Special connection: How Jimmie Johnson feels Tiger Woods' pain
Few athletes have been as dominant in their respective sports this century as Tiger Woods and Jimmie Johnson. On Thursday, Johnson, the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, said that watching Woods' golfing career fall apart with a wave of injuries and missed cuts has been a gut-wrenching experience.
"It is tough to watch," Johnson said of Woods. "Anybody in sports that dominates -- everybody has a visual in their mind of them at their peak, and it's tough to watch somebody struggle along. When I read recently that he just doesn't consider himself in shape or in the place he needs to be at to compete in a professional level, and he's going to take some time off, I was happy, because it's tough watching him suffer."
On his website, Woods issued a statement Wednesday indicating he was stepping away from tournament golf to work on his game.
"Right now, I need a lot of work on my game, and to still spend time with the people that are important to me," Woods said on his website. "My play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf. ... I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level and when I think I'm ready, I'll be back. ... I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of my game."
Johnson, speaking at Thursday morning's NASCAR Media Day at Daytona International Speedway, thinks that's the right move for Woods.
"It's tough watching all the media outlets picking him apart," said Johnson. "And it's been going on for years. You're like, 'Man, when's it ever going to end for the guy?' So I'm glad he's going to take some time for himself."
Johnson won five consecutive Sprint Cup championships from 2006-10, but has only captured one of the last four.
"I would love to see him come back," Johnson, who suffered through the worst season of his own career in 2014, said of Woods. "Being in my position, it would maybe give me a little incentive, a little something to hang my hat on and say, 'OK, you can come back from things.'"
