Fans pose for photos while wearing #FreeTiger shirts in support of Tiger Woods, at the Texas Children's Houston Open in Houston, Texas, Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap)
Fans pose for photos while wearing #FreeTiger shirts in support of Tiger Woods, at the Texas Children's Houston Open in Houston, Texas, Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap)

Tiger Woods had been taking up all the attention in golf with the Masters approaching. That's not always a good thing.

Woods has been the center of golf's universe his entire professional career, if not longer, as one of the few athletes who not only lived up to potential but surpassed it. That hasn't changed, even with him having not competed in a serious tournament in 20 months.

Gary Woodland's emotional win in Houston? Scottie Scheffler on baby watch before going for a third green jacket? All background noise behind questions whether Woods' arrest on a suspicion of DUI -- along with his health -- would keep him from the Masters.

He said Tuesday evening he was stepping away, missing the Masters for the second straight year.

That puts the focus back on azaleas and dogwoods and Amen corner. Because even if his legs and back had kept him from playing, Woods was planning to be at Augusta National, anyway.

He was scheduled to appear with Masters chairman Fred Ridley on Sunday evening to celebrate the opening of "The Patch," the refurbished municipal course where Woods' design firm was asked to build a short course ("The Loop").

Then there's the Masters Club dinner Tuesday night, held exclusively for Masters champions since 1952. No one wants to miss that.

Such is his influence even at storied Augusta -- so much tradition, so much new, always Tiger.

Those were uncomfortable questions consuming the Masters, the tournament golf fans look forward to more than any other because of the familiarity of Augusta National and because it will have been 263 days since the last major. In golf, Georgia is always on the mind.

For Woods, it's no longer about a Masters green jacket or any other trophy.

Now it's about his legacy.

That probably won't change as a golfer. Even after returning following his sudden and shocking downfall in 2009 -- sordid details of serial adultery that were exposed when his SUV crashed into a fire hydrant -- fans flocked to watch him because he's Tiger Woods.

The other three car incidents -- all in the last nine years -- raised a different set of questions.

Toxicology reports indicated five medications in his system when he was found asleep behind the wheel of his running car in 2017. Woods didn't know where he was or how he got there. At one point, a police officer told Woods his shoe was untied. Woods fumbled with the laces when the officer said, "It's your other shoe that's untied. Now that one is, too."

Four years later, Woods was going nearly twice the 45 mph speed limit on a coastal road outside Los Angeles when his SUV struck a median and tumbled down a hill. More than 20 surgeries were required on his right leg. Remarkably, he was never cited and authorities never sought a warrant for a blood test. The vehicle's black box indicated Woods never hit the brakes.

More details emerged from his latest crash Friday in Florida, where Woods was going at a "high speed" when he clipped a trailer being pulled by a truck and his SUV flipped on its side. He was arrested for driving under the influence when officers determined he was impaired.

In the incident report released Tuesday, Woods told deputies he had been looking at his phone and fiddling with the radio. According to the report, Woods said he had taken his prescription medication that morning -- the accident time was listed as 1:15 p.m. -- and deputies found two hydrocodone pills in his pocket during a search.

So much remains unknown except that he spent eight hours in jail Friday for refusing a urine test. Woods entered a not guilty plea and plans to waive his April 23 arraignment hearing. (AP)


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