Finally, struggling players on PGA Tour can relate to Tiger Woods

 

Other than the 79 PGA Tour victories, $600 million bank account and global appeal, Sean O'Hair finally can say he has something in common with Tiger Woods.

 

The golf gremlin has infected their brains and created zombies.

 

"I just think that he's lost and the only reason why I say that is because I see it in his eyes and I see it in how he's walking and I see it in how he's playing because that's where I've been," O'Hair said. "I've been living it."

 

Nobody can better psychoanalyze a golfer's travails more than another fellow fairway masochist.

 

"I think his mind is just a little clouded and I don't think it has anything to do with his golf swing," said O'Hair, once a promising player fighting to "salvage" his career.

 

"I just think there's something there that's bothering him and I think once he addresses that, he'll be right back to where he was."

 

It's highly doubtful Woods ever will be back to where he was, not at 39 and after multiple surgical visits.

 

Tour regulars just never imagined they'd witness the fall of the Tiger Empire and be commiserating with the otherworldly Woods this long about chilly-dipping wedges.

 

Tiger won't be looking to take home the Arnold Palmer Invitational trophy this week for the ninth time.

 

He has taken a leave to repair his wobbly game. He has been playing like a mortal for years – especially in the majors – but most of his peers believe his problems are centered in a location familiar to them all: between the ears.

 

"It's tough to see someone of the level of Tiger's talent struggle, but we all struggle in facets of the game," Billy Horschel said.

 

Horschel actually found himself on the range at Torrey Pines with Woods trying to help arguably the game's greatest-ever fix his chipping. Sounds sort of like any Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback showing Tom Brady how to throw a better spiral, and even Horschel is still incredulous.

 

"I sort of opened my mouth – obviously Tiger didn't ask me – and he was gracious enough to let me say what I had to say," said Horschel, the ex-Florida Gator who won twice last season, including the $10 million FedEx Cup check. "Whether he took anything from it, I don't know."

 

O'Hair is 32 going on 52. At this stage he was suppose to be popping up on leaderboards occasionally, warding off the young lions and making charges at Tiger. He's won four times, the last time in 2011, overcoming an upbringing under a maniacal, domineering Little League father.

 

In the past three seasons, O'Hair has gone through caddies, swing changes and a monstrous slump all while trying to balance a large family.

 

It came to a point where he said quitting became an all too-real option. He didn't want to be "this journeyman golfer and be away from your kids and family. It just didn't seem like it was worth it."

 

Many golfers reach that crossroads, rearranging their priorities.

 

Horschel admitted golf is no longer "life and death anymore" since the birth of his first child last year. He said that Woods, too – like O'Hair – is torn by the time he wants to spend with his children and the time he needs to spend practicing.

 

"If he decides to do something else in life," Horschel said, "I'm not going to fault the guy. We owe him a lot."

 

Losing in a three-man playoff last Sunday in Palm Harbor was O'Hair's first peek through the darkness in quite a while. He is only here at the Arnie through the generosity of a sponsor's exemption.

 

"I've never lost my talent," O'Hair said. "I almost forgot how to play the game and I forgot who I was as a player."

 

Tiger Woods can finally relate.

 

This article was written by Brian Schmitz from The Orlando Sentinel and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.