About a month after Tiger Woods‘ encounter with a certain fire hydrant, we speculated on who would benefit and who would suffer as a result of Woods’ self-imposed withdrawal from the game of golf. With the benefit of hindsight, let’s see how the scene looks one year on.

Who benefitted:

Phil Mickelson. The opportunity was there for Mickelson to absolutely take over the game of golf, and while he did win at Augusta, it was an otherwise disappointing year for Lefty. The true on-course winners were Europeans like Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy, all of whom played well in Woods’ absence. The biggest beneficiary? Graeme McDowell, who got into Woods’ charity tournament after Woods withdrew. Buoyed by his strong performance in the Chevron, McDowell would go on to win the U.S. Open six months later.

Whichever tournament got Woods back first. We targeted Augusta, and we were right on the mark, for exactly the reasons we noted. He was sequestered from tabloid questions, though not from skywriters. Woods played well enough to place fourth, but found himself drawn into a cheap good-vs.-evil storyline with Mickelson.

The tabloids. After hammering Woods for three months solid, they left his carcass sucked dry and moved on to other targets. As expected. Still, remember who originally broke this story.

Perkins. Your dad may still be making Tiger/waitress jokes, but pretty much everyone else has moved on.

Tiger and his family. We’d hoped that Tiger would be able to use his time off to strengthen his marriage, but as it turned out, that was too much to ask of Elin Nordegren. Still, if Woods is to be believed, he spends quality time with his kids.

Who suffered:

The PGA Tour. We were dead-on with this one; the PGA Tour is in as much trouble now as it’s ever been. Not all of that is Woods’ fault, of course, but the economic crisis, combined with Woods’ effect on the ratings, means that the Tour has lost much of the shine that it had this time last year. Any surprise that PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is begging Tiger to play more?

Pro athletes keeping secrets. We suggested that the Tiger Woods affair (pun intended) would usher in a new era of scrutiny of pro athletes. Two words: Brett Favre.

Sponsors. Woods’ sponsors bailed on him like he had a virus. As a result, he was in $700,000 worth of ads this year, down from $70 million. Ouch.

Tiger’s charitable endeavors. We’ve heard little about how Woods’ charities have done this year. Expect that to change when his charity tournament takes place in a couple weeks.

The national consciousness. Yes, we all had our inboxes stuffed with ridiculous Tiger Woods jokes and videos. (And yes, we were responsible for a lot of those forwarded links. Sorry about that.) Anyway, here we are, one year later, golf-poorer but celebrity-wiser. And we’re left wondering if there’s anybody pristine left in sports.

It was the only number that meant anything to Tiger Woods since he was a kid. Forget the 100-plus PGA Tour wins. Forget the cut streak. Forget all of it. Tiger’s career is measured in majors and majors only. When he won the Masters in 1997, people started to look at Jack Nicklaus’ major championship record of 18 and think if Tiger could surpass it.

It seemd for a while that it wasn’t even a question, but his recent troubles have caused us to reconsider. So, can Tiger get past his current number of 14 and do it? 

Here are some facts we examined back in August when Tiger used Ben Hogan as an example of the age he’s at, and how many more he could win before it’s all over. Tiger noted that Hogan won all of his majors at the age Tiger’s currently at. 

You can take that point two ways. The first is to talk about how hard to examine a golfer that played in the ’40s and ’50s, but Phil Mickelson was very much like Hogan. 

People talk about Tiger’s age, and how he is 34 and is sneaking past his prime. The thing is, Mickelson didn’t start winning majors until he was 33, and has claimed four in the last six years. He’s 40 now, and still very much a threat to take down a few more before his career is done. Also, Nicklaus won majors up to the age of 46, and we had a 59-year-old Tom Watson nearly sneak out of Turnberry with a British Open a year ago.

Is it likely that in 20 years, Tiger will be competing at majors? No, not really. What I am saying is that yes, it seems that at 34, Tiger can still win five majors before his career comes to a close. We’ve seen him win majors in bunches before, and while he is in a major slump (his last win was at the ’08 U.S. Open), he still finished in the top five twice this season, with a chance at both the Masters and U.S. Open.

Tiger is still a great talent, but it takes a certain ability to win majors. He hasn’t showed that lately, and if he went 2011 without another one, it would be really hard to imagine he could cash in on five more before his career really sputtered to a halt. 

It’s weird that something off the golf course might have actually stopped Tiger at taking down one of the most famous (and unreachable) numbers in sports. If Woods can’t beat Jack’s record, it seems that nobody will ever be able to.

That is, until the next Tiger really shows up.

