Tiger's gone, but it won't be for long

And like that, he was gone.

After discovering the man she married was a compulsive shagger, Tiger Woods' transgressed wife, the lovely Elin, was always likely to offer him an ultimatum that went along the lines of: carry on swinging, with clubs or other women, and you'll lose me and be forced give over half of that fortune you've built on the back of being the most successful sportsman on the planet.

And who could blame her?

Having been unmasked as a liar, it's hard to believe Woods when he claims the indefinite break he plans to take from golf is motivated by a determination to save his marriage and rebuild a shattered family.

Those are the views shared by BBC pundit and former European Tour player Jay Townsend, who said: "You have to wonder about the validity and truthfulness of anything he says right now.

"It comes down to his wife Elin. I think she's running the show right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of people disappear from his inner circle. They had to know about what was going on. In her mind they have to be part of what happened."

A more likely reason for this enforced sabbatical - the man who has come as close, along with Roger Federer and Michael Jordan, to achieving sporting perfection over the course of the past 30 years, knows he's now been stripped of the cloak of invincibility golf afforded him.

He can't go back to 'that place' in the knowledge that he's no longer the man every golf fan wants to be, while the reception in the locker room his likely to equally frosty.

Jesper Parnevik, the maverick Swedish golfer who introduced Mr and Mrs Woods, provided the the most telling soundbite of the last fortnight when he suggested Elin should have taken a driver, instead of a nine iron, to Tiger's face. Clearly Tiger aint going to be Mr Popular, if and when he returns to the circuit.

Whether his marriage is beyond salvation, only two people know. His career, despite what his fellow pros might feel about him, on the other hand, is far from beyond repair.

Whatever the wrongs of his behaviour, and there are plenty, he's not the first celebrity to have been caught with his pants down. David Beckham was famously found to be having it off with everyone's favourite reality TV pig pleasurer, Rebecca Loos, and it hardly did his commercial stock any harm.

Woods' sponsors have been queuing up to offer their full support, while the golfing community is doing its best to toe the 'family must come first' party line, in the knowledge that their sport is infinitely less attractive and marketable without him.

A break is unlikely to prevent further revelations surfacing in tabloid newspapers around the globe, but it will afford Tiger the chance to cleanse his mind and return to golf without the fear and pressure that comes with having to pretend to be someone your not.

Overhauling Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles is not the sort of lifelong ambition that dies as a result of being caught bedding a couple of porn stars - anyone connected with golf at any level will be praying that's the case.