Last week at The Masters, the most famous athlete in professional sports finally got back to playing golf. Tiger Woods, marred by the scandal that has shaken up the golf world, the tabloids and the dynamics of his family posted an 11 under to finish The Masters tournament tied for 4th, remarkable considering the fact that he spent six weeks at an inpatient sex rehabilitation clinic and has been away from the game for over four months.
While the patrons at Augusta National were respectful and enthusiastic for Tiger’s performance, the court of public appeal still had one question for Tiger regarding his affairs with over a dozen mistresses. Why? Why would an athlete with so much going for him—a beautiful wife, beautiful children and a game that is the best in history—seemingly throw it all away?
However, in order to have any type of understanding into why something like this could occur, you must examine the intrapsychic issues that were likely going on with Tiger over the course of his marriage. Since he was a teenager, Tiger has been smothered by everyone in his inner circle—his overbearing father and strict mother—along with millions of people who had never met him. Tiger was always viewed as the perfect citizen, someone who had the mental toughness to handle all obstacles while saying everything the public wanted to hear. However, being forced to be perfect all the time had to take its toll on Tiger at some point.
To the amazement of those around the game, there never seemed to be any moments in which Tiger wasn’t nearly perfect and even more remarkable, never any moments of backlash towards those close to him, even though he had been forced to be perfect in so many aspects of his life for so many years. In Elin, Tiger likely saw someone that fit the perfect mold that had been created by the people around him his entire life, someone who would be his perfect other half. However, subconsciously Tiger was looking for a way out of the seemingly perfect world that others had constructed for him.
Even though Woods will apologize profusely for his mistakes and beg for forgiveness from both his family and the public, Tiger was looking to flee from his mistake-free persona that he couldn’t live up to. The adultery committed was Tiger's way of announcing to those around him that he didn't want the life that had been created and fabricated for him. And even though nobody in the media will ever even touch Elin for her role, she had to have played a small part in Tiger’s actions, even if it was at a subconscious level.
“The fact that (Woods) continued extremely reckless behavior in the face of such dire consequences strongly suggests that he was unconsciously seeking an escape from the most burdensome elements of his life,” said Golf Digest senior writer Jaime Diaz in the April 2010 issue of the magazine. “No matter how great his accomplishments in golf, they would never be quite good enough for what he felt was a growing legion of critics.”
Woods' complete disregard for consequences suggest that something deeper was at play in his mind, even if it is something that Tiger will never be able to pinpoint over the course of his life.
“I’m certain that as bad as Tiger feels,” says renowned sports psychologist Dr. Gio Valiante, “On some deep level, he is relieved.”
Now that the expectations that were both unrealistic and unwanted are gone, Tiger has an opportunity to play with the freedom that he has always sought and possibly be better than he has ever been.