Around these parts, we’re big fans of anything that tweaks the uptight golf establishment. So when video shows up in our inbox doing exactly that, we’re all over it. And when said video turns out to be just a viral video for a phone company, well, that’s a little disappointing, but hey. But when said video drops f-bombs all over the place? Unwise, dudes. Rules are rules, and we can only link you to the video, not embed it here. Proceed by clicking on the video below, but bear in mind this has some NSFW language:

Great idea for a bit, guys. Just have the old coots watch their mouths next time.

This time last year, Tiger Woods was just an incredible athlete that we didn’t know much about. After that regrettable morning the day after Thanksgiving 2009, things changed for the most famous golfer in the world, and here’s a list of all the big events that unfolded throughout the last year. 

Nov. 25, 2009 — The National Inquirer leaks a story it had planned for a Dec. 7 issue that Tiger Woods had been cheating on his wife with a name we would became all too familiar with — Rachel Uchitel. We wrote, like most of us thought at the time, "make of this what you will."

Nov. 27, 2009 — Just two days after news broke that Tiger may have been cheating, Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant just outside his Isleworth home at 2:30 a.m., and his world was shaken up for good. Reports initially were that Tiger was in "serious condition" after the wreck, but were quickly pulled back. The fire hydrant and timing of the crash would come into question over the next few days, as well as a claim that wife Elin had done anything from smash his window out with a golf club to actually attack the golfer with it, knocking out teeth.

Nov. 29, 2009 — Tiger released a statement about the accident, admitting "This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again." Tiger hinted in the release that his wife had helped him in the wreck and we should all respect the request for things to stay private.

Nov. 30, 2009 — Tiger announces he will not be attending the Chevron World Golf Challenge, a tournament that benefits his own charity, and says he will not be playing tournament golf for the rest of the season.

Dec. 1, 2009 — A new lady stepped forward, admitting she had an affair with Tiger Woods. Jaimee Grubbs said she slept with the golfer in 2007, and admitted to having a voicemail left by Tiger a week prior asking for Grubbs to delete information.

Also, the Florida Highway Patrol fines Tiger $164 for careless driving.

Dec. 2, 2009 — The voicemail that Grubbs claimed Tiger left is released by US Weekly. This is what Woods says – "Hey, it’s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. So if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."

Within hours of the voicemail coming out, Camp Tiger released an apology from the golfer. He admitted, "I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves."

Dec. 3, 2009 – Jesper Parnevik, the golfer that introduced Tiger to Elin, goes to town on Woods, admitting, "We probably thought he was a better guy than he is. I would probably need to apologize to (Elin) and hope she uses a driver next time instead of the 3-iron," an obvious poke at the rumors that Elin had chased Tiger with a golf club the night of the accident.

Dec. 7, 2009 – A porn star named Holly Sampson is now the seventh lady to admit to having an affair with Tiger Woods.

Dec. 8, 2009 – With word swirling that Elin had worked to renegotiate the prenuptial agreement, a story is broken that she purchased a $2 million home in Sweden, her home country.

Dec. 10, 2009 – Life & Style magazine  quoted Ben Crane calling Tiger a "phony and a fake," but he and fellow PGA Tour star Charles Warren vehemently denied ever saying such things about Woods.

Dec. 11, 2009 — Tiger releases another statement, this time on his website saying that he is taking an "indefinite leave" from the game of golf while he tries to repair his marriage.

Dec. 14, 2009 — Accenture becomes the first big sponsor to drop Tiger, admitting that Woods was "no longer the right representative" after the "circumstances of the last two weeks."

Dec. 16, 2009 — People magazine breaks a story that Elin is planning on leaving Tiger, according to two unnamed sources the magazine talked with. The source said, "She’s made up her mind, there’s nothing to think about."

Dec. 31, 2009 — AT&T becomes the second sponsor to cut ties with Tiger a day after the golfer turned 34.

Jan. 19, 2010 – Rumors swirl that Tiger is in a sex rehab facility in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Jan. 20, 2010 — Radar publishes a photo of a man that looks eerily similar to Woods near the sex treatment center in Mississippi.

Jan. 25, 2010 — A reporter by the name of Gerald Posner puts together a timeline of events and what he thinks really happened, that spread like wildfire across the Internet. Still no word from Tiger about what exactly happened two months prior.

Jan. 27, 2010 — The second most notable golfer in the world, Phil Mickelson, finally speaks on the Tiger situation, admitting, "The game of golf needs him to come back. I mean, it’s important for him to come back and be a part of the sport. But right now he’s got a lot more important things going on in his life." Also, Lefty admits that he and Amy are "good friends" with both Tiger and Elin.

