By Jason Rowan
The beginning of the month of May usually is a tough time for Tiger Woods since it marks the anniversary of his beloved father Earl’s death on May 3, 2006. But other events in the golfer’s personal life have made the past few days especially challenging.
Woods and longtime girlfriend Lindsey Vonn jointly announced on Sunday that the couple have broken up after a three-plus-year relationship in messages posted on Facebook.
Between the annual remembrance of his father’s passing that marks the month of May and the breakup with Vonn, Woods admitted during a press conference from The Players Championship that the previous three days have been rough.
“I haven’t slept for three days,” Woods told the media, via the Daily Mail. “I’m not going to lie to you, it has been brutal.”
Woods noted how the ending of his relationship with Vonn only compounded the usual difficulty of the past handful of days.
“Obviously it does affect me,” he said about the breakup. “It’s tough. There’s no doubt. I’m not going to lie about that. And on top of that, this three day window, from May 3-5, is always really hard. So it has been really tough. I haven’t slept. These three days have been brutal on me.”
When asked how the tough stretch in his personal life will have any effect on how he plays this week, Woods said it’s business as usual and that he has learned to deal with distractions away from the course.
“I’ve always had to deal with circumstances outside the ropes,” he said. “Once you’re inside them, it’s time to tee it up and time to play. You go into your own little zone and focus, and grind out and win golf tournaments.”
On the course, Woods seems to have righted the ship and rediscovered his game after a particularly brutal stretch of golf to begin his season. How this breakup will effect his improvement on the course remains to be seen. But to see him reveal so much about himself to the media, a stark contrast to standard protocol, once again demonstrates that Woods continues to evolve.
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