I thought I'd chip in with my two cents about "the split." I'd like to think I can offer a different perspective, although I certainly don't claim to know what's going on in the Tiger camp.

First, if you didn't see TGC on Monday night, they talked with a spinal specialist who (given the small amount of info we have) said that Tiger could very well have a herniated disk, and that it might indeed have been just a nagging pain that became worse with use until it suddenly became unbearable this past weekend. The doctor said Tiger might have thought it was something he could play through until that happened.

From what I heard of Tiger's presser on Monday, two things jumped out at me. One was the word "spasms." I can see how Tiger might have thought this was just some nagging pain that came from several months of layoff, and that it would pass in a few weeks. However, he clearly said that Sunday he could no longer make a swing without spasms. A painful full motion is definitely different from shooting pains that restrict movement, so I'm willing to give Tiger the benefit of the doubt here. He never tells us when he's in pain (for better or for worse), so I'm not surprised he didn't tell us about what might just be rust.

The other thing that stood out was his remark about having friends who had dealt with this, and that it could be serious. If you didn't immediately think about his friendship with Annika and the several months she spent in a neck brace after similar problems, this probably didn't mean anything to you. But after several months of rehab from knee surgery, I imagine the possibility of several more weeks in a neck brace would put some fear in you too. We keep talking about this whole idea of seeking some escape on the golf course; that would pretty much put an end to it, and I suspect it's a scarier prospect for Tiger than it would be for us.

After all, there's nowhere else left for him to go, is there?

As for Haney quitting, I tend to believe Haney when he says he called Tiger and quit, rather than Tiger firing him. Have there been stresses between them? I don't know. Could it have been a mutual decision? I'd be surprised if it wasn't; I don't think Hank would just walk out, nor do I think Tiger would just fire him. (Look, if Tiger hasn't cleaned house after that nightmare he's been through, he certainly wouldn't get rid of the one guy who helped him be successful on the one stage he's looking to for refuge.)

That said, I think (unlike so many others) that this is actually good timing for a split.

• Tiger says he can't make the moves. And it's unlikely he's going to be able to make them anytime soon, especially if he does have a herniated disk. If he intends to keep playing, he's going to have to rebuild his swing yet again.
• The Hogan swing is unforgiving. You can't half do it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Hogan swing's strength is that it's designed so that, if you don't do it right, you "get stuck." Tiger continues to get stuck because even he has trouble doing it perfectly. With his neck problems, you can kiss any hope of perfection goodbye.
• The constant Haney-bashing is a distraction for them both. If they split, the rumors stop. Haney will have to do a few interviews about the split, then they'll ask him to critique Tiger's new swing--just like they keep asking Butch to critique the Haney swing.

One last thought on the Hogan swing: Do you understand why Tiger didn't get the same results as Hogan? The Hogan swing was designed to eliminate snap hooks--what Hogan called "the terror of the fieldmice"--and you have to use his complete swing setup to make it work. That means you have to use a weak grip. The only person who ever used the Hogan swing with as much success as Hogan was Johnny Miller--and he used the weak grip also. You use it all or you don't gain the benefits. (Just for the record, Miller and Hogan also shared the yips with the putter. I think that's a side effect of the weak grip and the constant forearm twisting during the swing.)

So the big question becomes: Who will Tiger's next teacher be? I'm sure this will be a big subject of debate for the next few weeks, especially if Tiger gets sidelined for a while in rehab.

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I’m sure you’ve heard the media guys talking during their telecasts, questioning Tiger’s dedication to the game right now. Supposedly he’s bored with the playoffs, slacking off on his practice rounds to hang out with the amateurs, and criticizing his opponents. Last week he made comments about Liberty National that he probably wouldn’t have normally said (out loud, where it might be repeated), and it certainly seemed as if he blamed his poor putting on the course itself.

I wouldn’t argue with any of these accusations… and I doubt that Tiger needs me to defend anything he does. But everyone is speculating about the why behind this un-Tiger-like behavior. Is it possible that Tiger, after winning 70 tournaments and getting so close to Jack’s major record, is getting bored with the game?

I don’t think so. If you don’t mind me giving a little personal history, I think I can tell you what’s wrong with Tiger.

I’m 51 now, but at the age of 45 I decided to join Gold’s Gym in an effort to gain some weight. I’ve always been on the scrawny side―I was sick a lot as a kid, always small for my age, and didn’t really reach a normal weight until I was around 35. I had never been able to gain weight; attempts to work out, no matter how carefully planned, usually resulted in me getting sick about a month or so into the program and I would have to stop.

But about six years ago I figured it out. I finally realized that my metabolism was so high that I needed massive amounts of food to give my body what it needed to work out. So I jumped my calorie intake to around 4000 calories a day and started my newly-planned program… and succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I put on 15 pounds of muscle in just 10 weeks, without adding a single inch to my waist, which totally blew my advisor away. (Gold’s assigns a personal trainer to keep tabs on each new member for a few weeks, just to make sure they don’t do anything stupid.) I can still remember him staring at me, then looking at the charts they kept and saying, "At your age, you just can’t do this!" I consider it one of the great successes of my life.

What does this have to do with Tiger?

Simply this: I couldn’t keep it up past ten weeks because it completely wore me out. All the meal planning, the calorie counting, the workout plans and their frequency, the carefully-included roadwork, the rest periods… all that had to be worked in around the rest of my life, which didn’t ease up just because I was on a personal mission. And trust me, unless you eat a lot of fat in your diet, 4000 calories is a lot of food. After a while, you start to dread facing another dinner.

Now think about what Tiger has done in the last 18 months or so: Surgery and extensive rehab, trying to regain his form after months without golf practice or his normal workout routine. Returning to the pinnacle of golf competition, knowing everybody is watching to see what he can do… and whether he’s vulnerable now. He still can’t do his normal routines, even after he returns to the game, because he doesn’t know exactly what his knee can handle. Then he essentially lucks out to win a tournament early on because the leader stumbled coming in, and now everybody expects him to be at the level he was before his surgery. (Remember, he himself said he didn’t expect to win so soon.) He has to do this all under the watchful eye of the media… and somewhere in there, he has a wife and two kids and all the responsibilities that go with that.

Here’s what I think: Tiger is tired, people. Not of golf, but of trying to get his life back on track after surgery. I think he’s just trying to make it to the end of the playoffs. He’ll play a little more after that―the President’s Cup and his World Challenge tournament for sure, maybe a couple of others―but for the most part, I suspect he’ll kick back and catch his breath. He’ll work on his fitness level and do his normal practice routines, but he’ll do them at home where he can relax on his own sofa with his family.

And come next year… watch out.