look at the situation any way you want, but all of that will take a mental toll on someone. That is especially detrimental to Woods' play on the course because golf is more of a mental game than any sport on the planet.
There's no sense in watching tournaments hoping Woods reverts back to his earlier form. It's not just the mental aspect either. He went under the knife for major knee surgery back in 2008. He was 32 years old then, and his 37th birthday is approaching in December.
He's lost the physical advantage that he has over many of his opponents. The old age and the surgery have caught up to him, and he's never going to be the same.
The "old" Woods wouldn't have shot a 75 and a 73 in the last two rounds of the U.S. Open. This is Tiger 2.0 though, the veteran golfer who will soon give way to younger talent.
How many more tournaments will Tiger Woods win?
This situation is no different than stars in other sports. Athletes get old, and they get old quick. Tiger's demise has been swift and disappointing, but why didn't we see this coming?
Athletes aren't robots, they're human beings. Things that happen off the field, court, course and wherever else, take their toll during competition. That's not to say that Woods was thinking about his infidelity when he started his round Sunday at the Olympic Club, but he's surely exhausted from what has transpired over the last few years.
It's through nobody's fault but his own, though. His actions have caused the media, fans and sport of golf to run him into the ground since we found out about his transgressions, and he will never be the same.
