“The Masters looms...but all Tiger Woods has left is a walk-on part in his own freak show”

Thanks to reader Steve for Oliver Holt's Mail On Sunday story from Orlando, surveying the landscape that Tiger Woods once dominated both on and off the course.

Ignore that he starts off at the local eatery that has been through various iterations since once housing a Perkins, and instead consider the takeaway from a week where Rory was dining with Arnold Palmer while Tiger's no-show chipped away at his status in golf.

The interest in Woods does not centre on sport now. In the freak show phase, it revolves around stuff like pictures of him missing a front tooth. His explanation that he had been hit by a TV camera was not widely believed. His management recently had to deny claims that Woods does not even have the rights to his own name after speculation that it had been bought by Nike. They also shot down claims made by a former PGA Tour player, Dan Olsen, that Woods’ current break from the sport is actually a one-month ban. Olsen later retracted his remarks.

What is obvious, though, is that golf is bracing itself for Woods’ exit. The sport is nervous about losing him and it should be. ‘I don’t know what he’s going to be like when he comes back,’ said Ian Poulter, ‘but I’d love to think he’ll be on good form. Every player wants him at his best so you can measure yourself against him.’