Jan. 29, 2010 – Tom Watson speaks on Tiger, letting the world know that what Tiger did to his family is "bad for our game" and "something he needs to get control of."

Feb. 5, 2010 — Radar Online reports that Tiger had left the sex addiction facility in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Feb. 8, 2010 — Rumors swirl (mostly from TMZ) that Tiger might pick the Tavistock Cup, an unsanctioned PGA Tour event, as his return date for golf.

Feb. 11, 2010 — Mark O’Meara, longtime friend of Tiger, lets it be known that he hasn’t spoken to Tiger since the 2009 British Open, and that he "would have handled it differently myself," if he had been in the position of Woods.

Feb. 12, 2010 — News breaks that Tiger bought a $2 million boat named Solitude to give to his wife Elin. It was later reported that the plans to buy the boat had been months in the making, well before the Thanksgiving night crash.

Feb. 17, 2010 – The Accenture Match Play kicks off without Woods in the field, a tournament he returned to in 2009 after a break from golf because of a knee surgery.

That same day, Tiger announces that he will speak for the first time publicly on Friday at TPC Sawgrass, but will not take any questions. The timing of the announcement has some questioning the motives of Woods, who was recently dropped by tournament host Accenture because of his transgressions.

Feb. 19, 2010 – At 11 a.m. on Friday, Woods approached a podium with a blazer and shirt on, admitting he was "deeply sorry" for what he did to his family, friends and fans.

Some of the highlights of his speech included a heartfelt apology to his wife Elin, a heated moment where Woods said that there had never been an episode of domestic violence in their household, and him saying that he would not be returning to golf anytime soon.

The speech had people on both sides of the fence, some saying they thought it was genuine and others saying felt it was robotic.

Feb. 23, 2010 — Tiger sends out a letter to parents of kids that attend the same school as his children, apologizing for bringing unwarranted attention to the school.

Feb. 26, 2010 — Gatorade drops Tiger as a spokesperson, but said it will continue to support the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Feb. 28, 2010 — Tiger returns home after attending a sex-addiction clinic and is said to be focusing on his fitness and his golf. The speculation for his return heat up.

March 3, 2010 — Steve Williams, Tiger’s caddie since 1999, told "60 Minutes" in New Zealand that "of course I’m mad at [Tiger]," the first person from his team to speak negatively of the golfer.

March 8, 2010 — Mark Calcavecchia says that Tiger changed his cell phone number five times in 2009.

March 9, 2010 — Every tournament venue from this date until the Masters readies itself for a potential Tiger return.

March 11, 2010 — The Associated Press reports that Tiger will be back at Augusta National, although other reports suggest that Woods could be back sooner.

March 16, 2010 – In a statement to the press, Woods announces he will return to the Masters, stating, "The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta."

March 21, 2010 — Woods grants brief interviews to ESPN and The Golf Channel.

April 5, 2010 — In his first press conference, Woods turned in an impressive performance, dealing with questions both serious and trivial.

April 8, 2010 — Nike debuts a creepy new commercial using the voice of Woods’ late father Earl.

April 8, 2010 – Tiger’s first day back on the golf course, at Augusta, was a work of art. His later days, less so — but with more profanity. 

April 12, 2010 – Phil Mickelson won the Masters and embraced his wife. Tiger Woods lost and walked off the course alone. It was a ready-made storyline for a thousand hack sportswriters.

April 15, 2010 — The first rumors surface about Woods’ marriage being over.

April 23, 2010 — Woods relaxes with a Nickelback show. Hey, takes all kinds.

April 30, 2010 — Signs that Woods’ comeback has hit a roadblock: He misses the cut at Quail Hollow.

May 4, 2010 — A book charges numerous coverups by law enforcement in the Woods accident. 

May 11, 2010 — The hits keep on coming — Hank Haney resigns as Tiger’s swing coach.

June 20, 2010 — At the U.S. Open, it got ugly on the final day for Tiger. And no, he didn’t win.

July 21, 2010 — The British press has a go at Tiger, but has no more luck breaking him than their stateside brethren.

July 29, 2010 — As Tom Watson finished his final round at St. Andrews, Tiger showed some well-deserved respect.

Aug. 12, 2010 – The scandal took a huge toll on Woods’ popularity, as his plummeting Q score demonstrated.

Aug. 20, 2010 — With Woods wounded, Rory McIlroy and others "fancy their chances" against him should they get the chance to play him in the Ryder Cup.

Aug. 23, 2010 — Attorneys announce that the Woods divorce is final.

Sept. 30, 2010 — Tiger’s "Tiger Slam" clubs sold for $57,000 at auction. Not a bad take. The club used to bash out the Escalade windows remains unaccounted for.

