Woods Might Never be Looked at the Same

PHILADELPHIA — The passenger was waiting in a long line at Heathrow on Tuesday when he came face-to-face with an Accenture advertisement on the wall showing Tiger Woods walking through the tall grass with a club in his hand.

The man stared for the longest time, then turned away and said solemnly, "I can't believe it."

If this episode ever ends, if the key statistic associated with Woods ever goes back to greens in regulation, one thing is becoming clear.

No one will ever look at him the same.

Ask yourself this question: If you've seen Woods lately in the U.S. PGA Tour's commercial on charity, was it jarring?

Almost as shocking as the allegations of infidelity is the swiftness of his fall. For 13 years on the U.S. PGA Tour -- longer if you go back to his six straight U.S. titles as an amateur -- Woods rarely was regarded as anything but an indomitable figure.

Just like that, he has become the butt of jokes.

His colleagues, who once spoke about him with reverence, now take pity. Even John Daly feels sorry for him.

Despite being among the most famous athletes in the world, we knew so little about Woods. Now we know too much. Woods managed to keep himself out of the tabloids for years only to be the cover boy now.

The big development on Tuesday featured yet another emergency phone call, another ambulance inside the exclusive gated community of Isleworth at an address everyone now knows. This time, it was to take his mother-in-law, Barbro Holmberg, to the hospital for stomach pains. She was released later Tuesday.

There's no word when Woods might return. His caddie, Steve Williams, told the New Zealand Herald over the weekend that he expected to be back on the bag at the San Diego Open. That was merely a comment to show he was standing by the boss. Not even his caddie knows when Woods will be back in public.

The last tournament Woods played spoke to his iconic status around the world. He won the Australian Masters before enormous crowds, with so much foot traffic that it kicked up dust from the sandbelt course and caused Woods to wipe the grime from his face.

The woman keeping score on the last day at Kingston Heath whispered to the teenager carrying the scoreboard, "This is the holy grail in golf." Given the publicity and the amount of allegations, does she still feel that way?

Until this salacious saga began on Nov. 27 with a car accident outside his home, few embarrassing moments for Woods made headlines.

GQ magazine caught him telling racial jokes while riding in a limousine. His father once called him the "Chosen One" and said he would do more than anyone to change the course of humanity. A boom mike on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach picked up an obscenity-laced tirade when he hit a tee shot into the ocean. Woods threw a club that bounced into the gallery in Australia.

This is what used to pass as a scandal for Woods.

He has been the subject of TV show host David Letterman's "Top 10" list twice in the last four months. The first occasion was in August after Y.E. Yang beat him on the final day in the U.S. PGA Championship. Back then, the unflattering moment for Woods was about his golf, not his life. Among the top 10 excuses why Woods lost: "Would you practice if you had a hot, Swedish wife?"

Letterman poked fun at Woods again on Monday with the top 10 ways how Woods can improve his image. On the list were safely landing a golf cart in the Hudson River, fixing the health-care mess, and crashing a state dinner at the White House.

Even that might not be enough.

Woods is not the first athlete to be dragged down by what he referred to as "personal failings." It's just that few other examples came as such as a shock, even to some of those who are closest to him.

Still to be determined is whether so much calamity off the course will affect Woods inside the ropes.

The 33-year-old Woods most likely is just now coming into the prime of his career, already having won 14 majors in pursuit of the record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus. Next year would seem to be the ideal time to make up ground, with the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St. Andrews.

Accenture, meanwhile, continues to feature Woods on the home page of its Web site. He is standing in the desert rough, surrounded by cactus plants, trying to figure out his next move. "Opportunity isn't always obvious," the headline says.

Now more than ever.