Those who even casually follow sports must know of golfer Tiger Woods.

He seemed to come out of nowhere, a golf protege -or savant- who even in his last rookie tournament (playing against a fellow named Steve Scott) looked absolutely electric.

He would turn pro and prove a formidable golfer, winning tournaments at a pace that suggested he might, when all was said and done, break the records held by golf great Jack Nicklaus.

But a decade ago all that fell by the wayside.

In an era where baseball players were scrutinized for their use of “banned” substances such as steroids, a little seen -much less remembered- article noted that one of the main Doctors known to prescribe steroids to baseball athletes also had Mr. Woods among his clients.

Not much was made of the report -and I would quickly note there is no evidence that I know of pointing to Mr. Woods’ performance on the links being enhanced- because not too long afterwards Tiger Woods had his infamous car accident and, subsequently, his personal dirty laundry was revealed to the entire world.

The married Tiger Woods, it turned out, was far from a faithful husband and the car accident, whose details to this day remain murky, had a blow-up with his then wife and then drove off only to have his car crash.

With the marriage in trouble, stories of his many, many affairs came to light.  Mr. Woods would publicly apologize for his actions and subsequently divorce.  His ex-wife, its been reported, made some $700 million off the divorce.   The golden golfer was suddenly in a very dark place and his game, to add insult to injury, was suddenly gone.

Since that time, Mr. Woods hasn’t won a single tournament and the thought that he might come (ahem) roaring back seems more fantasy than reality nowadays.

Especially after what happened this week.

Mr. Woods was found out cold in his Mercedes in his secluded neighborhood.  Two of the car’s tires were flat and he had crashed the vehicle.  When police arrived, he was awoken and, it was thought, he was drunk.  He wasn’t, as it would turn out, but he claimed his actions were the result of a bad reaction to prescription drugs he’s taking to deal with the latest operation he had on his back.

Today, police released footage of the actual event, and if you want to see it, it’s here.  It’s not pretty and I have no great desire to show it here.

I point all this out because, other than perhaps O. J. Simpson, I don’t believe the public has witnessed a star athlete fall so far and so hard.

Though I’m hardly the world’s biggest golf fan, I did enjoy watching Mr. Woods play in his prime.  He was a fierce competitor and clearly focused like a laser on his play.  There were tournaments I remember where he was down by several shots on the last few holes yet it was clear he still had a shot to win the tournament.

I don’t relish seeing what’s become of him.

While he may indeed have suffered a bad reaction to a prescription medication, its very alarming he seems to have no one around him to stop him from driving when he’s so very clearly impaired.

I suspect the Tiger Woods of old, the world-class golfer all the other golfers feared, will likely never return.

I know I’m just a blogger out in the weeds whose opinion is only his own, but I do hope that Tiger Woods, the man, can get those demons out of his head.  At 41 years of age, he’s still a very young man and he’s got plenty of life to lead.