Oct. 21, 2010 — In dominating singles play at the Ryder Cup, Tiger reminded us that maybe he’s not completely washed up. 

Oct. 21, 2010 — Hey, good news: Tiger gave us an amazing golf photo, plus the birth of Cigar Guy. 

Oct. 31, 2010 — On Halloween, Woods’ reign at No. 1 in the world finally came to an expected end.

Nov. 10, 2010 — With misfire after misfire, Tiger Woods ends the 2010 season winless. 

Nov. 16, 2010 — We got our first look at Tiger’s new $50 million bachelor pad, and oh, is it nice. 

Nov. 18, 2010 — Woods participates in a rather bland interview on the Mike & Mike Show. We speculate on why that might be. 

And there you have it. Tiger is no doubt pleased to close off the worst year in his professional life … storied though it was.

Follow Shane Bacon on Twitter at @shanebacon. 

Fight, fire hydrant, floodgates. That was the order of events for Tiger Woods at this time a year ago, when he went from "most popular athlete in the world that everyone knew nothing about" to "golfer that was hated by most, because he tricked us all into believing something he wasn’t."

He ruined his reputation. He tarnished his legacy. He mutilated his marriage. But, what if all this ends up helping Tiger? What if that horrible Thanksgiving a season ago ends up being the best thing that ever happened to Mr. Woods?

You’re probably shaking your head, and I can understand that. Nobody would ever look at events like this and think positive about them. Tiger went from beloved superstar to scumbag in a matter of one measly fire device, but look at what we’re being told is going on.

Tiger speaks of being more at peace. He mentioned on Mike & Mike that he’s not sure he’d be any different if all these facts didn’t surface. He has mentioned he was confused, and frustrated and mad at the way he was acting. Is any of that true? Who knows, Tiger never really gives us a straight answer, but it does seem that these types of things come from the heart (and we’re assuming in this paragraph that Woods does, in fact, have a heart). He says he’s thankful for his kids, which I’m sure is true. He comments that he’s still got the fire to take down Jack Nicklaus’ major championship record, something he used to pin on his wall when he was a kid.

While 2010 wasn’t really a good look at what the "new" Tiger could be (he was dealing with all of this, plus a divorce, and other personal stuff the entire season), 2011 might give us a better idea of exactly what this guy could be again, free from all the things that were floating in his head (and on his cell phone).

Since his knee surgery in 2008, Tiger hasn’t won a major championship, and while it was easy to blame that on the injury before last Thanksgiving, it’s easier to see now that maybe Tiger wasn’t completely invested in these events like he used to be.

Now, am I naive enough to think that Tiger wasn’t chasing women and texting multiple females at all times during his entire career? No, of course not. I’m sure as both a single and married man, Tiger spent a lot of his time balancing his "perfect" life with that other side, filled with porn stars and waitresses and whoever else made the cut.

But, free from that (and again, I’m assuming he isn’t doing this as much anymore), maybe Tiger could be great again. Maybe 2011 is a year that Woods could approach with a free mind. Maybe that Buddhist bracelet thing he sold us on earlier this year could be true. Maybe he just needed to push all this behind him, move into a new home, get a new teacher, and recreate the talent we were used to seeing pre-Torrey Pines.

Or maybe not, but as a golf fan, I’m hopeful … hopeful that the guy that we used to root for can once again be good at this sport, even if he can’t be good at being a human. Does the Twitter campaign and the radio show appearances and the Newsweek article do anything to people that really follow this guy? No, we get that it’s a PR push. But we can sit back, around a holiday set for thanks, and give thanks that at least Tiger is somewhat understanding what was missing for all these years.

If he changes it, we might see a different type of golfer next season. If not, we might be stuck with the watered down version we got this season, and the PGA Tour, golf fans and sponsors alike don’t want anything to do with that.

It’s a growing story, and an even bigger problem, as another one of the top golfers in the world has decided to stick to Europe in 2011 instead of coming over to the States for competition.

Martin Kaymer, current PGA Champion and third ranked player in the world, has announced he will be sticking mostly to the European Tour next season instead of focusing his game on the PGA Tour, where he has only the lone win.

The German-born player said he feels more comfortable on the European Tour, and will stay on that side of the pond for most of the year.

Kaymer is the third big named player to do this, after Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy have announced their intent to stick to the European Tour in 2011, with Ian Poulter still threatening to stick most of his schedule in Europe. That means four of the top-11 players in the world would be opting out of PGA Tour play, meaning the talent pool that has always swayed the PGA Tour’s way is in serious limbo and could eventually lean towards the Euros.

