It’s been over two months since Tiger Woods lost control of his Cadillac Escalade, slamming it into a tree. An event forever altering the image that was so carefully and meticulously crafted. This now infamous scandal initially had me in disbelief because it strode so far from his image of perfection he had constructed.

There has been no other athlete during my lifetime that has captivated my interest more then Tiger Woods. To this day, I can recite any stat and record that he has achieved over his PGA Tour career and can name all 14 major championships he has won, as well as the venue he was victorious on. I’ve also probably read hundreds of articles as well as numerous books ranging from his approach to the game, visualization techniques, and his psychological methods of focus.

There are many attributes and characteristics that I respected and emulated in watching Tiger. I started lifting weights because Tiger did. My mannerisms on the golf course are eerily similar to Tiger. I’ve tried to model my golf swing and putting style to look exactly the same, although at times with much different results. I even buttoned that third button when wearing a golf shirt because Tiger did. The last couple of years he hasn’t buttoned that third button, so you guessed it, I didn’t either.

After some reflection over the past couple of months since Tiger’s life and whereabouts have attracted so much tabloid attention, I have wondered when he returns, will it feel the same? That is, when he eventually returns to competitive golf, will I have that same admiration and interest in Tiger? Difficult to say, but I think the attraction for me over the past decade has been his image of perfection in an imperfect world — being able to witness someone so dedicated to his craft and their ability to execute with such dominance under pressure.

That image will forever be tarnished based on his off course problems. We’ve learned that his persona was not what we thought. His private life and public life were two entirely different things and what we once thought was perfect is far from perfection.

So I’m left asking myself, what is left of this bromance? In short, it will never be what it once was (single tear), I’ll still root for Tiger, but I think the truth has set me free. Bromance over.

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” - Anna Quindlen