Okay, Tiger Woods is on a march towards history, but does it have to look so painful. Since I live in Southern California and am an avid sports fan, I've been watching the developing career of Tiger since he appeared on the Mike Douglas Show. I want him to break all the records. I am, like many Americans, enamored by heroic effort and the cult of the big personality. I love watching history in the making but can the guy have a little more fun at it? I mean I know he knows how to celebrate after its all over, fist pumping and tiger roar, but can he be a little more gracious in the middle of the round? Undoubtedly, the expectations have been enormous since his childhood, but he looks like he is in excruciating pain. There are game faces and there are game faces, but no one seems to have less fun attempting to win a tournament than the premier golf striker in the world.

 To be fair, I know Tiger knows how to smile. In fact, he has a very nice smile. And, even at the end of tournaments, he seems to be humble and moved by each victory.

 Tiger is caught up in the personal vision to be the greatest player in PGA history. This gives him an intensely dogged determination to overcome the greatest odds. His win at the 2008 U.S. Open was undeniably his most miraculous triumph. Even though he was in a great deal of pain from a torn knee ligament, he would not be deterred from winning his 14th major championship.

They used to say that Jack Nicklaus was the picture of concentration. Well, it's hard to imagine that he could have had any deeper concentration than Tiger. Tiger gives new meaning to the expression "in the zone." And, admittedly, it is difficult to center into the zone with a silly grin on your face. According to conventional wisdom, to get locked into the cause, you have to narrow the eyes and stare down the opponent. Like in Rocky III, you have to have the eye of the tiger so to speak, no pun intended. No one displays the eye of the tiger like the golfer bearing the name. But does he play for the love of the game or just because that's all he has ever known.

The face you will not find in any photo gallery posted on the World Wide Web is Tiger's most prevalent expression; that is the constant expression of uneasiness and pain. Just a few minutes ago, I was watching the 2009 Quail Hallow Tourney. Tiger was in contention as usual, but also as usual he did not appear to enjoy the competition. Maybe he is dogged by his own drive to win or overwhelmed by the inevitable march towards history or perhaps even haunted by his father's ghost. Grand boxing champion Muhammad Ali used to get hit for a living but even he knew how to have fun in the midst of the battle. I think such a grand champion like Tiger Woods can find a way to put a few smiles in his bag before he leaves the clubhouse.

After two uncharacteristically bad rounds of golf at the 2009 British Open, ESPN staffwriter Reilly wrote the following comments:

"Tiger Woods has outgrown those Urkel glasses he had as a kid. Outgrown the crazy hair. Outgrown a body that was mostly neck.

"When will he outgrow his temper?

"The man is 33 years old, married, the father of two. He is paid nearly $100 million a year to be the representative for some monstrously huge companies, from Nike to Accenture. He is the world's most famous and beloved athlete.

"And yet he spent most of his two days at Turnberry last week doing the Turn and Bury. He'd hit a bad shot, turn and bury his club into the ground in a fit. It was two days of Tiger Tantrums -- slamming his club, throwing his club and cursing his club. In front of a worldwide audience.

"A whole lot of that worldwide audience is kids. They do what Tiger does. They swing like Tiger, read putts like Tiger and do the celebration biceps pump like Tiger. Do you think for two seconds they don't think it's cool to throw their clubs like Tiger, too?

"He's grown in every other way. He's committed, responsible, smart, funny and the most talented golfer in history. I just thought we'd be over the conniptions by now."

The Aussie people from the land down under were exceedingly gracious to Tiger Woods who won the 2009 Australian Masters, which it makes all that much more disappointing that Tiger would throw another one of his trademark tantrums at the tee box. Read more about it at the following link: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Tiger-Woods-gets-applause-for-hurling-club-into-?urn=golf,202754.

As new details are being released about Tiger's private life, it  now seems that winning and competitiveness were not the only things on his mind as he played his rounds of golf. It seems Tiger was being plagued by guilt and shame as well. His attempts to cover up his affair(s) was not right; his decision to come clean without being explicit is right and fair.  However, Tiger would be wiser still to take a sabbatical away from golf to repair his relationship with his wife. In fact in the long run, it may even improve his golf game. If Tiger Woods was able to win six tournaments in a year when he was overburdened by guilt, what do you think he would do guilt free? Tiger would be able to concentrate 100% on each shot and perhaps win even more than he has until now.

Although the pain and struggle are far from over, Tiger Woods took the first big step to right a huge set of wrongs. On Dec. 11, 2009, Tiger announced through his website that he would take an indefinite leave of absense from the golf links to get his family life back together. No doubt this was the right choice to make at this time in his life.