The PGA Tour faces a real problem here, and it seems not a lot are addressing it. While sponsors are slowly making their way back to golf, it seems a tougher sale if most of the top names are competing elsewhere.

The only positive is the buzz that will surround the four major championships. While they’re always the best events of the season anyway, having all these names together for just a short list of events means the majors will be all that more exciting.

No matter, in just a few short seasons, with the uprising of talent in Europe, this could be the trend that’ll be tough to buck, mostly because everyone enjoys their own bed over a hotel, and being able to play golf near home is just an advantage the PGA Tour won’t be able to offer Europeans … ever.

Ring, ring!

Who’s there?

Disturbances, that’s who!

Why? Because the PGA Tour might start allowing cell phones at all golf tournaments in 2011. Earlier this season the tour did a dry run at the Wyndham Championship, and will again test cell phones at tournaments at the Chevron World Challenge in two weeks. If all goes smoothly (quietly?), the tour will use the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines as a last gasp before allowing every iPhone and Blackberry one can carry in their cargo shorts to all tour events.

What are my initial thoughts?

Well, sure, if every person could remember to put their cell phone on silent or vibrate it wouldn’t be a problem, but how many times have you been at a show or service and heard a disturbing ring? A lot, I’d imagine, and this won’t be much different.

Along with that, this allows more dopes to be on their cell phones. Earlier this season I caddied at the LPGA event in Alabama, and during the tournament, a guy was standing about 20 feet off the tee box of a par-5, chatting on his cell phone while players were attempting to tee off. Another caddie had to basically toss a headcover at the guy to make him realize he was being a goof.

So, should cell phones be allowed at events? Yes and no. Yes, because it is a simple act to put your phone on silent mode, but no, because someone in the audience is going to forget, and eventually a phone is going to go off during a moment it shouldn’t (like, when Tiger Woods is swinging, which will lead to a first … Steve Williams actually having fire coming out of his ears).

When PGA Tour Qualifying School wraps up, you hear a lot of crazy stories about this guy choking, or that guy clutching. But do you hear anything from the round before the final stage? Not really. Here are a few of the guys that struggled coming down the clutch, and some that really lite it up to make it to the final stage of the toughest test in sports.

The Good

Billy Horschel: The 23-year-old University of Florida product has played in seven PGA Tour events in his career, making zero cuts, and ten Nationwide tournaments, making just two cuts. That number could increase after Horschel blitzed the fourth round of the Southern Hills Plantation event, posting a 6-under 66 to jump from outside the line to just inside. Horschel didn’t make a bogey in the final round, posting the lowest score of anyone outside the cut line at this location.

Chris Baker: Talk about needing something good to happen with just a few holes to play. Baker, who started the day right around the number, made three bogeys in his first 10 holes. What did the 24-year-old do after that? He reeled off four birdies in his final eight holes to make it to final stage by a shot. Clutch, Mr. Baker.

Aaron Goldberg: Playing at the Bayonet and Black Horse Course, Goldberg needed some magic to make it another round. That happened when he strung together a final round 67 that had nary a bogey. His number jumped him into the top-20, two shots clear of the cut number.

The Bad

Brenden Pappas: The 40-year-old Pappas had played himself into a great spot, a shot clear of the cut number with three holes to play. That took a turn for the worse when Pappas made a double-bogey on the 16th hole and a bogey on the 18th, missing it to third stage by two shots.

Benoit Beisser: Remember the guy with the crazy scorecard from round two? Yeah, that same guy closed his final two rounds with 76-76 to miss out on third stage by a shot. His final round on Saturday didn’t have a birdie.  

The Ugly

Bradley Iles: Some people choke, and some people choke. Iles was 11-under with seven holes to play in his fourth round, good enough for a top-five finish at TPC Craig Ranch if he could just par out (honestly, he could have made five bogeys in seven holes and made it). What did he do? Bogeyed the 12th, 13th, 14th and added a triple-bogey on the 15th. After pars on 16 and 17, Iles made a closing bogey to miss out by two shots. Yikes. 

Nick Rousey: You’re standing on the 72nd hole of Q-School, needing a respectable score on your last to get into third stage. You stand on the tee, and the last person you want to think about is Jean Van de Velde. Well, then you go and pull a Van de Velde, but at a much stiffer price (at least the Frenchman left with a six-figure check). Rousey made a triple-bogey on his 18th hole to miss third stage by a shot.

Tommy Medina: Oh Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. Shades of Jason Gore at the 2005 U.S. Open were all around Medina, who was 7-under at the Bear Creek site, just off the lead of the entire thing before completely plummeting on Saturday. Medina closed with a final round 82 to miss out on third stage by a single shot. His final ten holes included six bogeys and a double-bogey.