An American Lion

12th Hole, Augusta National

Do you buy any of this? I certainly don’t know what to make of it. When the incident happened, the first thing I went to was the possibility that Tiger Woods may have been impaired in some way by pain killers. Why? Because of his injuries. Because of the relentless way in which he continues to play, despite the wrenching effect that it has on his knees. Because that’s far more plausible than anything else, and I was hoping I was wrong. Sadly, here it is over a week and a half later, and someone finally starts to ask questions about this particular angle:

On “The Early Show” Monday, Gerald Posner, the site’s chief investigative correspondent, told co-anchor Harry Smith, “Somebody familiar with Tiger’s medical treatment, back at the end of 2007, right after he tore his ligament in his left knee, around the time of the British Open, to the end of the year, said that he was dosing with prescription pain killers, opiates, at a time that one doctor was concerned enough about potential addictive possibility that he had a person personal talk with Tiger to ramp down the dosing.

“And then at the time of the car accident, I spoke withdraw made trauma doctors who said when EMT (emergency medical technicians) arrived, what they should have found, you’ve hit a hydrant, you’ve smashed into a tree, the rear of your car’s been broken with a golf club by your wife, you have lacerations on your face, what happens? Your adrenal glands pump out adrenalin. It shoves blood into your brain and your muscles, and you’re hyper-vigilant. That happens whether you’re 75 or 15 years old. For a 33-year-old world-class athlete like Tiger Woods, he should have been up and around, walking and very alert, with the adrenalin rush. … (But) he (was found) laying on the grass, snoring. He fell asleep, which raises the questions for some doctors — was he on sleep agents or possibly on pain medications that may have dulled him? And we can’t find out, because the Florida Highway Patrol didn’t do a breathalyzer, a blood test or a urine test that night.”

I had no idea he was, literally, banging a stable full of women. I have no idea what went through his mind when his wife likely clocked him with a golf club. I do know this—Tiger is a young man in a lot of pain, physical and emotional, and he has some holes in his psyche that aren’t being filled with family, a beautiful wife, adulation, money, golf victories, or hardbody hotties who come running when he punches digits into his phone.