The most dominant golfer of the past two decades has been Tiger Woods. His meteoric rise in the late 1990s, and sustained supremacy throughout the first half of the 2000’s, was nearly as remarkable as his public, pronounced spiral (on and off the course) that began with his knee injury in 2008 and marital infidelity scandal in 2009. Things simply have never been the same for Tiger.

Today, after recent struggles in golf tournaments he used to win with ease, Woods released the following statement:

The last two weeks have been very disappointing to me, especially Torrey, because I never want to withdraw. Unfortunately, lately injuries have made that happen too often.

This latest injury is not related to my previous surgery. I am having daily physical therapy and I am feeling better every day.

Right now, I need a lot of work on my game, and to still spend time with the people that are important to me. My play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf. Like I’ve said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I’m ready, I’ll be back. Next week I will practice at Medalist and at home getting ready for the rest of the year. I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of my game. I’d like to play The Honda Classic — it’s a tournament in my hometown and it’s important to me — but I won’t be there unless my game is tournament-ready. That’s not fair to anyone. I do, however, expect to be playing again very soon.

I want to thank the fans in Phoenix and San Diego. They were amazing. I greatly appreciate everyone’s support.

Americans love to see the mighty fall. But we also love a good redemption story. It is hard to say where Tiger Woods lands on that spectrum these days, but I don’t know any sports fans who aren’t at least “kind of, sort of” rooting for Tiger to return to something akin to his prior form.

His private sins were made painfully public. He has suffered and been shamed. He has struggled physically, but one cannot help but feel that his personal issues have directly affected his professional ones.

Tiger Woods is nearly 40 years old. Time is running out on the prime of his career. Taking nothing away from his misbehavior and how he treated his family, I, for one, hope there is still something special left in his gas tank.