Tiger Woods really balls it up

How many women did the papers say? Tiger Woods was the model sportsman with a career tightly managed first by his father and then by his sponsors, with a gorgeous wife and children, before he ballsed things up. How could the man with the golden arm humiliate his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, so deeply? In February he apologized publicly and underwent therapy. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated," Woods said. Now he and Nordegren are divorced.

Tiger Woods, his ads made us believe, could walk on water, and his only mess-ups were funny bloopers. Now his affairs have cost the companies that sponsored him, or whose products he endorsed, between $5 billion and $12 billion. Nike is one of the few companies ballsy enough not to drop him. Their response was a strange commercial that aired during the US Masters tournament in April, featuring the golfer's late father and coach Earl Woods speaking to him in a voice-over. Jimmy Kimmel presented it on his show:

Woods's game has been erratic ever since. He had his worst finish on the US PGA Tour in August, stringing together four over-par rounds, and so didn't qualify to play for Team USA in the Ryder Cup (see Eamonn Fitzgerald's in-depth report in Spotlight 9/2010). Woods could still win one of four wild cards and play in the tournament, but it will surely be a while before he finds his game.

Let's review the story and idioms related to balls in general and golf in particular.

Anne Hodgson